August 30, 2007 - Hari Kamis

In case you are wondering Harold---ANGELA, ANGELA, ANGELA, ANGELA, ANGELA, ANGELA, ANGELA, ANGELA, ANGELA is going to win!!!! Harry, Harry, Harry, Harry, Harry, Harry, Harry...

We had quite the downpour this morning when the kids all left for the beach. I am hoping that it is not raining at the beach. The place they were going is about 45 minutes away. It was very quiet here for dinner, but we invited a husband and his 2 kids over since their Mom was on the beach trip and we didn't want them to starve.
Sophie had her friend Maya over after school and we watched Sound of Music-she had never seen it. That was so fun. I love that movie. The girls wanted to watch the kiss over and over...Girl stuff. Wyatt had his friend Caleb over after school, and they read joke books, played out on the playground and played video games...Boy stuff.
Today was nice and cool. I think the only time I was sweating was when I went walking with Jodi. Garth on the other hand played 5 games of racquetball with his friend Scott and was quite drippy. How convenient to have a court so close. We are enjoying all of the perks that come from being here.
Garth and I both got a "Bagus sembali" (Very good job) from our Guru (Teacher) today in Indonesian class about our homework. Today we learned what to say at the market when we are shopping alone. I just need to bring my notebook with everywhere so I can read what to say.
I will use what I learned tomorrow when I go to the store. I am going to try to cook an Indonesian meal on Sunday for everyone. It is called Santan. Santan is actually coconut milk, but the dish is called that too. It has lemon grass, and tumeric and is very good. I had it once before but I have never made it. So we will see. Let me know if you want the recipe.(Hi, Mom)
I must tell you something bizarre before I go to bed. The other day I was talking to an Indonesian nanny that picks up a girl in Sophie's class, and she was with her friend. The friend knew some English so I was talking asking her questions. She asked where I was from in the States, and I said Wisconsin. "I know Wis. " she says. "My brother lives in Milwaukee. He moved there to go to MSOE and now works at Rockwell." I almost fell off the bench. What are the odds of bumping into someone here that knows someone from there? Amazing. I asked her if he was going to move back, but she said No, that he loves the snow.
Well, I have been IMing Carlena while I type this. She and Tess just got back from Great America. If you see her ask her how many times they went on the Giant Drop...Those two are just like a couple of kids when it comes to roller coasters.
I must go,
Love,
Rachel

Popi made Cale some burgers his size.

Cale doing his best Bono impression.

This is looking into the girls room from Cale's room. The second open door goes into our room.
This is looking at Cale's room and through to the girls' room from the hallway.

This is in our room looking toward the girls room with the corner of our shower on the left. Our toilet is next to Emma.
This is from the kid's bathroom looking into the living room and our room.



This is looking back the other direction into the bathroom from our room.

This is Wyatt's room from the hallway. His room is across from Cale's.

This is looking down our hallway into our living room. The first door on the left is a bathroom, first on the right is the kitchen. Wyatt's room is farther down on left and Cale's is on the right.
This is looking down the hallway from our living room in the other direction.

August 29 2007 - Beach Trip!

Excitement is in the air here. The high school kids are getting ready to go on a weekend trip to the beach. (Pacific Ocean) .They pack everything they will need and sleep right on the beach in sleeping bags under mosquito nets or in tents. Wyatt and I helped with some of the snacks making over 80 choc chip cookies. All together there are over 70 people going . This weekend we will only have one girl here, Kelsea, until Sat. night when they all come back. Kelsea is in 8th grade and will not go with.
Cale's foot is so much better. I only have to change the bandage once a day and I can cover it now with only one bandaid. Thanks for praying!
Oh, before I forget, the name of the bacterial infection that Ang had was campylobacter.
Also, some of you have been asking about our blog address. Yes, anyone can go to the site and the address is: http://anearfulfromtheericksons.blogspot.com .
The dorm kids are on a rotating dish crew schedule. Our kids are on there too. This week Sophie is on and yesterday she was washing. I could hear her singing Jesus songs-then she comes running in by me and says" Mom, quick I am out of songs and a boy is waiting." So I gave her some new ideas. Later I was talking to them about that experience and they said she was telling them all about her boyfriends. I guess at this time she has 4! She is quite the character.
Emma has made a great friendship with Lexie. Emma has such a sweet heart and so does Lexie so they mesh together real well. Wyatt is enjoying the friendships he has with the kids in his class-he found some boys that are very similar to him in interests. I have to search for them at dinner time. There are so many fun things to do and they have such freedom to run and play. What a great experience.
Many have been asking us about typical day-I put breakfast foods out on the table at night so the kids can get up and eat whenever they want. We are up with our kids at around 7,eat (there are usually dorm kids out there then), pack everything up for school, and walk the kids over by 7:45. Then we come back, check in with the pembantus, go over the menu, help clean up breakfast, make sure all the laundry is out, check e-mails, have people over, or an occasional meeting, and our language class, Sometimes Garth plays racquetball, or we take a walk with Cale, or just play with him. The Elementary kids have a big recess at 10. The playground is in our backyard so we can check on them and see how their day is going.( I have recess duty on Wed.)-then the kids all come home for lunch at 11:45, so we all eat together. They are off until 12:30, then go back to school until 3. Sophie and I usually bake an afternoon snack for everyone, and go to the library. We try to be here when they come home to see how their day went, and to see if they need to go to the store or need help with anything. Then Garth coaches boys volleyball, and I go walking with Jodi. We eat dinner at 6, then have group time (devotions), Our kids get ready for bed, showers, bedtime story, etc. Then we go out by the dorm kids to hang out, help with homework, talk, play ping pong, or foosball etc. Garth locks the door at 9 and lights out at 10ish. That gives you a bit of an idea. This hostel is the place to be. There are always people and kids dropping by, so that keeps the day interesting.
Thanks for the great e-mail, Harry... Can't wait to read more.
As a family we walked down to Multi-Jaya. It was the first time we went without an interpreter. It was so much fun. I kept using the phrase "Saya masi belagar Bahasa Indonesia." I am still learning the Indonesian language. If you haven't checked out our blog lately we put pictures of it on there. Emma and Sophie were having so much fun trying on shoes. I told them that today we were just looking and that next time they could get something. The shoes were around 45,000 rupiahs which sounds like a lot but is only $4.50.
Garth is looking at the possibility of buying a motorcycle. It is difficult to get around here without one. It seems like everyone has one. There are days that they only let you go one way on the bridge if you are in a car but you can go both ways on a motorcycle. Otherwise you have to go up and around the mountain and that takes a long time. Motorcylces here are not that expensive and used bikes go for almost as much as new ones so we can easily sell it when we leave. Don't worry I will make sure he gets helmets!
I have my Indonesian class in 15 minutes and I need to go over my homework.
Please pray for Garth's Mom Dottie. She is in the hospital. Please pray that God encourages her heart.
Until later,
Rachel

Cale sitting in our living room.
The corner of our house is in the foreground, both gyms are behind Sophie, and part of the playground is on the right.
This is our backyard-you see the gyms and the playground. Back behind the playground is the school.
This is our walk to school. See the sign in the background? Hillcrest International School
I just walked down the road you saw in the last pic. This is the playground with our house in the background.

This is the lunch room.
Wyatt with 2 of his good buds-Caleb and Jonathan.

Jonathan is our neighbor.
Wyatt and Caleb being goofy in the library. This is part of the kids wing. I am up in one of the reading lofts.

This is the view of our house if you walk up the road from school.
Someone carved this in the stone wall coming up our driveway.
(This is our Wal-Mart)This store is at the bottom of our hill and we can walk to it.

Emma trying on shoes!
This is the start of our driveway. The sign says the way to HIS, (Hillcrest...)
This is coming up our driveway to the gate house where security has to let you in.

Cale is goofing around while soaking his foot.

This is a construction worker. It's like 90 degrees and he's covered head to foot. Some of them are barefoot too.

A house made of sticks?

This one's for you Ang. Don't know what it means, but we thought of you when we saw it.
Here's a home...with satellite TV.

This is the steep hill up to the school. It's quite the workout.

(Yes, I pushed the stroller too!)

These guys were just playing soccer outside our gate.

A beautiful moonrise.

August 28, 2007 - Cale's dunking lesson

I think Cale is getting all of his accidents out of the way now so he won't have any later. Today when we were walking home from picking up Sophie from school, we walked right by one of our packing containers that I set out to catch rain water. Well, it was completely full and I think Cale misjudged the depth. He went to put his hands in and lost his balance and was submerged head first in the container with his feet up in the air. Luckily I was right there and so were the pembantu's. I grabbed him out and they quickly dumped the water. They are very protective of him. He came out sputtering, and was scared but ok. The other day when the cat went to bite at Cale cuz he was being too rough the pembantu's took turns spanking the cat and telling her "Tidak!" "No". We had a language class today. We have the same teacher that Wyatt has, Pak Johannis. Pak said that Wyatt is doing very well, and learning quickly. He gave us homework tonight-we have to make sentences out of our Indonesian vocabulary words and quiz each other.
Wyatt and Emma are loving all the space and freedom they have here. I have to search for them at dinner time. They love the playground and the gyms and having friends right here. There is always so much to do-and no TV is something that makes me happy! They haven't even asked about that and they don't miss it.
I want to explain the building picture that Garth put on the blog. This is a building that is going up at the bottom of our hill. It is amazing how they build. It honestly looks like they collected fallen sticks after a storm and then used them to build. But it works.
The water situation is a bit better today. We had water all day-YEAH! and the power came on so we were not on the generator. Things are looking up. We were supposed to have a lunear eclipse tonight that would have been great to see since it gets so dark up here. But we had a storm so it was too cloudy. Did anyone else see it?I got to talk to my Mom and Dad today using Instant messenger. It was awesome to hear their voices. If you have a similar version of windows live messenger, a microphone and speakers we should be able to talk to you. Let me know and I will try to set it up.
Selamat tingal-
Rachel

August 27, 2007 - Taxi rides

Taxi rides here are quite different than in the States. We took a taxi today to Jayapura (which is about an hour away) to go to the Papua New Guinea Consolate to interview for a visa to go to Vanimo to get our permanent visas. Pak Philipus was there when we got there and he told us that we were going to have to wait because they were in a meeting. A few minutes later he came out with some paperwork and filled it out with Garth. Then he said we could go. No interview. I know that you were praying because that is unheard of,. Things don't get done quickly here-we were so surprised. What a blessing. There are no changing tables anywhere and that is why on the blog you see me changing Cale standing up in the parking lot. So...after that, we asked the driver to take us to Multi-Grocer (It is their Sam's/Cosco). Garth put a picture of us there on the blog site. Looks a bit like the States.
Right before Garth and I and Cale walked down to Sentani to get a prescription for Cale today, I had been on the phone with my friend Jodi. She said that Jason should be flying in anytime on Batavia. As we walked down the driveway we saw a plane coming in, and they are close enough to read the names on the tail. Sure enough it was Batavia, so we were waving, but he was on the other side looking at his house and waving to his kids. We are teaching Cale to say "pasowat"-airplane. On our walk, right past our gate, was a group of Indonesian kids that asked us to take their picture when they saw our camera. So we did and showed it to them and they thought that was soooo cool. One of them said "Thank you Mister." Later on our walk, an Indonesian boy saw us and yelled out "Oreo." I think it was the only English word he knew.
I had a good bonding time with some of the dorm girls tonight. They are starting to open up. It's great. Tonight in Wyatt's prayer he prayed that the dorm kids would keep getting used to us. The ping pong table is another great bonding tool here. We got all the stuff we needed and now it is good to go.
Cale is improving a little at a time. His foot is very tender and sore, but he has a great attitude. We are trying to think of creative ways to get him to take his medicine (3 xs a day). We switched it today to a liquid which will be better than the powder, however the flavors here are not what they are in the States.
Night is here,
Love you all,
Rachel

Wyatt and Cale playing PS2.

Cale is a cool cat.

Here comes the saga of his foot.

Staff infection.

Dr. Di did a great job of patching Cale up.

Gross, huh?

Cale and Rach on the soccer field.

Emma accidentally tripped Soph. Face plant!!

We drove all the way to Jayapura (about an hour away) and this is all we did.

Sophie was helping Yuli with the dishes.

This is the traffic in Abe. Everything in this picture is MOVING!

Shopping is the same all over the world.

August 26, 2007 - Staff Infections Stink!

Thank you to whoever invented generators. The power has been out for 4 days and we have still had electricity and computers thanks to the generator. However, Pak Pete went into town today to buy more gas for the generator and found out that they are out of gas. So if you don't hear from me for awhile, you will know why. Today was full of anxiety and prayer. When Cale got up this morning I noticed that there was something wrong with his big toe on his left foot and his ring toe. I had a sinking feeling that it was staff infection. It looked terrible. Garth will put some pictures of it on the blog site. I stayed home from church and soaked it in some epsom salts and warm water. Then when church was over, Doctor Di said she would see him in the clinic. She confirmed that it was staff and that she had to open it up and get the infection out. Cale was amazing. He did not shed a tear. He didn't even try to pull his foot away. She did a number on the infection and thinks that she got it all. The Doctor couldn't believe he was so good, and that he had still been able to walk on it. She said that he must have been in a lot of pain (no wonder he hasn't been himself lately). So he is on antibiotics for 10 days and we are praying that it doesn't spread. I can't write more tonight. The power is out, and there is not much battery on this comp. Pray for Cale.
Love you,
Rachel

Mommy and Cale make a friend.

Cale just pondering God's beauty.

Sometimes you just gotta stop and smell the...flowers.

Daddy and Cale watching the

construction workers.

Working on a hot, tin roof. Ouch!

Where's the plane Cale? "I oh know."

Becca and Sharieta are reminded of their

childhood by Emma and Sophie's Barbies.

Josue and Mark take an opportunity to wash the bike.

Did I mention that it rains?

Popi has a helper.

Wyatt got a ride on a friend's motorcycle.