Well, we have been in our new home for nearly a week now. There are some things that we are getting used to. Like the sound of the Sentani youth Band practicing across the road. The sound of singing from the youth centre on Sunday morning-very neat. People hanging around the perimeter of our fence, mostly because there is shade from our trees. Or the roar of dump trucks as they pass by our house all day long and even into the night. The sounds of kids banging sticks on our metal fence. Stray dogs wandering around our yard. Wee little kids coming to the door trying to sell a positively enormous papaya (no o
ne here likes papaya...). The fact that after 6:00 (which is when it gets dark here all year round) everyone and his uncle can see us as we have no blinds in the main living area of our house. I have ordered blinds that are made from the sago tree. I’ll post pics once I have them. The guy I ordered from came by today to show me the first two that he had made. They look great and only cost about $6 each. I know the above sounds kind of negative, but we really don’t mind any of it except the dump trucks as it sure makes 
devotions hard to hear... 
Today after Hugo came home from work I took Aidan to get new shoes. The guy goes through footwear like crazy. Of course there’s not much made here that is built to withstand the abuse he puts his shoes through. So we headed out on the motorbike to the new mall. The store, well there are actually 2 stores open in the mall so far, was quite dead and all the little sales girls were all gaga over Aidan. And he was being quite a clown, doing a little lap around the shoe area with each pair that he tried on. Not that there were many to try on. They don’t make many velcro shoes in his size... he has enormous feet. Anyways, he wasn’t really sure what to make of all these girls fawning all over him. After that we went to head home and I discovered that we had a flat back tire on the motorbike. So I asked where I could get it fixed and thankfully there was a place not too far away. By this time it is after 6:00 and therefore dark and I mean dark. We have a very brief twilight period here and then it is really dark. I’m not sure if that’s because of the big mountains around us or what. I wanted to be able to call Hugo, but we have no home phone yet and I had left him with the cell phone. Anyways, I drove up to the place and told them that my tire was flat. The guy who helped me asked me if I wanted to replace the tire. What a stinker, tries to get me to replace the whole thing instead of just patch the tube. This place is quite hilarious. It is really tiny but they even had a pit so they could do oil changes on cars. There were tools lying around everywhere and the whole area was lit by one fluorescent bulb like those new kind that are being sold to replace the old type. I really don’t know how they could see the bubbles in their water tank. And there is no protective footwear being used, it’s good old flipflops all around. So Aidan and I sat on the wooden board provided for waiting customers and watched them work. They were really quite efficient in spite of the lack of light. And after about 15-20 minutes and 10,000 rupiahs, we were off. It sure is an adventure to ride a motorbike or a car up our hill. As I mentioned before the road is eroding in places and there are many, many potholes. So when it is dark, it is really hard to see when and where the next pothole is coming. It is even worse when you are stuck behind a dump truck... But thankfully we made it home safe and sound.
Hope all you Canadians have a wonderful thanksgiving. We are celebrating an International Thanksgiving with MAF on Oct 28.
ne here likes papaya...). The fact that after 6:00 (which is when it gets dark here all year round) everyone and his uncle can see us as we have no blinds in the main living area of our house. I have ordered blinds that are made from the sago tree. I’ll post pics once I have them. The guy I ordered from came by today to show me the first two that he had made. They look great and only cost about $6 each. I know the above sounds kind of negative, but we really don’t mind any of it except the dump trucks as it sure makes 
devotions hard to hear... 
Today after Hugo came home from work I took Aidan to get new shoes. The guy goes through footwear like crazy. Of course there’s not much made here that is built to withstand the abuse he puts his shoes through. So we headed out on the motorbike to the new mall. The store, well there are actually 2 stores open in the mall so far, was quite dead and all the little sales girls were all gaga over Aidan. And he was being quite a clown, doing a little lap around the shoe area with each pair that he tried on. Not that there were many to try on. They don’t make many velcro shoes in his size... he has enormous feet. Anyways, he wasn’t really sure what to make of all these girls fawning all over him. After that we went to head home and I discovered that we had a flat back tire on the motorbike. So I asked where I could get it fixed and thankfully there was a place not too far away. By this time it is after 6:00 and therefore dark and I mean dark. We have a very brief twilight period here and then it is really dark. I’m not sure if that’s because of the big mountains around us or what. I wanted to be able to call Hugo, but we have no home phone yet and I had left him with the cell phone. Anyways, I drove up to the place and told them that my tire was flat. The guy who helped me asked me if I wanted to replace the tire. What a stinker, tries to get me to replace the whole thing instead of just patch the tube. This place is quite hilarious. It is really tiny but they even had a pit so they could do oil changes on cars. There were tools lying around everywhere and the whole area was lit by one fluorescent bulb like those new kind that are being sold to replace the old type. I really don’t know how they could see the bubbles in their water tank. And there is no protective footwear being used, it’s good old flipflops all around. So Aidan and I sat on the wooden board provided for waiting customers and watched them work. They were really quite efficient in spite of the lack of light. And after about 15-20 minutes and 10,000 rupiahs, we were off. It sure is an adventure to ride a motorbike or a car up our hill. As I mentioned before the road is eroding in places and there are many, many potholes. So when it is dark, it is really hard to see when and where the next pothole is coming. It is even worse when you are stuck behind a dump truck... But thankfully we made it home safe and sound.
Hope all you Canadians have a wonderful thanksgiving. We are celebrating an International Thanksgiving with MAF on Oct 28.
2 comments:
LOVE the pics of your new home ...spacious, cool-looking, nice furniture! Must feel good to be settled to some degree. Now - how many years do you get to call this home for? :-)
Hopefully the sound of the dumptrucks becomes something you get used to.....
Take care!
Beautiful home. I think I check on here twice a year because I forget, but you all seem happy and healthy.
Take care!
Rose Bredenhof
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