Christmas 2010

On Christmas Eve our entire church came to our house for a service. We decided to have the service and dinner following at our home for a number of reasons. One being that we planned to start at 5:00 and by 6:00 it is dark here and the naughty folks come out to “play”. People have been going into the old dorm beside our church and engaging in naughty behaviour (I’m being very polite here...). The other reasons are that the church is very dusty and dirty (not much we can do about that...) and there’s no bathroom or running water.

It turned out to be rather providential that we were at our home because an hour and a half into the evening, the power went off and stayed off until very late at night. You guessed it, no generator at the church either (it would get stolen if we did have one...). It also began to pour buckets during the service. This was a welcome downpour as we hadn’t had a decent rain in a long time. However, the roof of our church is very holey so again, good thing we were in our house.

After the service we rearranged the furniture and pulled the table of food out and enjoyed an Indonesian meal. Beforehand I had bbq’ed a whack of chicken pieces which is always a hit here! There was also fish in a curry sauce with sambal on the side, a kind of banana that had been cooked, a green leafy vegetable cooked with spices and coconut milk (yummy!) and of course, rice and krupuk. After the service everyone went outside on our front porch where we lit off a few fireworks while people took turns getting rides home in the two cars that were available. Fun times!

The next day we had a lovely Christmas dinner with our friends here. We even had turkey with all the trimmings! Hugo and I collaborated on that mountain of mashed potatoes of which the leftovers made lovely potato cakes... Each Christmas season guys around town will make Christmas booths. Many people are quite creative. The point of these booths is to blast loud music for hours on end. Sometimes it’s Christmas music and sometimes it’s just ... music... This fancy one was built near the MAF office and on the road leading to the booth they had put bamboo poles arching over the road with lights up them and hanging from the middle they had made crosses out of water bottles painted white. It looks really neat at night!

Tis the season...

For sugar cookies!

Wamena...

Last week Hugo went to Wamena (see map). It's the largest city in the world that has no roads going to or from it. Everything is flown in. Everything... One of our planes had experienced a serious engine problem in Wamena requiring that the engine be removed and sent to America for a small overhaul. The loaner engine arrived last week and Hugo and his sidekick "E" went to Wamena to put it into the plane so that it can be used again. Doing this job allowed Hugo to complete some more tasks for his logbook (which he needs to fill in order to get his Canadian AME "M" license).

Just thought I'd show you how I get gas for my motorbike. The only official gas pumps in town are at the other end of town (where we rarely go). Thankfully there are enterprising folks who bottle up the gas and sell it by the litre by the side of the road. They even filter the gas as they pour it in... :-)

Bits and Bites...

I have been neglectful in updating here more often. Unfortunately I cannot upload photos today from some unexplainable reason... blah...
* This morning our church service had to compete with a nearby Christmas booth blasting out music... We also witnessed the baptism of a cute baby boy. The baptismal "font" was a glass bowl of water on a plastic chair.
* Life for "I" returned to normal following the events of a couple weeks ago. I think most of us would be traumatized, but for the ladies here it is a fairly "normal" part of life. They expect it to happen.
* Hugo is heading to Wamena tomorrow to help re-install then engine of one of our Cessna 208's. It's been stuck engine-less in Wamena for some time now. He hopes to return home on Friday. We hope so too...
* We've had a bit of rain here and there but really not enough to replenish wells. It is so dry here! I've spoken to "I" about how the people should put out pails when it is raining to catch the water as it is quite clean. They believe that you can get sick from rain water so they don't do it... Baffling...

Parties!

Saturday morning we had a combined birthday party for Marc and his buddy S. We had the party in the gym and played games! Fun times!

Marc and his buddy S.
Then that evening we had a dedication for our two newest aircraft. Following that we had the annual MAF Christmas party with all MAF'ers in Sentani. There were speeches, singing, a sermon...

The boys kept entertained with their candles...

A slice of life on Pos 7

It's the end of they day, like 4:00 or later, and you head up to the soccer field across the road from our house. There's 4 games each day. One for boys and one for girls and one for women and one for men. The females play last when the light is dying out and the spotlights are turned on. Unfortunately there are only lights on the one side/end of the field. You sit alongside the road and cheer loudly. Then a guy selling bakso goreng comes on his motorbike. For 1,000 rupiahs you can buy a stick. The children begin to clamber around.

Bakso is made from bone marrow and tapioca (I think) and comes in sausage like strips which are cut into pieces. As you can see he puts them in egg and then fries them in some oil in what looks like a poffertjes pan. There's a little burner underneath the pan.

Then you dip your stick in the spicy red sauce and enjoy!

And go back to cheering for your favorite team.

Thoughts...

Photos from when we had our church over for a potluck bbq.

The girls on the boat ride home.

The boys managed to get a sea cucumber...

- A number of weeks ago a boeing 737 landed really hard in Wamena (interior city). The plane taxied to its normal spot and the workers began unloading it. The plane was going to proceed to the runway to take off again (they cannot leave loaded as the runway is too short for that) when a couple guys noticed that there was a large crack behind the cockpit... Then a couple guys from Boeing came to Wamena to quote on the job. They said that the hotel there is the worst they've ever stayed in and it's the best one in town...

- Each Friday a group of seniors from the seniors home up the road go for a walk. They wear matching outfits and walk until our road where they stop and turn around. The walk down is probably 400 meters or so...

- I have to say that I'm sick of expired food. I've had bad orange juice and expired margarine that I've had to throw out recently.... ugghh...

- Every now and then the police decide to do a sweeping in town. They gather at the stop light and start directing traffic (which totally confuses people because the light will be red but the policeman directing traffic will tell you to go...). The other police will stop random motorbikes and sometimes cars and check to see if they have a proper drivers license and registration and if they are wearing a helmet. If just one of those is not in proper order, the motorbike is confiscated and taken to the police station where they hold it until you come and pay a fine. I don't think that they even make sure that you've fixed whatever it was you had your bike taken for. The last time they did a sweeping, only 5 motorcycle taxis from our hill came away unscathed.

-We found the dead lizard that was stinking up our bedroom for a time. He was a little dried out...

- We are desparately in need of some serious rainfall. Wells are drying up.

-Tonight we had a farewell potluck bbq for a great family that's moving back to the States. We say good-bye a lot in our line of work... not fun... The potluck was fun though...

-The kids have had the entire week off school due to a teachers conference. It's been a nice change of routine. Less stressful... Hugo took Wednesday off and we headed to the beach with our friends (minus P because he's a teacher and was at the conference) and we were the only ones there! So nice!

Catching up...

Again it has been a while since I've posted... Due again to a overzealous internet guardian... I can't upload photos yet though, not sure why...
So last week I's husband punched her in the head. Apparently I had broken his cell phone and he was angry about it. He said she had to buy a new one or he would break her stuff. She doesn't have money for a new one. So myself and a neighbour went to I's house and took her and her stuff (tv, playstation, and clothes) and brought them to our house. She spent the night. The next day her husband wanted her to come home and cook because all he had to eat was white rice... poor guy... then he really wanted the tv. He had gotten a satelite dish (really...) but it ain't useful without a tv. So she gave it. She ended up going back home that night to sleep because he had friends over and she knew he would have them sleep in their room. He tried to kick her out but she wouldn't go. The next day we had them both come and first Hugo talked with the husband, "T", and then the four of us talked. He later told I that he thought every word that we said was against him... that's how you feel when you're guilty isn't it? Anyways, we did our best to help them and hopefully can sit down with them next month again... if he'll agree to come...
On Sunday we had our entire church over for a potluck lunch. The day before one of the ladies had gone to the market to get chicken and I marinated it and we bbq'ed it after church. It was a lot of fun having them all over! Everyone brought some food and it was neat to try different things. (well, the kids didn't think so but we did...)
Tonight the third kodiak aircraft arrived safely after flying over the ocean. We're thankful for God's protection of the various pilots who flew the plane.

We're Back!

It's been a while since I posted here... For some reason our internet Guardian blocked blogger for a while. But now we're back! So what has happened since that eventful trip to Jayapura?
Fun night! Once a year the school hosts fun night. Each class up to grade 8 has a booth or two and you can win candy or pay to have people soaked with water or forced to sing into a microphone. All the school children plus the children of any national school employees participate. Fun Times!

Mikah is the goalie for the junior varsity Futsal team. Here they are playing a team from a local junior high. They won 4-3! Mikah was pretty excited and did a great job in her first game as goalie.

Hugo's been super busy in the hangar. Lots of decisions to make!

I've been enjoying teaching PE to the Grade 1-2 class. Last class coincided with pajama day at school. Made for some interesting PE "uniforms". One cute boy wore his short pj shorts with matching shirt and knee high camouflage socks...

Today I brought Ice to the dentist to have impressions made for false teeth. She unfortunately lost a lot of her teeth at a young age and is left with one molar and her front teeth. I really hope that new teeth will help her eat well and feel good about herself!