Christmas Party in Wamena!!!

We knew that celebrating Christmas in Wamena was going to be different from what we are used to. We were not prepared for what we experienced though!!! It was wonderful and we would have not wanted to miss it for anything....

It is a tradition that Helimission invites all the peolple who work with us to celebrate Christmas together. Everybody was there. All the foreigners, the local co-workers, the guards, the household helpers, and THEIR FAMILIES. We were over 120 people.

In Papua, when there is something big to celebrate, their meal is a BAKAR BATU.

Literally, it means "FUEL STONE". Below you can see what that is.

People started to come around 7.30 in the morning. The women began with cleaning and cutting up the mountains of vegetables, the men with making a big fire, choosing big stones and digging a round hole in the ground, about 2 m wide and 1 m deep. The many kids helped or played.

After the fire was burning well, they threw the many stones in the glow. Meanwhile the hole was ready and covered well with many banana leaves. After more than an hour the stones were ready to come in the hole. Some of them had exploded meanwhile (like bombs) and that took care of the fun part for the men. We had only one injured by flying stones. Nothing big though!!!

The men took the stones with these special sticks and put them in the hole all over the banana leaves…

 

Here come the vegetables…

First banana leaves, then greens and herbs, and then come the sweet potatoes...

While the lunch was being prepared, Günther Stöhr, one of the Helimission pilots, came back with the helicopter from a medevac…

More banana leaves, greens and herbs... Then come the vegetables... carrots, cabbage, zucchinis, pumpkins and so on…

Some more greens and herbs on top of the vegetables… and then comes the meat. 2 cut up pigs in the middle (they came from the bush) and around it, 30 chickens.

Some more hot stones on top of everything…

Banana leaves, grass and some more stones…

Then everything was well tied up and then it cooked for a couple hours.

The meat and vegetables were brought to the hangar. It took three trailers to bring everything to the tables…

What an abundance of food!!! Thank you LORD!!!

Brikena enjoying the food with everyone else...

What a group of people to celebrate the birthday of our LORD JESUS with!!!

Some of the local Helimission workers. We are going to miss them...

A Trip to the Market!!!

For those of you wondering, WE ARE ALIVE AND WELL!!!

We have been busy with school, work, visitors, household work and... of course with shopping... :-)

Every other week, a couple of us ladies here get together and go with the car to the big market outside of Wamena. Last week there was only me and another lady, so I took the whole gang with me. Instead of school we went shopping!?!

The kids enjoyed it, even if it looks like some didn't!!!

On the left are the patatos, on the right are the carrots!!! What a difference...

Hot peppers and peperoncinis of every size and color...

For meat we have the choice between big CUSCUS...  (The cuscus is an animal that lives only in the tropical island of Papua and the Northern forest of Australia. The cuscus is a subspecies of possum and it actually is the largest of the world's possum species.)

... and cute, soft, fury, sweet little bunnies...

WE DIDN'T BUY ANY MEAT!!!

These bananas and pineapples came home with us. Both fruits here in Papua are the best we have ever had. Very sweet and tasty!!!

Deborah asked for some sugar cane and we bought one for 30 cents. We cut it up and she is running around sucking the juice and spitting the rest like the papua kids here...

The ladies here are selling the bananas and avocados above them and the cut up vegetables on the floor. They fill bags with mixed, cut vegetables and sell them for 50 cents a piece.

Noemi and Birgit tried to bargain for a typical Papua NET. Not much success!!! White skin and red hair don't help...

Daniel in the Kamov KA-32!!!

Wamena is a place that can be reached only by air. There are no roads going out to other cities in Papua. The roads go out of the town for about 50 - 80 km, but then it's over with driving. Because of this, the Wamena airport is very busy. Everything coming in from people to food, fuel, cars, building material and so on, comes by air. We see here so many different types of aircrafts landing and taking off. Daniel especially, loves it. For the last 2 weeks, a Kamov KA-32, run by a korean company, has been flying everyday for a goverment development projetct.

One late afternoon, Simon and Daniel went to the airport as the Kamov was landing. They said hello and asked if they could take a look at the helicopter. No problem!!! The Korean crew was very nice and Simon with Daniel could check the helicopter in and out. Well, you don't get to sit in a Kamov KA-32 everyday, so they took some pictures...

Our puppy, Rex!!!

10 days ago we received a little, all black puppy!!! Since at home we don't have a dog, it is a special treat for our children to have one here for 10 weeks. So here is our REX!!!

He loves to play!!! You can imagine this ball didn't live very long...

The first night he arrived, Deborah welcomed him with much joy even though he was full of lice and parasites... For the next few days (until we could get some spray and give him a bath), I had a lot of laundry to do, especially girls clothes...

He has two very good caretakers... :-)

How to have a picnic in Wamena, Papua!!!

You take 16 swiss people (3 men + 3 women, one of them pregnant, + 10 children) and an american (for a change). You load them all in a Pinzgauer (swiss military offroad vehicle). It might not be enough space, but do it anyway. Take as much food and drinks as possible!!! Take one soccer ball for each of the boys in the group... Load everything in the car...

Ask one of the swiss men (who has driven this vehicle in the swiss military) to drive. Please stay on the left (wrong) side of the road. That's how you drive everywhere in Indonesia. The adults and children in the back should try to have as much fun as possible. Shout as loud as you can if you want to say something to your neighbour, otherwise they won't hear you. You also hold on somewhere, so that you will not fly out when the vehicle hits a pot hole (and there are plenty of those in Papua)... :-)

As you drive, you should to wave and smile to all the Papuans you pass on the road. Of coarse they wave and smile back at you (from ear to ear :-). After 1 hour and 30 min of driving and bumping, you have reached your destination. If your muscles are still usable, try to jump out of the Pinzgauer. Unload all the food and drinks. Take out the indonesian orange sausages, make fire and grill them as much as you can, so they will get some taste... :-)

Eat, drink, talk and enjoy fellowship. When the kids are finished eating, let them loose to play, run, use the coal (from the fire) to do some indian painting and to fight like real Papuan tribal man and women... They will not bother anybody by doing it. You have arrived anyway almost to the end of the world. Well, as a good friend says, you can see the end of the world from there...

I am quite sure you would enjoy such a picnic!!! After you have had the last piece of cake, get ready to leave. Try to collect the right kids to take home. Tip: get the ones that might still have a corner of white skin somewhere. The ones who don't, are all Papua kids... You will have less food to take home, but there will for sure be less space for everybody in the vehicle. You will keep hearing all the way home: "That last piece of cake was too much"... Everybody is happy though. And the next day you will still think about it as you will feel muscles you didn't know you had...

School has started!!!

Monday, October 18th Noemi and Brikena started with the homeschooling of the kids. After 3 days doing it, everybody still likes it!!! We will just continue with their program from Switzerland, so when we come back, they can jump back in. We have all their books, CDs and exercise books. A very special thanks to their wonderful teachers who prepared everything, helped US to prepare for homeschooling and are still helping us through the internet!!! Thank you Iris, Yvonne and Ms. Knellwolf!!!

We have to use the kitchen, living room and 2 bedrooms as classrooms. Break they usually take in our garden. Deborah asked the 1st morning if she can take a snack to school!!! :-)

Three days a week, the kids go the american school in Wamena for arts, music and physical education. It is all in English, but they have swiss and german friends there who help them to understand. They are learning fast though. Sarah is even trying some indonesian... To go to school, they take this schoolbus below!!! They love riding the becak (betschak), but they said they still prefer Urs, their schoolbus driver in Switzerland!!!

We are in Wamena

After 6 flights going from Zürich to Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur to Jakarta to Makkassar to Sentani to Wamena, we made it to our destination to almost the end of the world. This is the house where we are staying. It has a nice garden with a variaty of species (actually inside the house too).

Our kitchen!!!

Our bathroom!!!

Our livingroom!!!

Dani's room!!!

Our garden!!!

Our washroom!!!

We were "forced" to have a romantic candle light dinner for lack of power!!! 

Sarah's, Deborah's and Noemi's room!!!

Safari Park in Jakarta

Carter (our indonesian co-worker in Jakarta and friend) took us to a safari park, about 1 and a half hour from Jakarta. It was really special for us as we had never experienced something like this. We entered and drove through the park, but we were not allowed to get out of the car. We could feed the animals carrots and bananas through the window though.

Some were quite bold and tried to get to the food in our car... :-)

A beautiful Peacock.

 

The hippos were also hungry. We're glad they don't like car tires... :-)

This girafe wanted to talk to us... :-)

This lama wanted to kiss Carter sooo bad!!!

We didn't try to feed THESE animals!!!

Sarah and Deborah had their picture taken with a baby Orang-Utan. You can see how they liked it!!!
Orang-Utan comes from the Indionesian word "orang hutan" meaning "man of the forest".