they met in the peace corps in papua new guinea , and so whenever anything happened there , even something terrible , it was like all of a sudden they were not large sedentary creatures , but the young and idealistic and self-sufficient and rugged people they had once been , and their rapture was such that they did n't even glance over at me as i ate faster than i 'd ever eaten , transmitting items from my plate into my mouth with a speed and ferocity that left me quite out of breath , which of course made me worry that my lungs were again swimming in a rising pool of fluid .