Filling in some holes

As Rachel and I have matured in our "bloggingness" (is that a word?) we have decided to try to fill in some of the holes in the early part of our Indonesian journey. So...we scoured our emails and came up with some that should do that. Please be aware that some of the content is to individual persons and might not be riveting blog reading :). If you don't want to read it that's fine. Thanks for just stopping by.

Garth



July 23, 20007
God did teach me an interesting lesson today. It was 104 degrees here at 5:00. The kids wanted to go out but they were so hot. So I let them put on their swimsuits. I have no water hose, so I filled up a plastic pitcher with water and I was just pouring it on them. They were having so much fun. The water was making a puddle on the sidewalk. Cale was splashing in it, and sitting in it-he even laid in it. Then later at 6:00 we decided to take them to a local pool/waterpark. We got there and Wyatt, Emma, and Sophie ran right into the water and dove in. Cale saw a puddle on the side of the pool and was splashing in it, just like before-oblivious to the huge pool a few feet in front of him. And I thought about how many times in my life, God has such great things waiting for me, but I am stuck splashing in the puddle;not yet ready to move. Well, I feel like we are about to go dive into the pool. And I hope I am ready.

Love ya,
Rach


This is an email from Wyatt to his cousin Adam in Poland.

July 23, 2007
Hi. I am here in Nampa, Idaho. Today it was 104 degrees. My Mom and Dad took us to a waterpark. It was fun. I kept going down the blue slide. It was fast. Yesterday we went to a rodeo, the Snake River Stampede. You would have loved it. They had little kids 4 yrs. old - 7 years old-trying to see who could ride a sheep the longest without getting thrown off. The longest was a boy that went like 30 seconds. They had calf roping, and barrel racing, and chuck wagon racing, and bull riding. It was exciting. I have been wondering what you have been doing. I miss playing with you. E-mail me and tell me how you are. I have been meeting lots of kids from all over the world, Guatemala, the Netherlands, Ecuador, and a boy from Indonesia. Wish we could still play together.
Miss you,
Wyatt


August 4, 2007
We left today. Lots of problems. We took Cale to the ER twice yesterday. In the morning for fever, runny nose, major fussy…to check his ears and throat. They said he was fine. Just viral. He kept screaming inconsolably for a long time so we took him back at 11:30 p.m. and there was a huge wait. Very busy. We would have been there for hours. So we came home, gave him some medicine, prayed, put him to bed in our room so we could check on him, and tried to sleep. What a way to spend the night before a big international trip! He had been so sick with diarrhea. Poor boy. He slept until 10 am and woke up better, but now he has a rash all over and a fever and a runny nose, but he is not as fussy.
We have all been sick. Wyatt has a very sore throat and fever. His eyes look terrible. I had to go to Quick Care on Saturday with a bad bacterial infection-terrible sore throat, huge glands, achy, fever, runny nose etc. I got on an antibiotic right away which helped. Then Sophie felt sick and now Cale. Once again Emma and Daddy go untouched. I missed 2 ½ days of classes from being sick.
We just got our passports and visas yesterday. We have not been able to get our resident visas, so we just got our temporary ones. I went yesterday for my second Hep b shot. Russ and Carol took most of the family up on a flight. I couldn’t go, Cale and I were still sick. They flew everyone over the desert and they landed right by a cliff where the kids could throw rocks over the edge. Wyatt wants to be a pilot. We are traveling with Valerie and Katherine-teachers in Wamena-Kathryn and Al Fortin (she will be Wyatt’s teacher), and Scott and Heidi price and their 2 kids Mijo, and Nick.
Right now we are flying into San Francisco. Emma said, “I wish Grammo and Grampo were here, and Eena would love this!” It is 7:50 pm Idaho time. At the gate waiting for our Taipei flight (12:45 am Wi time) Sophie was looking at the little picture book Carlena made me. She said, “This makes me be thinking about them. Oh, I wish I could just kiss Eena right now.” Of course that made me bawl. Then Emma starts to cry, and Sophie says, “Just pretend like this picture is really Eena when you miss her.”
In Idaho we had to pay $625 for our extra luggage.
I am going to go a little out of order here because when I wrote this I was delirious with exhaustion, so humor me.
TAIPEI
This is a 5 hour flight. We watched movies and slept. The Taiwan airport did not have options to eat except for one. At least where we were. The place had bagels, (no cream cheese) and muffins and good ham and cheese croissants sandwiches. We paid with our visa card and it cost us about $30.00. They did not speak English but it was easy enough to point. They did have bottled water. Make sure you have some bottled water to take with you. After we ate, we found a quiet place to relax and rest while we waited. Bring some toilet paper or tissues and wipes just in case. The other flight attendants at the desks spoke English so that helped.
JAKARTA
We flew China Air from San Francisco to Taipei to Jakarta. Our gate was A7. At the airport, you will go through security, but it is not like the States. Leave your shoes on. And everything goes through the x-ray conveyor belt thing. You don’t have to take out your Ziploc baggies of 3 oz bottles. YOU CAN EVEN TAKE YOUR WATER-just walk right through with it. HAVE A PHOTO ID. We found our gate and then went back through security to eat. This was the airport where we needed toilet paper. There are a lot of people in a very small place here waiting for this flight. You are definitely the minority.
The first flight was at 1:00 am. You get on and they feed you dinner. The food was good-and very pretty on the tray. They are very courteous and kind. Ask them for anything-they are happy to help. Sleep on this flight. There are movies on the screens in the seats and on the big screen, but sleep here would be best. It is a 12 hour flight.
Tuesday 2:00 pm We are finally here! Things to remember when you come through Jakarta. Some of the ATM’s in JAKARTA work and some don’t. Just keep trying. Switch over some money to rupiahs at the airport through the ATM to tip the bell man and for food. The Lucky Strike booth has lots of good bottled water. Buy a bunch. There is an A&W and a Dunkin Donuts there. You can go through security with your bags and then go back out to eat. The flight might say delayed on the board, but that doesn’t mean that it actually is. Sit and see. They will make an announcement about the delay-watch the Indonesians reaction. If they grumble then you know it is really delayed. The announcement might say that it is delayed until 11:30 and then they will decide to leave at 10:45, so stay put when it is getting close to the time. Listen around you for an Indonesian that speaks English and ask them what the announcement said. Get a lot of water 2 or 3 each there at the airport. Do not use the water at the hotel, not even to brush your teeth and don’t open your mouth in the shower.
We had Bob meet us and help us with the bags and customs and to take us to the hotel room. It is right there in the airport. We walked right through customs with Bob-it was great. Bob tipped the bag guys. Get to the hotel and sleep right away. We only had 3 hours there and I was thinking we should bathe all the kids etc. but we didn’t ,we just slept. And it was NOT long enough. It was so hard to wake them up and get going again. So if you can stay overnight I would HIGHLY suggest that you do. Put the DO NOT DISTURB sign on the door. THERE IS NO ALARM CLOCK. If Bob is with you he can set up a wake- up call.
The flight from JAKARTA to JAYAPURA - You will more than likely fly Garuda airlines. The stewardess’ there know some English, so you should be able to communicate. You will make at least 2 stops. The first one don’t get off. The second one you have to get off because they clean. They will park the plane in the lot and you walk out to the airport. Go to the bathroom on the plane, not at the building. The building bathroom is terrible. When you get off the airplane and go into the airport (tiny building), look for a sign overhead (I think it is blue) that says transfer or transit. YOU MUST TAKE YOUR BOARDING PASSES WITH YOU WHEN YOU LEAVE THE AIRPLANE so have them with you. You will have to show them at the transfer counter to get transfer tickets. The transfer ticket really has no purpose-you get a paper that you show to the flight attendant on your way back onto the plane. The first leg of the trip on Garuda, they went through with the meal cart, and had the lights on for awhile. Then they turned them down, so it was nice for sleeping. At this landing some people got off and more got on, but you don’t have to get off. Then they leave the cabin dark for about 2 hours. Do all you can to sleep during that time. It will really help you in the end. Then the lights come on for drinks-we were recommended to not get a drink with ice-but it is up to you. They have great apple juice. The last leg of the trip is only about 50 minutes. You get a box meal-a green tea/peanut muffin, a bread roll with meat in it, and a water.
When you land, you can see the MAF hangar as you walk off the plane towards the airport. It will be hot, smelly and lots of smokers. Your bags will come fairly quick.
Then you are there!!!! The HIS school is only a few minutes away. The MAF base is so close you can walk.
Welcome to Sentani!