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| Mt. Hagen Papua New Guinea | |
Ate Vanessa guided me to Lae 1. I was surprised it was a small L shaped store. The staffs gave me a warm welcome. Though a small store Lae 1 carries numerous medicines
Good enough to supply customers from 8:00 in the morning till 7:00 in the evening. Its entrance is the side of best buy and exits through best buy premises. The air conditioning unit is centralized but it is not functioning anymore. The store got an electric fan instead for ventilation. It got 2 points of sale and some variety stocks. People in Lae get used to expatriates so when it is my break time I walk around in town finding something new to buy. Vanessa officially endorsed to me the shop after 2 weeks. It’s a challenge for me now as I am holding one of the most beautiful shops in City Pharmacy. It’s my task also to uplift the sales of this shop. First I have to do some cleaning in the dispensary. Secondly I have to remerchandise the stocks on the floor. I take some photos of the gondolas and the display of the stocks and send it to our retail area manger. They asked me to move some of the display of the Colgate toothpaste and the Gillette products as it is covering the other displays. I with the staffs do our best just to improve the shop more and to make a lot of sale. Back in November there was an interstore competition with regards, to sale. At first we are all excited as the first week we are over form the weekly budget. On second week of November the head office officially announced the interstore competition for the best dressed shop. The theme was the Seven Wonders of the World. Surely the prize is big. As being the best dressed shop of 2007 I must make Lae 1 maintain its title. I conceptualize the shop having a decoration of the Great Wall of China. I am thinking of how to make it functional and not for aesthetic purpose only. I am also thinking where to place it whether on the wall or hang it on the ceiling. I got an idea of decorating it on the special table. This task is tedious as I have to hand paint the walls of China and it took me weeks for one side of the board paper to paint. I usually bring it home because I cannot make it mostly on the shop due to plenty customers coming in. I have to stick it on the special table. Some customers even tear it unconsciously. Finally after a month I finished it. The Great Wall of China is now standing at the center of Lae 1 shop. All I have to do is to enhance and add some more decorations the peripherals. Some days passed. I said to my self I have to give my self a break after the hard job I have done. But when I enter the shop I usually get inspired of my creation. My decoration was admired by the customers entering the shop and especially the children who with their parents take a photo beside the Christmas tree or beside the Great Wall of China. I escorted Ate Vanessa for her to see how Lae 1 changed. She praised me to see the shop is clean and well decorated. You must have probably won the interstore competition she said. I said thanks but in the back of my mind I am not expecting anything. One Sunday I and Ate Vanessa went to meet some of our friends in the fellowship. After the bible study Ate Vanessa left. She said that I should stay with them and enjoy the day. In the fellowship place, there are complete set of musical instruments from drums to guitars. I usually play the guitar and some of my friends play the drums and base guitar. We jammed all day and sing our favorite local songs. We were very happy that day as the food and drinks are overflowing. What a Day Off! This is how I like it. Something strange is happening. Why in the world the dogs keep on howling as we play the music. We know this is not a good sign. Was it they don’t like the sound of the music we are playing or they are seeing things which we never know. On the afternoon I decided to go home as Ate Vanessa doesn’t have any company and its also getting dark. We have our dinner that night. I ask Ate Vanessa for us to surf the internet that evening. Ate Vanessa was supervising 2 staffs to straighten up the storeroom upstairs. She decided to leave them after giving some instructions. So I and Ate Vanessa surf the internet until half pass 12 in the night. At our surprise Mary one of the staff rushing and shouting at us Best Buy is on fire. It was quarter pass 12 in the midnight. We were shocked by what we hear so we rushed ate the window terrace to see if it’s true. As we come up we have seen from the window that the back of the Best buy was on fire. The 2 staff starts crying as the watch best buy building burning. One of our Pacific guards confirms that the best buy store is burning. I tried to call the fire department that time but their phone is busy. I and Ate Vanessa went downstairs and went out to look closely at City pharmacy store we take a short walk at the back of Super Value Store. As we get near to the fire scene it was too late City Pharmacy is already on flames. It is impossible for us to get near because the flame scorches even from afar. Ate Vanessa just informed our retail area manger about the incident. We cannot do much but watch the flames burn the whole building of best buy. We watch the fire until 5:00 am in the dawn. Some of our Filipino friends gathered around us and telling they were very sorry for us for what had happened. I haven’t get enough sleep all day as when I close my eyes I can still imagine the fire that swallow the whole shop of City Pharmacy Lae 1. The Great Wall of China was turned into ashes. All of the records and the systems of the shops turned into useless rubles of charcoal. All of the plans I have for the shop just float in the air of smoke and dust. City pharmacy Lae 1 is history. On the same night we emailed the photos of the shop during the fire. In the morning we emailed the photo of the shop after the fire. Emails of reply coming from other shops usually contain message of support and regrets for what had happened. I, Ate Vanessa and Sebastian feel sorry for ourselves too as we loss one of our shop. Ravi emailed that his thoughts are for us and he emailed good thing we are safe. What a relief to hear that email of concern. Thanks Ravi. I pity the staffs as they were nowhere to go and they are jobless. Where am I to go too? City Pharmacy Lae 2 welcomed us to work there for 1 week. Finally the head office decided but the got no choice but to lay off some of the new staffs. I got a new task now. I have to settle with the police reports and talk with the fire department in Lae. I have to negotiate with the insurance company and report the amount of the merchandise that was loss during the fire. Not much time instead of having my rest I work double time to finish everything before I left Lae. Though I haven’t got the concrete report on the fire department in Lae they promised to solve the case. I contributed some of my shots of the fire to them. In the night of the next day after the fire we have our Christmas party with some of my friends from singles for Christ. As I lead the prayer I prayed that I finish the entire task assigned to me and prayed for my family in the Philippines. I guess this is the last farewell to my friends in Lae but I am still clueless of what are the plans of the company for me. I liked to stay in Lae but there’s no space for me to stay now. Kuya Gil called me and he said he will assign me in Port Moresby. I said it’s up to the company where to place me. After some days he called he said I have to go back to Mt. Hagen. Some of the managers called me on the corporate phone asking what happened on the fire. We emailed every one attaching the photo of the fire. The photo itself is enough to speak what happened. Now the end of my stay in Lae comes, I got no choice but to leave. But on the night before that day we have a Christmas party of the Filipino community in Lae. Invited from other provinces are Filipinos coming from Mt. Hagen, Madang, and Port Moresby. When the President announced all of the places he lastly announced “and those coming back to Mt. Hagen” I guessed that’s me. I am now coming back to see my old friends again and feel the coolest breeze that I missed. Early in the morning at 4:00 am I and Ate Vanessa have our very early breakfast. The Guard dog security fetches me and we ride going to Nadzab airport. On my mind I am thinking it was a heck of an adventure in Lae but I think I don’t belong there so I have to go. I arrived in Port Moresby at 12:00 in the afternoon. The flight from Lae is delayed due to heavy rains. I met Kuya Gil by the Jackson’s Domestic airport and handed him some inventory documents. I said to him Lae 1 is no where to find now! He said I know it was burned in flames nothing much we can do. I was scheduled in the afternoon flight for Mt. Hagen. In the waiting area I looked around hoping to see familiar faces from Mt. Hagen but to no avail I haven’t recognize anyone. In the afternoon by 3:00pm 2 couples arrived, Oh’ I recognized them but they seem not to recognize me, probably because I have been gone for sometime in Mt. Hagen. Nevertheless I decided just not to come near as they seem to ignore me. At 5:00pm the plane arrives for Mt. Hagen it was delayed of 2 hours. We flew to Mt. Hagen. Finally after some glance Mr. and Mrs. Burdette remember me. “Jeff “Are you coming back to Mt. Hagen. “Yes Sir and Madam I’m coming back. The plane landed on Mt. Hagen at 6:00 pm. As I step down from the plane the cool weather chilled me. It was very cold. Now I can’t stand the cold anymore like before, I already get used to the heat in Lae. I and Tita Roda have a small talk. I tell her about the great fire that happened in Lae. She was unaware that city pharmacy Lae 1 was burned in flames together with Best Buy. Any way she said “you truly belong to Mt. Hagen as you keep on coming back’. Yes I am back; I can see many things changed. I am back to the place where I once belong. Mt. Hagen welcomed me but instead of a warm welcome , It welcomed me with the cool breeze that brings the memory of the past and reminds me of another adventure way ahead in the future…………………….
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