Those were the days.

I can't tell you why, but there's just something refreshing about closing the internet browser, turning on a High School Musical CD, and opening a blank Word document. I think I love it so much because it reminds of a simpler life I lived in Ukarumpa, Papua New Guinea. As much as I love the internet, and believe me, it's a great resource, there are times where I get burned out from looking at too many pretty pictures on Pinterest and clicking on blog post after blog post. It just never stops.

I used to hate it when we would have network outages on our centre because that meant no internet or email for an entire Saturday afternoon, but now I realize how refreshing they were. We couldn't sit at a computer all afternoon, but there was a whole ton of other amazing things we could do. We would drive around centre in our beat up, stick shift cars and dirt bikes or we would walk up and down the dusty roads, stopping to smell the beautiful pale purple flowers growing in clumps at the edge of the road.

Some of my friends owned their own horses and they would take them on rides off centre, through the beautiful fields in the surrounding valley. Sometimes we would go down to the river to swim and float on gummies (rubber inner tubes) downstream with the current. After going for a ways, we'd climb out onto the bank and stand there, cold and dripping, letting the warm Southern Hemisphere afternoon sunshine warm us up.

I often found myself grabbing the keys to my guinea pig cage and running outside to the cage. I would fling the door open wide, block the entrance to the outer part, and try to carefully pick up one of my darling piggies. If the attempt was successful, I'd set the guinea pig on my lap, stroke it for a minute or two, and then let it down into the cool grass. That's something I loved about my piggies - I could trust them to run around the yard and not run away. I just had to watch out for the many stray dogs, cats, and hawks who might happen to trot or run or fly by. And if I didn't catch a piggie on the first try, I would have to close the door, wait a few minutes until they want back inside the dark, dry area, and try again. :)

Those were the days.