This update is going to be on the shorter side because I'm still not feeling as well as I should. My fever hasn't gotten back up to 102 degrees again, but last night it was just over 100. Since it went back up, I went and checked with Joan to get her input and she said I should have a blood test done to make sure there's nothing crazy wrong with me. So my blood should be being read as I write, and I'll know this afternoon if I have some kind of super evil disease. So please be praying AGAINST evil diseases and FOR the rapid return of my health. RAPID return.
In addition, Janine and I share a nasty cough, but hers has cost her a portion of her voice, so be praying that that's defeated as well.
After training yesterday we went and ate leftovers at Joan's, followed by a quick trip to the hypermarket for breakfast supplies. I have this fondness for exploring international grocery stores that I think must be a little bit on the odd side. In Kenya, I was obsessed with Nakumatt. In Australia, there was this store called Coles that I loved. There's something just kind of intriguing about wandering the aisles of the store and noticing the items that are so similar to those found at home, and examining products that you've never seen before. Perhaps I am just totally insane, and this is a total possibility, or maybe I'm just a little unique (Grace says she likes wandering foreign grocery stores too!).
We relaxed for the afternoon and got ready to head to Jayapura. Jayapura is the administrative capital of the island (if I'm remembering the information that Wally gave us correctly). And when we were driving there, as you round a bend you can see the lights of the city and it truly looks like a city. I think we were all struck by that.
But before we got to Jayapura, we stopped at Invasion Beach. This beach has huge rusted out tanks from WWII set up on cement pedestals. Apparently they used to simply stick out of the beach, but in the past couple of years people have decided to dig them out and pay them proper dues (or something like that). What was kind of hilarious is that as we drove up to the beach, the tanks seemed to kind of just fit in! They didn't stand out at all--you looked and kind of just thought to yourself, "oh look, there's a rusted out tank on a cement pedestal in the middle of the beach" as though it was something one sees everyday. Which it obviously is not. So we took the requisite photos near the tanks, on the beach, and Annika teased us by suggesting that this was the "snorkeling" beach we'd be visiting in Saturday (this would not have boded well for that adventure since there were crashed boats on the beach and trash floating at the water's edge). A look of panic crossed Janine's face, but when Annika broke into a huge grin, she let out a sigh of relief and a little chuckle.
Some random dude approached Grace and wanted to know where she was from and how long she would be here. And when he got up to leave, he mentioned something about giving her his address...which she politely refused. It was ridiculous since she was obviously a very available female, what with the pregnant belly and all!! :)
We stopped at a little row of souvenir shops and wandered through them for a while. While there are lots of cool things (little bags made from bark that has been converted into string and then woven and paintings on bark, etc), I was really trying to get things that people would find uses for and not think were incredibly random or not so useful. Grace did buy a gourd for Atticus...What is a gourd, you may ask? And why did she purchase one for Atticus? Well, in many of the interior tribes, a "gourd" is what the men wear. And it's all that they wear, so it merely covers up a man's...private parts. Some of them are designed to be "roomy" so that things like money can be stored in there. How multi-functional, right? :)
So we continued on the winding, twisting road to get to Jayapura. We made it to the restaurant which was little more than a hole in the wall (I wouldn't have known there was a dining room except that Wally pointed us inside). We got to select our fish to be grilled and brought to the table, and it was all served with a helping of rice, a bowl of soup, and tons of various spices for the fish. This fish may have been the most delicious fish I have ever eaten. There were few bones, and the taste was just superb. When you poured the soup broth over chunks of fish and rice and ate it all together, it was a simply divine experience. I don't know what spices they used to cook the fish--the taste wasn't strong--but it was more than satisfactory. And the servings were huge; almost no one ate more than half what they were served.
They also had this cool lemon basil at the table that smelled amazing and was great for cutting through grease on the fingers. We each had little dipping bowls to cleanse our fingers (since some of us were eating with them) and we added this herb to the bowls to give a lovely fragrance, and help keep the fingers clean. I also got to have an unsweetened iced tea to drink and it was SOOOO good! I'd really missed iced tea, since I used to drink it so much in the US. It was a great treat.
After dinner, Joan and Wally went to get haircuts (how funny, right? Haircuts at 8pm?) and we went to check out this particular street known for selling pearls and gold of good quality and price. None of us was too interested in the gold (what can I say--we're cheap!) but when we came across some pearls and heard their prices, we were ready to buy, haha! Unfortunately, in one of the stores we were ready to make some purchases with the man at the counter who had given us fairly decent prices, when a woman from the back came out and doubled the prices. We left that store pretty quickly because that was just not acceptable behavior.
We walked on and came across another store with a decent collection of pearls and they had even better prices! I'm not going to tell you what the price was because some of you might be getting these as souvenirs, haha! But Liz, Grace and I each bought 5+ necklaces...and Janine bought one. It was pretty entertaining because she sat there debating between two necklaces and ended up getting only the one. But the little shopkeepers were so kind and so helpful, and tried to understand our meager hand motions, even though we had a translator with us (Annika).
By the end of the pearl adventure (and it was a long one, as we sat there inspecting stand after strand), we were sweaty, soggy, and exhausted. We climbed back into the car ready to head home, but Joan discovered that we had found an excellent price and went and did some shopping of her own. And from what I hear, she put the three of us to shame in her purchases!
Today was the second to last day of training, and it's exciting because we can definitely see the way in which the teachers have opened up to us, and to each other. Grace did a pictorial input about clouds, Janine did the narrative (which the teachers were really excited about--they saw a lot of potential for their classrooms and asked questions about how to make it usable in their context. Then I started the expert groups, calling people up by number. We did groups one and two today, and while some of the teachers were doing those with me, I had them working in groups on creating a "Here, There" poem (Tina and Juliet, you will remember the "soggy monsoons in the fields" line from one of these). By the end of the training, every group had created AT LEAST one poem and taught their expert group information to the rest of their table group. I feel good about how it went, and we'll finish them tomorrow, and then do a class-wide process grid. It should be good, as long as I'm well enough to actually be in the class at 8am tomorrow. I'll need lots of sleep tonight.
So it looks like my suggestion that this would be a short entry was a total lie, so I apologize. But if you know me, you know that I'm a talker...and this plays out in my blogging as well.
I really can't believe that tomorrow is our last day of training. It's gone by so quickly! I hope to have happy stories to share with you tomorrow as well...
Showing posts with label training. Show all posts
Showing posts with label training. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Scenic Outlook
Yesterday, after we finished checking our email (and I finished blogging, haha) Wally took us to the local supermal to have lunch and check things out. We ate at an Indonesian restaurant (though we did also have the option of eating at "Papa Ron's Pizza" or even "Texas Chicken") and Wally ordered several items for us to share. One of them was a hot plate that came to us sizzling and the other was black bean beef. We also each had a plate of nasi goreng to eat with the meal. Grace was really hungry and not only finished her plate of the rice and meat, but ate the leftovers of Janine's as well! It was pretty hilarious that she was even able to eat that much...but she did.
After lunch, Liz and I went to the ATM center (though Liz's card got rejected for some reason...we think it's because it has a MasterCard logo rather than a visa logo) and then met Grace and Janine downstairs at the hypermarket. Wally had a meeting to get to so we didn't have a lot of time to explore the mall, but I insisted on buying a donut from the Indonesia Dunkin Donuts store (for those curious, it tasted much the same as an American Dunkin Donut).
Wally dropped us off back home and we spent the afternoon reading before we were to leave for our scenic picnic dinner.
Throughout the day I had noticed that I was getting chills randomly (which is bizarre in this climate), and especially when we were sitting in the living room near the air conditioner. I had to put on my sweater because I was so cold, which was really unusual because I thrive in air-conditioned situations. I knew this was not good, but I didn't want to complain.
At 4.30 we got ready for our scenic dinner, and i covered myself as best I could. Some moment of insanity had made me decide not to bring any kind of pants with me, so I wore a long dress and my sweater for our little adventure. We stopped to pick up Annika who would be joining us for dinner.
The drive up the mountain was nice, and it turns out that this scenic spot for dinner was actually on a military base, so we had to check in with the post before we were allowed to enter. As luck would have it, the entrance gates to the specific spot Wally and Joan wanted to show us were locked with chains. But Joan was insistent that there was a way in, so we drove round a bit and Joan found an entrance on the other side of the hill. Of course, this entrance involved fighting off plants and climbing through a trash hill, but we made it to the view eventually. And it was quite beautiful. We could see out over Lake Sentani and the mountains--it was lovely. We walked down a little path to a perfect picture location and just admired the changing color of the sky and the haze that seemed to cover the mountains. We ate dinner in a little gazebo (quickly, because we were supposed to leave at 6pm, when it got dark) and then trekked back to the car in the quickly darkening evening. Joan and Wally wanted to show us a video of an interior tribe on Papua, so we headed to Annika's apartment to watch it.
The movie told the story of the Moi people, who had never been reached by foreigners, and their transition and eventual acceptance of Christianity (at least some of them). I'm still processing that movie, and I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it. I need to think on it more.
It was while were at Annika's that I started feeling really ill. My head felt like it was on fire and I felt light-headed and weak. We took my temperature and it was a whopping 102 degrees. The last time I had a fever I think I was in high school, so it was kinda crazy. We went home and I showered and then went fairly quickly to bed. I had taken some advil and the fever went down a tiny bit in the night, but I was still feeling pretty gross when I woke up. I decided to sleep some more and try to make it to the second half of the training. I took more advil hoping to bring down my temperature, and when I woke up about an hour later, my fever had broken and it was back down to normal. I'm being careful to monitor it today, but so far it's hanging around normalcy. I still feel pretty weak, so I'm definitely planning to take it easy the next couple of days, and I'm praying that it's really just a flu bug and nothing more serious than that. Please pray for that as well, and for my total healing.
Grace was again able to talk to Jeremy last night, which we were all glad for. But I think we all called it a pretty early night.
I arrived at the school right around the normal break time, and class was still going. Break was about 30 minutes later than usual, which was ok because it meant that I got to still do my part of the training today--poems and sentence patterning chart. It seemed to go over well--people commented on the way in which they could see the poems being applicable in their classrooms. We also had the opportunity to write a poem together, which I think was fun. Liz and Grace and Janine said they thought it was good. Again, God's provision, since I was probably only functioning at about 65% capacity!
This afternoon the plan is to go to Jayapura, and I hope I feel well enough to join in that. We'll stop at invasion beach for photos and then eat at Joan and Wally's favorite seafood restaurant. Yummy! Hope to fill you in again tomorrow...
Lesson of the day:
(this one's from Grace)
"Crocs suck."
After lunch, Liz and I went to the ATM center (though Liz's card got rejected for some reason...we think it's because it has a MasterCard logo rather than a visa logo) and then met Grace and Janine downstairs at the hypermarket. Wally had a meeting to get to so we didn't have a lot of time to explore the mall, but I insisted on buying a donut from the Indonesia Dunkin Donuts store (for those curious, it tasted much the same as an American Dunkin Donut).
Wally dropped us off back home and we spent the afternoon reading before we were to leave for our scenic picnic dinner.
Throughout the day I had noticed that I was getting chills randomly (which is bizarre in this climate), and especially when we were sitting in the living room near the air conditioner. I had to put on my sweater because I was so cold, which was really unusual because I thrive in air-conditioned situations. I knew this was not good, but I didn't want to complain.
At 4.30 we got ready for our scenic dinner, and i covered myself as best I could. Some moment of insanity had made me decide not to bring any kind of pants with me, so I wore a long dress and my sweater for our little adventure. We stopped to pick up Annika who would be joining us for dinner.
The drive up the mountain was nice, and it turns out that this scenic spot for dinner was actually on a military base, so we had to check in with the post before we were allowed to enter. As luck would have it, the entrance gates to the specific spot Wally and Joan wanted to show us were locked with chains. But Joan was insistent that there was a way in, so we drove round a bit and Joan found an entrance on the other side of the hill. Of course, this entrance involved fighting off plants and climbing through a trash hill, but we made it to the view eventually. And it was quite beautiful. We could see out over Lake Sentani and the mountains--it was lovely. We walked down a little path to a perfect picture location and just admired the changing color of the sky and the haze that seemed to cover the mountains. We ate dinner in a little gazebo (quickly, because we were supposed to leave at 6pm, when it got dark) and then trekked back to the car in the quickly darkening evening. Joan and Wally wanted to show us a video of an interior tribe on Papua, so we headed to Annika's apartment to watch it.
The movie told the story of the Moi people, who had never been reached by foreigners, and their transition and eventual acceptance of Christianity (at least some of them). I'm still processing that movie, and I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it. I need to think on it more.
It was while were at Annika's that I started feeling really ill. My head felt like it was on fire and I felt light-headed and weak. We took my temperature and it was a whopping 102 degrees. The last time I had a fever I think I was in high school, so it was kinda crazy. We went home and I showered and then went fairly quickly to bed. I had taken some advil and the fever went down a tiny bit in the night, but I was still feeling pretty gross when I woke up. I decided to sleep some more and try to make it to the second half of the training. I took more advil hoping to bring down my temperature, and when I woke up about an hour later, my fever had broken and it was back down to normal. I'm being careful to monitor it today, but so far it's hanging around normalcy. I still feel pretty weak, so I'm definitely planning to take it easy the next couple of days, and I'm praying that it's really just a flu bug and nothing more serious than that. Please pray for that as well, and for my total healing.
Grace was again able to talk to Jeremy last night, which we were all glad for. But I think we all called it a pretty early night.
I arrived at the school right around the normal break time, and class was still going. Break was about 30 minutes later than usual, which was ok because it meant that I got to still do my part of the training today--poems and sentence patterning chart. It seemed to go over well--people commented on the way in which they could see the poems being applicable in their classrooms. We also had the opportunity to write a poem together, which I think was fun. Liz and Grace and Janine said they thought it was good. Again, God's provision, since I was probably only functioning at about 65% capacity!
This afternoon the plan is to go to Jayapura, and I hope I feel well enough to join in that. We'll stop at invasion beach for photos and then eat at Joan and Wally's favorite seafood restaurant. Yummy! Hope to fill you in again tomorrow...
Lesson of the day:
(this one's from Grace)
"Crocs suck."
Monday, August 3, 2009
As promised, here's more...
So, yesterday was our first day of training. It was a lot of foundational material, going over the kinds of research that support the way we're training teachers to organize, run, and teach in the classroom. We spent a lot of time on introductions, which I think was good. We had originally hoped to have translation occurring at the individual table groups (because the there are fairly wide range of English proficiencies in this classroom), but at the break time it became pretty clear that that wasn't working so well, so Annika, the administrator at Sekolah Papua Harapan, took over. Though she wasn't crazy about the idea (she felt a lot of pressure because a lot of the stuff that was being discussed was pretty high level vocabulary, but I think she did a great job. Grace and Liz took turns going over important points, but it was kind of cool because a lot of the things that they were saying was familiar to the students due to their previous training.
The only real strategy that we went over was the pictorial input that I model while speaking Spanish. Because I was ill with a cough and sore throat (which are unfortunately still present), there was a lot of coughing as I moved through the drawing. But fortunately, the teachers had grace for me and seemed to once again enjoy the input. One of the teachers came up to me after the session was over and told me that it had given her a lot of inspiration for her own classroom. It's really awesome to have a veteran teacher tell me, miss youth and inexperience, that what I've presented is inspiring. Once again, God working through us and paving the way for us is just so totally obvious. I know that throughout the training I've felt that it's totally His strength that's making the way--because I've got nothing!!
The training ended just before noon, and then we headed out to visit Sekolah Papua Harapan, the school that Wally started here in Papua. First we saw the new complex that they're developing for the new year, which will provide them with a lot more space and several more classrooms. They're getting a great rate for the space and the property as well, which is awesome. We then went to the current location of the school, and entered to see the students playing bingo in English! It was pretty adorable. We were shown around the school, which was much nicer than any of us anticipated. The dorms that students (who are from remote areas of this island) live in is really nice, and the dorm parents have an adorable 1 year old baby named Galvin. The school has two stories and the upstairs portion contains the actual classroom while the downstairs portion has a large room for play and the office space for the employees. We ate lunch at the school, which was DELICIOUS, except that I was feeling so ill that I could hardly enjoy it. :( Poor Liz at some point tripped over a raised portion of concrete and has two unfortunate bruises on her thigh to prove it. We've decided that she really just wanted to commiserate with the rest of our battle wounds from the "light hike" (read: trekking adventure) the other day.
After lunch, we dropped off a couple of students from a local program and then headed back to our apartment. A little later we came and visited the computer lab (which is how I got an entry in yesterday) and then I went back to the apartment and tried to take a nap so I wouldn't be feeling so ill. The afternoon was really quiet--the girls talked about the plan for today and then spent some time journaling and reading, after which we headed upstairs for dinner with Joan and Wally, and Annika joined us as well. Dinner was sooo yummy, and I was finally beginning to feel a tad bit better.
When we went back downstairs to get ready for bed, we all sat around talking for awhile, and it was some really great quality time for us. We also spent some time praying, initially for Janine who has the same throat disease that I have, and then for our team as a whole. It was pretty quality. :) One of the things that has been truly awesome about this trip (at least for me) is the way that we have gotten to know each other as people, and shared a lot about ourselves. Our friendships have definitely become deeper and stronger, which I think is one of the most rewarding points of the trip so far. Grace and I sat up talking, first in the living room, and then into the bedroom that we share, until midnight. Which is really late here, especially since we've been getting up between 5 and 6 am each day!
This morning we made breakfast as usual, and then headed up to the classroom. Many of the teachers were there waiting for us, but we weren't late, I promise!
Janine spent a lot of time going over classroom management and setup ideas, which seemed to go over really well and be received with interest by the teachers. Then Grace went through the content dictionary, I reprocessed the water cycle in Spanish, and Liz led an activity about the water cycle. All went well again. One thing that's great about this team is that it's composed of a group of really engaging speakers, so even for the students who have a difficult time understanding English, they're paying attention to our inflections and our movements to get cues, and then listening to the translation for information to write down and process. We're glad for this because one of our concerns was that students would zone out during the English portion, which isn't helpful since we're really trying to model a language acquisition classroom. The hope would be that everyone would get some new language (and strategies, of course) out of this seminar.
Today we're going down to the town to have lunch (since the international school where we're staying and doing the teacher training is up on a hill, pretty removed from the town itself) and we'll probably visit the Supermal here...maybe not as exciting as climbing over river rocks, but a piece of the story nonetheless!
On a more personal note, I'm finally starting to feel a little bit better, though I do still have a rather evil cough. Please keep me, and the whole team in your prayers.
In addition, a couple of days ago there was a local flight out of Sentani (by the carrier Merpati, and Indonesian airline, but not the one we're flying) that has gone missing, and is assumed to have crashed. It happened on the day of the crazy storm on the trek to the waterfalls, so the best guess is that bad weather caused the crash. As we'll be flying back to Jakarta on a local airline in a few days, please keep our safe travel in your prayers as well.
Lesson of the day:
Mosquitoes are capable of biting through layers of clothing-- as I have two bug bites on my booty to prove it (and Gracie has generously dubbed me "sweet cheeks," haha!).
The only real strategy that we went over was the pictorial input that I model while speaking Spanish. Because I was ill with a cough and sore throat (which are unfortunately still present), there was a lot of coughing as I moved through the drawing. But fortunately, the teachers had grace for me and seemed to once again enjoy the input. One of the teachers came up to me after the session was over and told me that it had given her a lot of inspiration for her own classroom. It's really awesome to have a veteran teacher tell me, miss youth and inexperience, that what I've presented is inspiring. Once again, God working through us and paving the way for us is just so totally obvious. I know that throughout the training I've felt that it's totally His strength that's making the way--because I've got nothing!!
The training ended just before noon, and then we headed out to visit Sekolah Papua Harapan, the school that Wally started here in Papua. First we saw the new complex that they're developing for the new year, which will provide them with a lot more space and several more classrooms. They're getting a great rate for the space and the property as well, which is awesome. We then went to the current location of the school, and entered to see the students playing bingo in English! It was pretty adorable. We were shown around the school, which was much nicer than any of us anticipated. The dorms that students (who are from remote areas of this island) live in is really nice, and the dorm parents have an adorable 1 year old baby named Galvin. The school has two stories and the upstairs portion contains the actual classroom while the downstairs portion has a large room for play and the office space for the employees. We ate lunch at the school, which was DELICIOUS, except that I was feeling so ill that I could hardly enjoy it. :( Poor Liz at some point tripped over a raised portion of concrete and has two unfortunate bruises on her thigh to prove it. We've decided that she really just wanted to commiserate with the rest of our battle wounds from the "light hike" (read: trekking adventure) the other day.
After lunch, we dropped off a couple of students from a local program and then headed back to our apartment. A little later we came and visited the computer lab (which is how I got an entry in yesterday) and then I went back to the apartment and tried to take a nap so I wouldn't be feeling so ill. The afternoon was really quiet--the girls talked about the plan for today and then spent some time journaling and reading, after which we headed upstairs for dinner with Joan and Wally, and Annika joined us as well. Dinner was sooo yummy, and I was finally beginning to feel a tad bit better.
When we went back downstairs to get ready for bed, we all sat around talking for awhile, and it was some really great quality time for us. We also spent some time praying, initially for Janine who has the same throat disease that I have, and then for our team as a whole. It was pretty quality. :) One of the things that has been truly awesome about this trip (at least for me) is the way that we have gotten to know each other as people, and shared a lot about ourselves. Our friendships have definitely become deeper and stronger, which I think is one of the most rewarding points of the trip so far. Grace and I sat up talking, first in the living room, and then into the bedroom that we share, until midnight. Which is really late here, especially since we've been getting up between 5 and 6 am each day!
This morning we made breakfast as usual, and then headed up to the classroom. Many of the teachers were there waiting for us, but we weren't late, I promise!
Janine spent a lot of time going over classroom management and setup ideas, which seemed to go over really well and be received with interest by the teachers. Then Grace went through the content dictionary, I reprocessed the water cycle in Spanish, and Liz led an activity about the water cycle. All went well again. One thing that's great about this team is that it's composed of a group of really engaging speakers, so even for the students who have a difficult time understanding English, they're paying attention to our inflections and our movements to get cues, and then listening to the translation for information to write down and process. We're glad for this because one of our concerns was that students would zone out during the English portion, which isn't helpful since we're really trying to model a language acquisition classroom. The hope would be that everyone would get some new language (and strategies, of course) out of this seminar.
Today we're going down to the town to have lunch (since the international school where we're staying and doing the teacher training is up on a hill, pretty removed from the town itself) and we'll probably visit the Supermal here...maybe not as exciting as climbing over river rocks, but a piece of the story nonetheless!
On a more personal note, I'm finally starting to feel a little bit better, though I do still have a rather evil cough. Please keep me, and the whole team in your prayers.
In addition, a couple of days ago there was a local flight out of Sentani (by the carrier Merpati, and Indonesian airline, but not the one we're flying) that has gone missing, and is assumed to have crashed. It happened on the day of the crazy storm on the trek to the waterfalls, so the best guess is that bad weather caused the crash. As we'll be flying back to Jakarta on a local airline in a few days, please keep our safe travel in your prayers as well.
Lesson of the day:
Mosquitoes are capable of biting through layers of clothing-- as I have two bug bites on my booty to prove it (and Gracie has generously dubbed me "sweet cheeks," haha!).
Sunday, August 2, 2009
So much to tell...
Well, it's been only a day or so since i last posted, and yet I feel like there's SO MUCH that i need to catch you all up on.
Since I left off last time, we headed off to a lovely lakeside meal. Joan and Wally had arranged for a boat to meet us at the restaurant, which it had its own dock (yes, it's very own dock). We all climbed into the boat and spent the next half hour touring around the lake, looking at various villages that have been developed in the islands of Lake Sentani. We even passed what Joan informed me was a legalized prostitution village. Apparently, prostitution is socialized here, so as long as the people to the specific locations in which it is legal, there are no repercussions.
All of the houses on the islands are on raised platforms so they hang out away from the shore over the water. All of the people hanging out on their decks waved to us as we motored past, and we all took tons of pictures. The sky was doing amazing things while we were out on the lake--the boat trip was supposed to be a sunset tour, but the clouds prevented us from getting a true sunset view. Nonetheless, it was beautiful and I kept shaking my head at the majesty of God's creation.
When we got back to the dock, it was time for dinner. Joan ordered for us, including a local specialty called papeda. How shall i describe this dish to you...well, let me start with how it's made. It comes from the bark of a particular type of palm tree on the island, and the women work really hard to process it, running water through it and doing all sorts of things until it becomes a sort of gelatinous goop. Sounds appetizing, right? Well, it goes down the throat in a way quite similar to mucous. Yes, you read that correctly: mucous. The papeda doesn't have much of a flavor itself (just its crazy weird texture), but the soup that traditionally accompanies it is delicious. It's a type of fish soup flavored with lemon grass, and it really does taste quite tasty. All four of us got a helping of the papeda and the soup, with assurances that we needn't finish it if we didn't like it. Gracie and I managed to finish our helpings, but Janine and Liz opted for rice and the many other dishes. It was quite a feast: egg foo young, rice, vegetables, sweet and sour shrimp, more fish...there was so much food!! We left that meal more than content, despite the harassment that we all received from the various kinds of insects hanging around.
When we got back to the room, Grace decided to try to get in touch with her family, but to no avail when it came to the use of skype. I gave her my cell phone to try with, but there was nothing on the other end. As a last ditch effort, I gave her a phone card with an international access number. Thankfully, she was eventually able to get through and talk to Jeremy and Atti. Unfortunately, the only thing Atti had to say was "noooooo..." But at least she got to hear their voices.
The next day was Sunday. Time for church! Joan had kindly gone out and gotten us breakfast supplies, so we ate well and were ready for church in plenty of time. We went to the English service that held here at the International School, and it was kind of cool because there were local Indonesians playing the band instruments. Some of the songs were familiar, and others not so much. But the message was pretty good and we finished with enough time to go and get ready for the hike, on which we would meet the 8 students of Sekolah Papua Harapan.
Wally had told us that this was a "light hike," so we put together our backpacks without fear that it would be too much--we were careful to pack water for the hike, since it IS ridiculously hot out here. :) When all was ready and Wally had exchanged his car for a bus, in order to better accomodate the 8 children, one of their teachers, and the 6 of us, we headed off to pick up the students at the Indonesian church. They were dressed in Sunday clothes, but ready for the hike, truly excited (Wally and Joan had packed swim attire for them since the hike involved a river and a waterfall). On the way to the point of origin for the hike, we stopped and grabbed "fast food" to take with us: a ball of rice, topped with vegetables and meat, and wrapped in paper. We examined the food with interest (there are photos to document this as well).
Wally took off toward our starting point and even just getting to the beginning of the hike. Wally was off-roading in a BUS. We crossed a river, drove on an elevated road that was too narrow for our vehicle, and climbed hills that were lined with little more than rocks. But, thankfully, we eventually made it. To the beginning.
As we started off, it was nice, there was a little stream with a gravel path beside it and then less water and more gravel-ly areas. At some point we entered a more tropical jungle region of the hike, and somehow managed to move away from the path that they traditionally traveled. So Wally sent out the children, yes, the children, to find a path back to the water. These kids were incredible. They were ten times as sure-footed as any of us, leaping from rock to rock when eventually we did make it back to the river. They took every opportunity to frolic in the water, playing games with each other. Their litheness put us all to shame.
Especially me. We were moving uphill in a river, climbing over boulders and trying to maintain our balance over slippery spots, without falling into a rock or into the water with all our stuff. I really cannot even describe to you what this "light hike" was like...it was unlike any hike I had ever been on. At some point, I started feeling incredibly dizzy (we hadn't eaten and it was HOT, especially when you factor in the hiking). So we stopped for lunch, and I opted to stay behind with Sonja, the teacher, who was NOT dressed for a hike in her jeans, long-sleeved sweater and snazzy sandals. I don't know how she made it as far as she did.
I sat in the cool water of the river as Sonja made a rather unhappy phone call on her cell and the rest of the group trduged onward. As I sat there, listening to the "alarm clock" sound of the cicada, I noticed the sky growing increasingly dark. The leaves on the trees were rustling intensely, and I heard what sounded like thunder in the distance. Sonja began to look anxious and pulled out an umbrella from her ultra-snazzy purse (that should not have been on a hike). She offered to share it with me, but my feeling was that I was already wet from the river, so what was a little rain? Sonja stood up, guaring our possessions from the rain with her umbrella.
And so it began. At first gently, and soon in torrents. The rain kept coming and coming, and just when I became certain that it could not possibly rain any harder, it did. I sat in the river and looked up to the sky, letting the drops wash over my face. Eventually, the combination of the cold water from the river and the intense amount of rain coming down made me rather chilly. I thought of how incredibly ironic it would be for me to get hypothermia in PAPUA, so I got out of the river and stood on the meager shoreline.
I don't know how long Sonja and I waited for the rest of the group to come back, but it didn't seem like too long. Before we knew it, the kids came bounding from the jungle into the river and the rest of the adults were not too far behind. We grabbed our things to meet up with them on the other side of the river, which was actually a very slow-going process. Wally fell into the water once, with the bag of towles on his back and the camera in there. I was concerned that he was injured, but he was much more worried about the state of Liz's camera! It was fine, and so was he, but he stopped to wring out the water from the towels, which had become unbearably heavy with their exposure to the water.
I, at some point, whacked my shin against a rock and developed a huge goose egg just below my knee. The swelling has gone down, but it's going to be a beauty of a bruise. Janine also came out with a battle wound on her shin, but Liz and Gracie (thank goodness!) managed to come out virtually unscathed. Today our bodies ache, but we survived, and that's a lot! It turned out that they didn't make it to the waterfall because of the storm, and they weren't sure how much light was left in the day (it gets dark here at 6pm +/- 15 minutes or so).
We made it without further incident back to the bus and packed up to leave, exhausted and soaking wet from the storm. We had just enough time to reover and shower before dinner, which was a delicious fish and lobster soup made from fish and lobster that Wally himself had captured. Dinner with the Wileys is always such a pleasure.
After dinner, we took all our supplies up to the classroom in which we would be holding our seminar for the next five days. Despite our exhaustion, we managed to set up the classroom, which meant we would have a little more time in the morning, which was definitely a good thing.
Today was actually our first day of training. It went well (there were about 15 teachers present) and I'll describe it in detail later, but right now I'm feeling quite ill (please pray for my speedy and full recovery!) so I should go and rest.
I have decided to add a new feature to my blog, however, and it's called "lesson of the day."
Today's lesson:
HIKING IS NOT MY THING.
And a bonus lesson:
It is indeed possible to be cold in a tropical climate, even when it's more than 85 degrees outside. LOL!
More to come, hopefully soon...
Since I left off last time, we headed off to a lovely lakeside meal. Joan and Wally had arranged for a boat to meet us at the restaurant, which it had its own dock (yes, it's very own dock). We all climbed into the boat and spent the next half hour touring around the lake, looking at various villages that have been developed in the islands of Lake Sentani. We even passed what Joan informed me was a legalized prostitution village. Apparently, prostitution is socialized here, so as long as the people to the specific locations in which it is legal, there are no repercussions.
All of the houses on the islands are on raised platforms so they hang out away from the shore over the water. All of the people hanging out on their decks waved to us as we motored past, and we all took tons of pictures. The sky was doing amazing things while we were out on the lake--the boat trip was supposed to be a sunset tour, but the clouds prevented us from getting a true sunset view. Nonetheless, it was beautiful and I kept shaking my head at the majesty of God's creation.
When we got back to the dock, it was time for dinner. Joan ordered for us, including a local specialty called papeda. How shall i describe this dish to you...well, let me start with how it's made. It comes from the bark of a particular type of palm tree on the island, and the women work really hard to process it, running water through it and doing all sorts of things until it becomes a sort of gelatinous goop. Sounds appetizing, right? Well, it goes down the throat in a way quite similar to mucous. Yes, you read that correctly: mucous. The papeda doesn't have much of a flavor itself (just its crazy weird texture), but the soup that traditionally accompanies it is delicious. It's a type of fish soup flavored with lemon grass, and it really does taste quite tasty. All four of us got a helping of the papeda and the soup, with assurances that we needn't finish it if we didn't like it. Gracie and I managed to finish our helpings, but Janine and Liz opted for rice and the many other dishes. It was quite a feast: egg foo young, rice, vegetables, sweet and sour shrimp, more fish...there was so much food!! We left that meal more than content, despite the harassment that we all received from the various kinds of insects hanging around.
When we got back to the room, Grace decided to try to get in touch with her family, but to no avail when it came to the use of skype. I gave her my cell phone to try with, but there was nothing on the other end. As a last ditch effort, I gave her a phone card with an international access number. Thankfully, she was eventually able to get through and talk to Jeremy and Atti. Unfortunately, the only thing Atti had to say was "noooooo..." But at least she got to hear their voices.
The next day was Sunday. Time for church! Joan had kindly gone out and gotten us breakfast supplies, so we ate well and were ready for church in plenty of time. We went to the English service that held here at the International School, and it was kind of cool because there were local Indonesians playing the band instruments. Some of the songs were familiar, and others not so much. But the message was pretty good and we finished with enough time to go and get ready for the hike, on which we would meet the 8 students of Sekolah Papua Harapan.
Wally had told us that this was a "light hike," so we put together our backpacks without fear that it would be too much--we were careful to pack water for the hike, since it IS ridiculously hot out here. :) When all was ready and Wally had exchanged his car for a bus, in order to better accomodate the 8 children, one of their teachers, and the 6 of us, we headed off to pick up the students at the Indonesian church. They were dressed in Sunday clothes, but ready for the hike, truly excited (Wally and Joan had packed swim attire for them since the hike involved a river and a waterfall). On the way to the point of origin for the hike, we stopped and grabbed "fast food" to take with us: a ball of rice, topped with vegetables and meat, and wrapped in paper. We examined the food with interest (there are photos to document this as well).
Wally took off toward our starting point and even just getting to the beginning of the hike. Wally was off-roading in a BUS. We crossed a river, drove on an elevated road that was too narrow for our vehicle, and climbed hills that were lined with little more than rocks. But, thankfully, we eventually made it. To the beginning.
As we started off, it was nice, there was a little stream with a gravel path beside it and then less water and more gravel-ly areas. At some point we entered a more tropical jungle region of the hike, and somehow managed to move away from the path that they traditionally traveled. So Wally sent out the children, yes, the children, to find a path back to the water. These kids were incredible. They were ten times as sure-footed as any of us, leaping from rock to rock when eventually we did make it back to the river. They took every opportunity to frolic in the water, playing games with each other. Their litheness put us all to shame.
Especially me. We were moving uphill in a river, climbing over boulders and trying to maintain our balance over slippery spots, without falling into a rock or into the water with all our stuff. I really cannot even describe to you what this "light hike" was like...it was unlike any hike I had ever been on. At some point, I started feeling incredibly dizzy (we hadn't eaten and it was HOT, especially when you factor in the hiking). So we stopped for lunch, and I opted to stay behind with Sonja, the teacher, who was NOT dressed for a hike in her jeans, long-sleeved sweater and snazzy sandals. I don't know how she made it as far as she did.
I sat in the cool water of the river as Sonja made a rather unhappy phone call on her cell and the rest of the group trduged onward. As I sat there, listening to the "alarm clock" sound of the cicada, I noticed the sky growing increasingly dark. The leaves on the trees were rustling intensely, and I heard what sounded like thunder in the distance. Sonja began to look anxious and pulled out an umbrella from her ultra-snazzy purse (that should not have been on a hike). She offered to share it with me, but my feeling was that I was already wet from the river, so what was a little rain? Sonja stood up, guaring our possessions from the rain with her umbrella.
And so it began. At first gently, and soon in torrents. The rain kept coming and coming, and just when I became certain that it could not possibly rain any harder, it did. I sat in the river and looked up to the sky, letting the drops wash over my face. Eventually, the combination of the cold water from the river and the intense amount of rain coming down made me rather chilly. I thought of how incredibly ironic it would be for me to get hypothermia in PAPUA, so I got out of the river and stood on the meager shoreline.
I don't know how long Sonja and I waited for the rest of the group to come back, but it didn't seem like too long. Before we knew it, the kids came bounding from the jungle into the river and the rest of the adults were not too far behind. We grabbed our things to meet up with them on the other side of the river, which was actually a very slow-going process. Wally fell into the water once, with the bag of towles on his back and the camera in there. I was concerned that he was injured, but he was much more worried about the state of Liz's camera! It was fine, and so was he, but he stopped to wring out the water from the towels, which had become unbearably heavy with their exposure to the water.
I, at some point, whacked my shin against a rock and developed a huge goose egg just below my knee. The swelling has gone down, but it's going to be a beauty of a bruise. Janine also came out with a battle wound on her shin, but Liz and Gracie (thank goodness!) managed to come out virtually unscathed. Today our bodies ache, but we survived, and that's a lot! It turned out that they didn't make it to the waterfall because of the storm, and they weren't sure how much light was left in the day (it gets dark here at 6pm +/- 15 minutes or so).
We made it without further incident back to the bus and packed up to leave, exhausted and soaking wet from the storm. We had just enough time to reover and shower before dinner, which was a delicious fish and lobster soup made from fish and lobster that Wally himself had captured. Dinner with the Wileys is always such a pleasure.
After dinner, we took all our supplies up to the classroom in which we would be holding our seminar for the next five days. Despite our exhaustion, we managed to set up the classroom, which meant we would have a little more time in the morning, which was definitely a good thing.
Today was actually our first day of training. It went well (there were about 15 teachers present) and I'll describe it in detail later, but right now I'm feeling quite ill (please pray for my speedy and full recovery!) so I should go and rest.
I have decided to add a new feature to my blog, however, and it's called "lesson of the day."
Today's lesson:
HIKING IS NOT MY THING.
And a bonus lesson:
It is indeed possible to be cold in a tropical climate, even when it's more than 85 degrees outside. LOL!
More to come, hopefully soon...
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