Buying garlic and eating crow

Several years ago I read a fascinating book about a woman in Florida with a PhD who decided to do a social experiment and give up her high paying PhD job (whatever it was) and get a minimum wage job for a year and see what life was like for so many Americans. I remember her account of her first day on the job as a waitress at a diner... she had thought people would say "Wow, you're obviously over-skilled and way too smart for this job" but instead was humbled to learn that even low-paying jobs require a lot of skills, which she did not possess.

So, I haven't given up any high-paying, highly skilled occupation, but Brant and I have taken on a new job - being supply buyers. Today our first order was due at the airport to go into a tribal location early tomorrow morning. AH! We have spent the last few days running crazy trying to get all the items on the list, packed them all up and dropped them off at the airport right after lunch. Then we spent all afternoon running all over town trying to correct mistakes we had made and caught this afternoon.

My responsibility in the whole endeavor is to do "Pasar shopping." The Pasar is the open marketplace here - think a Farmer's Market then add in mazes of unfamiliar fruits and veggies, drunk guys hanging around, produce lined up on tarps on the ground, and spit and trash and stagnant water covering any un-tarped spot. Not my favorite place to go, despite the great bargains and exotic fresh spices and fruits. The first time I ever went to the Pasar here in Papua, a kid threw up on my feet.

On my list today was buying 15 pounds of onions, 10 pounds of garlic and 12 pounds of potatoes. You don't have to be good at math to know that I cannot physically carry all that. It took multiple trips to the car to haul all the veggies once I had found them. Finding them was also a challenge - not only did I have to locate the veggie on the list - I had to find a seller who was honest, had good quality produce and had sufficient stock of whatever I needed. It took hours and I was covered in dirt and grime by the time I was done.

So I was sitting relaxing this afternoon, congratulating myself on a job well done, when I noticed that instead of 5 pounds of oranges, I had accidentally written "garlic" on my list and walked out with 5 extra pounds of garlic - no oranges. So Brant, gracious husband that he is, went back to the Pasar and bought the forgotten oranges, took them down to the airport hanger and switched them out.

And this evening as we are exhausted and still not quite sure we did get the order right, we are humbly learning that something as simple as "supply buying" is not as simple as it sounds and it's going to take a lot of learning to get this job right.