Welcome to Papua! (not New Guinea)

So...Here we are, all the way in Papua, Indonesia. Papua used to be called Irian Jaya, but the people of this part of the nation wanted independence and by way of some sort of compromise, they agreed upon a name change. So Papua it is.

We spent the afternoon packing our things up for the evening flight. We were told that it would probably be a 2 hour drive from Ibu Connie's house, and with a 9pm flight, decided that we should have a taxi sent at 5pm, to arrive by 7pm (since security protocols were supposed to be more stringent, especially since the bombing in Jakarta). Nur, the sweet, sweet maid with the fabulous smile in Ibu Connie's house, came around 2pm to let us know that the taxi's arrival time had been changed from 5pm to 4.30pm. No one seemed to know the reason for this alteration, but we still had plenty of time to get ready, so no huge deal.

We gathered our things and waited by the door at 4.20pm. Then we waited. And waited some more. And at 5pm, the taxi arrived. Perhaps the taxi was told 4.30pm so that it would actually arrive at 5pm?? It was a big car, but it's trunk was of questionable size for all the luggage--there are four of us, we each have a personal bag of medium size and there's an oversized team bag filled with our supplies...not to mention two poster tubes filled with poems and such, and our individual carry-on items. By some miracle, the driver fit all our bags into his trunk, and we were on our way, with more beatific smiles from Nur as she waved and called out "see you next week!"

Initially, the traffic didn't seem too congested (I've seen much worse on the 405 in CA and the 95 back East). At some point though, things slowed down a lot and the driver got a bit anxious when he realized that none of us spoke Bahasa Indonesian. Eventually, he asked us our flight time and when we explained that we weren't to depart until 9pm that night, he seemed much more relaxed :)

We made it to the airport in plenty of time (though poor Gracie had a bit of motion sickness from the extended cab ride)--checked in without hassle (had to pay a 40,000 rupiah airport tax for some reason that was not explained in English, haha) and went on a mission to find ourselves some dinner. We ended up at two little (semi-sketchy looking) cafes, that were pretty much identical except one had red chairs and the other had yellow ones. We opted for the yellow cafe. The people working there must have been shaking their heads at us as we tried to interpret the meager menu. Grace had pulled out her phrase book and we were working word by word through the menu. In the end, we all ordered either mie goreng or nasi goreng (stir fried noodles or stir fried rice, both with veggies), which were the only two items on the menu that we actually figured out without the phrasebook. The food was adequate--airport food, afterall--and then we treated ourselves to a DELICIOUS cream puff from Beard Papa's, this bakery from Japan that I've seen in NYC, right by NYU's campus.

After dinner, we went through security, whose protocols did not seem stringent by my standards, anyway. Again, no hassles (God has definitely seen us through on that end, for sure!), and we took a seat near the entrance to the waiting area for our gate, on some comfy benches. I kept thinking how much nicer this part of the airport was as compared to the terminal in which we had arrived...that is, until we actually entered the waiting area. The chairs were quite battered and stained, and the toilets were simply NASTY. But, the squarish room had truly high vaulted ceilings in a traditional and ornate style. It made the room itself rather beautiful. Eventually we were told that our flight had been moved to another gate, so we waited in a different room, but much the same. Finally, our flight was called for boarding (it's funny--we were up while they were making the announcement in Indonesian, before they even got to the English part).

I must admit that when we boarded the Garuda Indonesia flight, I felt more tense than on the previous two. The plane was obviously older and I was aware that Indonesia's air safety record is not the best. I wasn't freaking out, but I was definitely praying that God keep the flight safe. It was also a comfort to know that I had people around the world lifting up those same prayers!

The flight to Jayapura in Papua, Indonesia involved really 3 different flights: Jakarta to Makhasar; Makhasar to Biak; and finally, Biak to Jayapura. All three flights took place on the same plane, and we had been told that we could remain on the plane in the transit airports. Unfortunately, that was not the case. And so began what we have fondly named "The night tour of the Indonesian Airports."

When we landed in Makhasar, we were not only required to disembark, but to take all our carry-on luggage with us. This was a lot, and keep in mind that this also occurring at approximately 1am. We were far from pleased. And imagine our displeasure when we discovered that not only did we have to go into the airport, but that to enter the waiting area we had to go through security, AGAIN, just to get back on the same plane in the same seats with the same crew. It all seemed pretty ridiculous. It wasn't like the security procedures were intense, but it was an annoyance to a group of people who really just wanted to be sleeping! Poor Liz had taken a sleeping pill and she was semi delirious (there's photo documentation of our joy to be in that airport).

The airport terminal seemed fairly modern, but somehow, there were no TOILETS!! When we got back on the plane, we asked the flight attendant if we would have to do this each time and he told us that it was up to the airport's discretion. We held out hope that Biak would be more reasonable. Unfortunately, they were not. Biak was tiny. It's on a smaller island, and the airport was little more than a small garage/building with only one boarding gate, and yet, we went through security, yet again, and entered a room that at least had toilets, haha. The flight from Biak to Jayapura was less than an hour and pretty smooth. There was also a change in flight crews here.

One good thing that I can say about the airline was that they kept us fed. On every flight (even the last leg, which was 55 minutes), they offered us a meal. In the 7 hours from Jakarta to Jayapura, we were given more food than on the 14 hours from JFK to Tokyo!

On that final flight, we were all awake. We had met someone in the waiting room in Biak who is associated with MAF (mission aviation fellowship), the organization that Wally, our contact here, works for. I think that the anticipation of reaching the place we had actually planned this trip for was enough to keep our exhausted bodies functioning. And when we stepped off the plane in Jayapura, we were not disappointed.

Even from the airport tarmac you can see beauty all around you. In the distance, there are fabulous views of "Mt. Cyclops," one of the more prominent features of this region. We of course stopped for a photo op--and despite our total exhaustion and having traveled through the night, the picture looks good (don't worry, pictures to come...though you may have to wait for our return...)!! Wally met us at the airport, outside the terminal, before the baggage carousel. As Grace commented, thank God that he met us there instead of outside the terminal as expected, because collecting our baggage would have been a nightmare! There were hordes of people, as three flights had landed within 30 minutes of each other, and they were all crowded around the single functioning baggage carousel, waiting expectantly. Wally took charge and we described our bags so he could capture them. We had a bit of a scare with Janine's bag when it didn't come out with all the others, but eventually we gathered that one as well.

Wally drove us to the Hillcrest International School, where we're staying, and we put our things in our own little downstairs apartment. It's quite cute. The housing is intended for temporary teachers and there are two bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen and even a little living area. We're really fortunate to have our own space, and Wally and his wife have been so welcoming to us. The live just upstairs and invited us up for breakfast, where we got acquainted, and then headed back downstairs for a nap of recovery.

Due to our utter exhaustion, I think that each of slept a solid 2 hours (which is quality, since Janine and Grace especially have been having trouble sleeping). We went upstairs and had lunch with Wally and Joan when we woke up and freshened up a bit, took the beautiful and short walk from their home to the school itself, and now here I am sitting at the school's computer lab writing to all of you. The computer lab is amazing, by the way, with probably 50 computers in all. Hopefully, each afternoon I'll have a chance to catch you up on the happenings.

This afternoon I believe we're going to tour Lake Sentani, and tomorrow we'll take a hike to "God's Awesome Falls" in the nearby mountain. Our first day of training here is on Monday, and we're expecting 15-20 teachers of various English proficiencies. It's exciting to be here, and I hope that we'll make a positive difference for the teachers that join us!