Bits and Bites...

The other evening Pak Nios came to us and told us that his orang tua (old people/person or parent(s)) had died in Wamena. So I told him that I “ikut berduka cita” (I share in his sadness). I asked him if it was both his parents who died and he said yes. Actually, I asked him this twice and both times he said yes. We talked a little further and then he said that it was his second dad who died. Oh. So I asked about his mom and he said, “She lives here, she sells pineapples to you.” Really. I still have no idea who he is talking about. Pak Nios then asked us for permission to go to Wamena for a week. Of course we gave it.
It is interesting how the meaning of the term “relatives” is broadened immensely here. They will call someone who grew up in the same “kampung” (kind of like subdivision) as them, a relative. Regardless of whether or not they actually share similar genes. They will also call cousins “older/younger sibling” as opposed to “cousin”.

Apparently it is becoming more and more difficult for stores to get certain food items in. Right now there is a shortage of UHT milk in town. (Fresh milk is only a fond memory...) There is still powder milk available, but uht milk is really the best of the two. But it is still a far cry from lovely, refreshing Canadian milk… mmmm… I really do miss that. (probably the first thing I’ll drink when we go home for furlough…) Uht milk has a nasty aftertaste. Occasionally we can get some that’s imported from New Zealand and it’s better; but again, rarely available.

Ritha has been accepted into a program at a school to become a teacher of the Protestant religion. (The Indonesian government recognizes six official religions – Islam, Protestant, Catholic, Buddhist, Hindu, the last one is a Chinese religion and I can’t remember the name – Confusios or something like that) It is a government school but they teach the Protestant faith. Interesting… It’s a three year program and she will be able to work right after she is done. Ritha is an extremely bright woman who has the heart of a teacher. She is really great with kids. She is hoping to still work for me a bit as she will still need to pay the bills but it won’t be the same. But that’s okay. One of our goals here is to help people succeed in whatever way we can.

The power around here has been terribly intermittent. Yesterday it was off for most of the day. Aargghhh… After a while all you hear is the roar of everyone’s generators… In fact, the power is off right now as I'm typing this at 10:00pm...