Cross-Cultural training...

This is what we see on our way to Jayapura. In the first photo is Lake Sentani. The second photo is of a monument to three soldiers who were in a helicopter showing off for the prostitutes that live along the edge of the lake when they crashed and all died.... (photo credit - Mikah)

I feel a bit like I'm in a cross-cultural training program right now. Yesterday I went to the hospital again to see Ice and she told me that the doctor had said that she needs to have a blood transfusion and that she should find someone with type B blood to donate. So I went to the nurses station and asked them what the doctor had said and there were no notes for that day. So I went to the ER in the hopes that he would be there and I could speak with him; having not seen him since Monday evening. He was there, (poor guy was the only Doc in the entire hospital I think...), and I waited patiently until he aknowledged me. I asked him about Ice and the blood transfusion thing. He explained that her hemoglobin level had dropped to 5 which is extremely low and therefore she was in need of some blood. He figured that they should give her blood and monitor her for another day or so and then do and ultrasound to try to get a look at her appendix and see if that is the problem. (If it is, she would need to be transferred to another hospital in Abe or Jayapura as they can't do operations in Doyo.) Ice's mom doesn't really want her to get blood from someone else because apparently she had a transfusion as a very young child and it made her "not normal".... I explained to Ice and her husband that now they check blood for the major illnesses - malaria, syphillis, hepatitis and HIV/Aids. So I went home. I'm pretty sure that Hugo has type B blood but when I saw Ritha's sister, I asked her what her type is and she is B. So she and Ritha went to the hospital, but for legitimate reasons, she was not able to donate but they told me that the lab closes at 5:00. So Hugo and I left for the hospital right away and arrived just after 4:00 only to be told that the lab person had just gone home for the day. Well.... I marched over to the ER in a bit of a huff (although I have to admit I kind of expected this to happen) in the hopes that the same Doc would still be there. He was and I waited patiently again for him while he dealt with the patients that were in need of him. I explained what had happened and he did his best to track the lab tech down but was unsuccessful. I gave him my cell phone number and we went home. Later that evening he sent me a message and we set up an appointment for Saturday morning at 10:00.... Let's hope it happens...

This morning we had an appointment at 10:00 to get our fingerprinting done at the immigration office in Jayapura. The guy from our office was already there ahead of us trying to smooth the way for us. Apparently things weren't going well and he was told that we'd just have to wait. I guess the boss there was feeling uppity and just wanted to flex his power. The kids did great waiting. We were expecting things to go like they do for most people; in and out in 15 minutes. Therefore we hadn't brought any form of entertainment for the kids except one garfield comic book (which I read to the kids from cover to cover while we were waiting). Finally, we were told we could go in. In the old days, like 6 years ago when we lived here, the process involved actual ink that was only removable by a combination of vaseline and wet wipes. Now the process is highly modern. Our photos are taken by a digital camera attached to the computer then each of of fingers is scanned by a special finger print scanner. But we still have to sign 2 items manually and one on a special computer pad. The reason we need to have our finger prints taken each year? No clue except that they like to keep track of us... Need I say more. By 12:00 we were done. We then went to a nice school supply store (they also sell sports equipment, musical instruments, toys, movies, electronic equipment, books....) to get the kids what they need for school. Then we had lunch at KFC. Following that we decided to try and find a beach called Base G. After a number of wrong turns and adventures down extremely narrow roads, we finally saw a sign telling us which way to go. You really can't get lost here, there aren't that many roads. This beach is open to the ocean and so there are waves and wind. The beach we usually go to is in a bay. So we hung out there for about an hour. Then a guy comes along and tells us that we need to pay 100,000 Rups for the use of the shelter. We explained that we had only been using it for one hour and were in the process of leaving and so would he accept 20,000 rups? He claimed that normally they charge 200,000 rups and that he had already cut the price in half. He claimed that they keep it clean (not, there were beer bottles and other garbage lying around...). We stuck to our ground and finally said we were leaving right then and didn't pay anything. The truth is that any old person could come up and ask for money, we have no idea if he is legitimate or not, there were no signs saying that one had to pay, and he didn't show any proof. There were some Spanish tourists in the shelter beside us and he tried the same with them and they also didn't give him anything. At the other beach they have a book in which you write your name and the amount you paid and there are signs telling you that you need to pay.

Then we made our way back and headed to a place called the Papua Trade Centre. We had promised to take the kids there as they have an enormous blow up bouncy castle on the weekends and there is a Canadian pizza chain there called Sarpino's. The traffic was horrid and what should have taken us 15 minutes, took about an hour. Then after all that, no bouncy castle... ugghh... Well, we met our friends there and ordered pizzas, which were tasty. After that the kids played in a place called Time Zone. One of those arcade type places. It was incredibly loud and local kids kept coming in a bothering us and a couple stole our kids swipe cards... Then there were the ladies wanting to take photos of the kids and photos of Mikah holding their kids...

One can never ever forget where one lives.... But it was still a good day.... :-)