Here I am up before the sun feeding Cale because he thinks it is time to get up. Just thought I would see if any one was online while I feed him. I was just sitting here listening to the Muslim call to prayer. We can here it from our house. It sounds so pretty. I will try to record it so you can hear it some time. Yesterday, Thurs., we went over for a tour of the kids school, so they could see their classrooms. The view from their rooms is amazing. The classes are air conditioned, YEAH, and the teachers are real nice. Emma's teachers name is Emma Macelroy. She is from Northern Ireland and will teach the kids how to do the riverdance. That is awesome. Sophie's teacher just found out that he has lyphoma so he is back in the states getting treatment so she will have a teacher that I haven't met. The lady has been a previous Kindergarten teacher and I hear that she is nice. They all have a covered outdoor hallway with classes off the side toward the mountain and their lockers are even outside. It is absolutely beautiful. They all seemed real excited.
Well, I made my first dinner here last night. Pancakes and eggs and streaky bacon. I was able to find one store with syrup. Once my containers come I will be learning how to make my own syrup. I brought maple flavoring. The pancakes turned out fine. The kids gobbled up the familiar food. You can find brown eggs everywhere in the market, but never in the fridge.
Cale is done, so I am going back to bed. Talk more soon.
We just had a very pleasant day. This morning I was able to work around the house getting the kids rooms decorated. Then this afternoon some of our containers came, so I worked on unpacking them. That was so fun. The kids were excited to see their stuff. Some things have been packed away since the beginning of June. It was like Christmas. Their rooms are turning out really cute. They are enjoying them. I have asked if I could paint some murals here, esp. in the kids rooms since they are concrete and I can not hammer nails in to hang pictures. We will see if I can. I had the first mishap of our trip with the ceiling fan in the girls room. It had been off the whole time I was decorating. I got down off of the top bunk to look at the room, Garth turned the fan on to see if everything would stay in place with the fan. I noticed that the material was a little crooked and hopped up to straighten it, (forgetting about the fan), and of course backed right into it. It sliced my arm and right through my shirt, ripping my shirt. It is amazing how sharp they can be. We are praying that Emma remembers it is there and does not slice open her head. We are trying to keep the fan on all the time to help her remember and to help cool off the room.
Tonight we hung out with friends of ours from college that live here in Sentani. They have 3 kids the same age as our first 3. They have a great house and yard with lots of animals. They took us out to dinner to a place called Mickey's. It was very good. The last hostel parents took the dorm there every Sunday after church, and I think we will do that too.
Right now we are getting a great downpour of rain. It is a wonderful sound how it echos all around.
Well, I am off to bed and you all should just be getting up. Hopefully our other containers will come shortly. We had a few problems with the ones we got. I had my liquid medicines in 2 plastic bags, but one leaked anyway and made quite the mess. A glass framed picture broke. Also, one of the bags of chocolate chips opened up and started melting all over the other items in the container. I haven't even begun to figure out how to clean all of those yet. Tomorrow. I must go now. Salamat Jalan!
Good night!
August 11
I had a very profitable Saturday. This morning I finished organizing the kids rooms and worked on some of our room. The girls had a friend over, so that kept them busy. Garth played racquetball, and Wyatt played in the gym. So I got a lot done while Cale slept. I made my first batch of Indonesian muffins-pretty good! I also made a jell-o for tomorrow-we are having friends over and attempting to make homemade pizza. I am making the dough and she is bringing the mozarella, and she even had some pepperoni in her freezer. We will see how it compares to what we know. We made the house look more like a home today. We brought some chimes that Garth's Dad and Priscilla had gotten for us awhile back. Those are at our front door along with a peace stone that my friend Angela gave us and some Welcome signs that we had in our house in Wi. It is nice to see familiar things. I am learning how to adjust to the power going off. For some reason it tends to go off and on quite a bit. Sometimes it comes right back on and sometimes it doesn't.
I found out that we have a mango tree in our backyard and one of our pembantu's (house helpers) Ibu Agu, climbed up the tree and picked me some. They are very good. If you come I will have her pick you some. Except for my Mom, she is very allergic to mango. We had a lady come to our door selling pineapples that she had just picked, so of course we had to buy some of those. We also had a lady at our door selling homemade tortillas. They were ok.
The pembantu's are so helpful. I keep hearing how lucky I am to have good help. I guess it is hard to find here. My friend Jodi has gone through so many and now has none because she can't find a good one. Our pembantu's jump to help me- I am learning how to mix up milk, and powdered juice and how to light the oven, how to cook with celsius (180 degrees=350 degrees). The kids make them laugh and laugh.
They are amazing with the laundry-better than me.
O.k . I need to go figure out how to make the bread dough for the pizzas.
Talk to you all tomorrow,
I wanted to describe our house to you. It sounds complicated but hopefully you can kind of figure it out.
The 12 kids should arrive this next weekend. When you walk in the front door, there is a boys dorm wing off to the left, and a girls dorm off to the right. If you go straight, it is the living room, turn to the left from the living room and there is the dining room, off the dining room is a big sun room (screened in porch), behind the dining room table is the huge kitchen to the right and our quarters to the left. Our quarters have a hallway with a bathroom off to the left, then Wyatt's room farther down on the left, and the girl's room and Cale's room to the right. At the end of the hallway is a door that goes to the air conditioned living room with a bathroom, large closet, our room and our bathroom.
Off the side of the house is the pembantu's quarters with the laundry facilities. They do not live here, but they have a place for their stuff-food etc. for the day. We will try to take a video and some pictures so you can see it. We have orientation on the 15th and 16th, so we will learn more then about what our new lives will be like.
We had friends in Jakarta during the earthquake and they said that the windows in the hotel were shaking. But we did not feel it here.
Ok I need to go.
August 12
Our first Sunday in Sentani, and we got cussed at in church. There was this funny little 69 yr. old man giving the sermon and he was talking through phases of his life starting when he was 3. He told a story about when he went to his uncle's Army induction service and how he still remembers the song they sang. Then he proceeds to sing "You're in the Army now, You're not behind a plow, You won't be rich, You son of a bitch, You're in the Army now." Needless to say, all of us Mom's had all of our kids in the service listening. There were a few raised eyebrows and surprised faces.I still am not sure exactly why he sang that…but whatever. During the service they asked for prayer requests and praises, so people were standing up to talk.There were about 100 people there and after about 8 or 9 people talked, Sophie says to me, "I am going to say something." Then she stands up and says (in her cute little voice) "We've been here 6 days." And sits down. It was the cutest thing. That girl is never intimidated.
The pizza turned out ok. I had an awful time trying to figure out the oven. It is not my friend right now, but I know I will figure it out. We asked a couple of people for help but no one seems to know.
Our friends the Olver's came over for lunch then hung around to play. I filled up 6 of our empty packing containers with water for the kids to sit and splash in and cool off. Garth had a driving lesson with a guy here. He went out 2 times and did quite well I guess. I am not looking forward to that. There are crazy drivers in Sentani.
Every Sunday night the kids play soccer in the gym, the Kindergarteners-2nd grade first, then the big kids. So we did that. Sophie said, "Is it the one where I bounce the ball or hit it with a bat?" I said "You kick it with your feet." She said,"O.K., I'll try it." They had a lot of fun with that.Well, my eye lids are droopy. I must go.
August 13
Today was hot, very hot. I took the kids to the school library. It is very nice. We will be regulars there and I sure we will read almost every kids book before we leave. Back home I went every week and always checked out a large stack and we would read every one. The library is air conditioned and has 2 large reading lofts where the kids can go to have their own space. Sophie and Emma came home, read their books and then walked back to return and get more. It is so nice how close it is.
I made some banana bread today and my first loaf of white bread. Both, surprisingly, turned out ok in the oven. I have been told that I have one of the good ovens (so I guess I should not complain that it is so temperamental).
Garth played raquetball with one of the pilots here, Brent. He had a great time even though the court is not air conditioned. I went walking with my friend Jodi tonight. The most beautiful walk I have probably ever taken. There is a very long hilly paved driveway coming up to the school with a gate and watchmen keeping guard. A perfect place to walk. Tonight the sun was setting and we could hear the Muslims singing their prayers from the Mosque. Cale loved it. We are right by the Jayapura airport so jets will fly very low overhead as they prepare to land. You would be amazed at how low and close they are. Cale can hear them coming and runs to the window to see.
Tomorrow afternoon I am going to go to Abepura to do some shopping. Our main pembantu (house helper), the cook, gave me a 5 page list of what she needs to get the house running again, so I am going to get that stuff with Jason and Jodi since they can drive and they know Indonesian. Bless Garth's heart, he will be here with all 4 of our kids and 3 of theirs. We are taking the kids to a pool tomorrow morning so Cale will be ready for a nap and hopefully sleep while I am gone. That will make it easier for Garth. I didn't realize how much extra effort it would take here to keep track of Cale. At home, he could just run around and be fine. Here we have to keep watch of him at all times, so when he is up one of us is on Cale duty. Yesterday, Garth took him and they walked around the grounds. They were gone for at least an hour and a half. I got TONZ done during that time.
Wyatt has a new friend that lives just up the hill from us, Jonathan, and he has a trampoline that they bought in the states and had shipped. He has enjoyed that. Oh, speaking of shipped, the rest of our containers came today.!!!!!! Everything was there and nothing was broken.
We just found out today that the big dorm van does not have air conditioning in it. So there is someone coming to figure out what to do about that. There is a fan, but the kids in the back will roast. It is a really nice van only one year old and its name is Gus. Hopefully they will get it installed.
Well, time for bed. Thanks to everyone that has e-mailed me back. It is one of the highlights of my day, when I can sit down and hear from you. Keep it up.
August 14
Last week at this time we were just getting to Sentani. What a week. I am amazed at how much change can happen in such a short amount of time. This first week was the hardest, I am sure. I know that it will get better from here on out. I am sitting here exhausted after a very profitable day. Our pembantu Ibu Poppi gave me a list, a 5 or 6 page list, of all the items she would need to get the dorm up and running again. So I ventured out with friends Jason and Jodi and we went to a town called Abepura where they actually have a Mulit-Grocer.(Like Cosco)and we went to town. We spent over $1700.00 dollars American. I was amazed at some of the stuff on the list. She wanted me to buy 80 bags of flour. I only bought 40 and cases of bleach, baking soda, and noodles and everything you can imagine. We couldn't get everything at one store so we actually wound up going to 4 stores. We were in one store when the power went out, it was pitch black. That was an experience. Thankfully it did not last long. All of the fresh produce will be picked up or delivered from the market every day. We bought so much from the Multi-Grocer that they are delivering it tomorrow in a truck. And another truck is coming to deliver all of the meat. The best part of the day is that we went by a KFC and picked up 2 buckets of chicken for dinner. The chicken came with 1 side-rice. It was very good. Garth stayed with the kids and some other friends of ours took them all to the pool. They had a wonderful time. I have been getting e-mails full of questions and instead of answering them individually, I am going to do it here. I hope that is ok. It is the easiest for me and the least time consuming.Does it cool down much at night? Does it cool down at any time of the year? Why is there a guard at a gate? Does that enclose the school? It's nice to know the library is so close and air conditioned. Do they have a lot of kids books? What are the hazards that you have to watch Cale so closely? It does cool down at night, some nights more than others. I am sitting here right now quite comfortable, but last night when I did my e-mail I was quite hot. There is not really a cool season. The joke is that Indonesia has 2 seasons-hot and wet. There is a guard at the gate for safety. The school is up on a hill and is enclosed by a fence around the perimeter. There is a lot of property here and a lot of people. The school just wants to keep us all safe. The library has a lot of kids books. We are working our way through them. The house is not childproofed, and there are so many things that Cale can get into. All of the doors push out so he could easily go out and we would never know. How are you adjusting to having house help? I can't wait to hear about your trip to the market. Will you travel in Gus with no a/c? How are the roads? How far is the market? I am really enjoying my pembantu's. There are 4 that work up here in the hostel. We have Ibu Poppi (she is in charge and the oldest, and I am told one of the best cooks in Sentani), Ibu Yulli (pronounced like Julie), Ibu Augustina (we call her Agu), and Ibu Yosina (Yosi). They are so nice and helpful. I have learned how to say, "tolong kasih tahu bagimana..." Please show how to make work... and "Apa kata untuk itu...?" What is the word for...? Ibu Poppi
told Jodi today that she is so excited to have us here and that she is going to make Indonesians out of us. She scooped up Cale today and walked away with him (even though he was bawling) and took him to see the airplane flying in. She told Jodi that Cale likes only her. We did not go to the market in Gus, we went in Jason and Jodi's van because they have a/c. There is a market right at the bottom of our hill, but the one we went to was about 45 minutes away right now because they are redoing a bridge, the main bridge. Some of the roads are horrendous. Today was very windy and bumpy and I did feel car sick.Are you getting down to a routine? Is Cale sleeping thru the nite? How is your arm?
We are not in a routine right now because everyday has been something different. People tend to drop by right as we are getting ready for family time or devotions or going to put the kids down for bed etc. Once school starts and the dorm kids get here we will get ourselves into a routine. Cale is doing ok with sleeping. He has been waking up early like 6ish, but otherwise everyone is doing well with adjusting to the time zone and sleeping etc. My arm looks worse than it is right now. It is healing fine. Maybe we will take a picture. We moved the beds into Cale's room and undid the bunks. There wasn't room for two beds in the girls room so we had to switch rooms, which means all of my decorating has to be redone. Oh, well. It won't take as long the second time.
Last night we had a lady come to our door selling sweet rolls. They were ok, not at all like my Mom's. Tomorrow we have orientation from 8-12. Jason and Jodi are watching our kids for us at their house and then having us over for lunch. That will be fun. The kids are looking forward to it. Jason has an amazing yard, shaded, with great climbing trees and they have lots of animals.
o.k. this is the latest I have stayed up since we came but I do want to try to send out an e-mail a day. If you know of someone that is not on my e-mail list that wants to be let me know and I will add them.
We do miss you all, but it helps to keep in touch through e-mails, so thank you to everyone for writing. Even you Harald!!!!
Have a great day.
Talk to you tomorrow
Rachel
August 15
Today was our orientation, and it was very helpful. We received a student and a faculty handbook. We also got a feel for how the school runs and found out all that is available to us. There is a doctors clinic right here at the school with doctor and at least 2 nurses. That will be great. Their services are free to us as staff. They can write prescriptions for medicines they do not have in the clinic, and there is a pharmacy at the bottom of our hill. These are actual certified doctors and nurses with equipment to do just about anything. I told the nurse, Peggy, how interested I am in medical stuff and she said she would be happy to teach me what she knows. Yeah!!! She said I can come by the clinic on Tuesday to start. I will learn how to do malaria slides to check the kids for malaria.
We had our first hostel committee mtg. here at the house tonight. They sat around and answered our questions and let us know that they are here for us when we have problems.. They are here to give us breaks and weekends off when we need them etc. Very nice people.
I am a little nervous. All of the food I bought yesterday was supposed to be delivered today by truck. They said they would deliver it "Salamat xiung" which is between 11-3. When it didn't come I had someone call, and the store said "salamat sore" which is between 3 and about 6, but it never showed up. Our pembantus are waiting for some of that stuff, the cleaning supplies and the laundry soap etc. trying to get the dorm ready before the kids come this weekend. So hopefully tomorrow.
I just heard that Angela is in the hospital. If anyone has an update about that please e-mail me ASAP. Even you Harry.
ttyl,
Rachel
August 16
I had a cultural day, to say the least. This morning Garth went to orientation, I stayed home with the kids. And before I knew it I had a house full of Indonesians talking ot me about stuff I did not know. I had 2 guys that came to do something with the beds, I wasn't sure what. The other day, I sent for someone to come fix 2 of the beds on the dorm side, and I also sent for someone to deliver a bed on our side. I couldn't tell if these were any of the guys I was waiting for. They were trying to tell me what they needed, and I couldn't help them. Then we had a man in our laundry facilities calling for me and all 4 of our pembantu's were standing there waiting for me to do something with this man, but I didn't know what. So I told them all to just wait- one moment. I put Wyatt in charge of all of the kids and I ran over to our neighbors house because I knew that she spoke Indonesian. She helped me with the beds and I found out that the pembantu's were looking at a new washer that had just been delivered from Jakarta (I had no idea I would be getting a new washer!) It is very much like an old washer you would see in the states, and the pembantu's didn't know how to use it. So we showed them how. They thought it was broken because the water stops when you open the lid. So my neighbor, Angela, was VERY helpful.
Later, the truck did arrive with the groceries that we bought. They unloaded it all in the driveway and we had to bring it in. (Customer service is not a big deal anywhere around here). We got everything except the sugar. Bummer! But Garth saved the day and ran into town with a guy named Scott and grabbed a dozen bags to hold us over. YEAH!
Tonight all of the staff of the school went out to a restuarant for dinner and if you wanted you could go on a boat ride before. So all of us first timers went on the boat. It is not what you are picturing-not the Viking on Kueka Lake-not the Walworth II on Lake Geneva. It was an open, wood plank oversized canoe. But it was beautiful out on Lake Sentani. We went past many villages of tin huts up on stilts right in the water. The kids would run out to wave and they would yell out the English words they know. So cute!!!! We are working on sending pictures. Everything here is a work in progress. Thanks for your patience.There is more I wanted to say, like about the HARRY rat in the restuarant, but I will save it for tomorrow because the power keeps going off and it is a pain to wait and then log back on etc.
so I will say good night.
Love you all
Rachel
August 17
Happy Independence Day!!!! Today in Indonesia is the holiday equivalent to our 4th of July.
It was very quiet here. Our pembantus came in the morning but after 12 it was like the hill shut down. We could hear festivites going on downtown, and we walked down a little but couldn't see much. One of their favorite things to do is to grease up a pole and then try to climb to the top. No fireworks though.
So for us today was rather relaxing. We are trying to finish up last minute things before the kids come. Walking with our kids down the hill was fun. We watched quite a few planes come in for landings and saw one take off. While we were standing on the hill with the mountains all around us, I was talking to the kids about how I didn't want them to take this beauty for granted. That when we leave I want them to remember how this all looks. Wyatt and Emma were totally understanding me and then there is Soph. She says (as only she can) "Why don't you just take a picture?"What a goob! (Hi, Harry!)
We took the kids to the library and then spent awhile reading through new books, we played games, watched a movie, and just had fun hanging out.
Tomorrow should be a little more crazy as kids should start coming. We had a treat tonight. I found some ice cream at one of the stores I went to, so we had that after dinner. I was told that you can find any flavor here except for vanilla. They even had strawberry, bubblegum orange as one flavor.(Hi Mom, and Eena)
Wyatt sent an e-mail to one of his friends today talking about how cool Indonesia is. That makes me happy. I am glad that he is doing ok here. The kids all seem to be doing real well. It will be nice for them when school starts on Monday because a lot of families have been gone for the summer,and once school starts there will be more kids to play with.
Garth is frustrated with not being able to drive here until we get our visas. He was supposed to pick some of the dorm kids up from the airport, and even just the convenience of taking the kids to the store if they forgot anything. But we can't change it. Our visas will come when they come. We have just under 7 weeks left on our temporary visas, so hopefully they will come by then.
I need to go.
Thank you to all who are keeping on touch with me. Please pray for my friend Ang as she is in the hospital, they are running tests to see what is wrong with her, and Garth's friend Curt is also in the hospital. He got hit in the head with a softball and can't remember being a pastor, or having a wife, or daughter...then they found blood clots in his lungs...so pray.
Love to all-
Rachel
No comments:
Post a Comment