There is such a fluster of activity around Sentani right now with everyone in preparation for Idul Fitri. This weekend is the end of their month of fasting and this weekend, the feasting begins. Houses are being painted, little wooden huts are being erected, and long pretty dresses are being aired out, fields are being prepared and piles of trash being burned. We will take pictures of some of the celebrations. We were invited to participate in a feast Saturday for lunch, not a Muslim feast, but just a huge celebration. That should be fun.
I know this is going to seem hard to believe, but for the first time since we came here, I got sunburned. I know, I know. I thought since we were so close to the equator, like 2 degrees below it, I would get fried everytime I went outside. But it wasn't until today, when Garth and I went back around the lake on the bike to take pictures, that I got burned. Boy, you could feel the intensity of the heat rising off the pavement. Yesterday when we took this ride it was so overcast and cool. Today, the heat was suffocating.
Garth's volleyball team had games today and won. YEAH! One game was 25 to 23 and I must say that it was making me quite nervous. But they did real well. The season is almost done and they are playing much better as a team unit.
One thing I have noticed here, is that often when we pay, the cashiers will give us little hard candies. I thought they were being nice because I have small children so I always made them say thank you. Well, come to find out that if the cashiers don't have the right coins to give us our change they will substitue it for candy. It would be interesting to see how that would go over at Wal-Mart. "Sorry, I am short $.50. Why don't you just pick out a candy bar?" Yeah, right!
During the afternoon today, our pembantu Agu came to get me and brought me to the door. Standing there were two men from the military base at the bottom of our hill going on and on to me about who knows what. I kept saying, "Saya tidak mengerti." (I don't understand.) Of course what I meant is that I don't understand Indonesian. What they thought was that I didn't understand what they were saying, so they just kept repeating it in different ways. Finally, I stuck my head in the door and hollered for Ibu Poppi and she came running. Apparently they thought I was in charge of the office of the school and had some issue to discuss. So Poppi showed them where to go. That was interesting. There is always something going on here. Garth will try to post pics from our lake drive today. Hope it works.Love to all,
Rachel
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