My favorite Aunt and engagement...

So Skype is absolutely amazing and whomever invented it, I would love to thank personally! We've had many Skype sessions and plan to have many more. It's so fun to see our families faces and expressions- just wish we could touch and hug them! It does bring a pang of sadness, however. We see that life goes on, on the other side of the world and we so desperately want to be apart of it.
I spoke to my mom today and she had a not-so-fabulous day. She, like me, internalizes, digests, stresses and obsesses about pretty much everything (love you, mom and cheers to genes). We are just loving, caring people and wouldn't have it any other way. Her sister is having a hard time and not feeling well. Seeing those you love in pain is debilitating. And seeing my mom in pain debilitated me.
My Aunt is amazing! She has a big heart with the best smile and laugh. Whenever us cousins (her nieces and nephews) were/are around she always give us a big kiss and say "who's your favorite Aunt?". There is more than one Aunt and it always makes us smile! She is also an inspiration of mine because she is a nurse and traveled to Ghana with Doctors without Boarders. Her stories always amazed me as none of our family members ever traveled much.
It's news like this and news of one of my best friend's recent engagement that Skype can't close the gap on! I am working on Quantum Leap but my Internet is too slow here and I think I can only get us to a street in Timika. :)
I feel bad as my Aunt wanted to see our story here and will email her my blog as soon as I am done.
As always to be continued...
Love you, Di Di and Ti Ti!

The women on the hill, the shadows in the darkness and sticky fingers...

I am sitting on the couch in my kitchen area Skyping with my family and I hear voices just outside my window. I look out and there on the top of staircase just outside Hannah's window sits a Papuan woman with a little baby. There are also two Papuan women on the steep hillside above her with their nokens on their heads (bags that carry personal belongings) cutting down banana leaves with a machete. The woman further up on the hill cuts them down and the woman below shucks off the bad leaves and bundles them together. Excitedly I grab my laptop and position it so my family can see them on Skype. My hope was so they can have a better understanding of what goes on here. Sadly I don't think they got to see them well. My sister asked "can they do that? Just walk around with machetes?". I just responded that "it's their land" in some regard. I am not really sure what the rules are here.
Our condo seems to be a popular area for the Papuans to walk through. Not like in town but there have been two occasions where Mike has left around 4:30 in the morning for work, opened the door and a figure goes running past my window creating a shadow on my curtains in the morning darkness and fog. That freaks me out! Stories that Hannah never hears or all sleep will be lost for weeks!!!
Living in this multi-cultural, melting pot of a town comes with it's pros and cons. It's all apart of the deal. It just bothers me when sticky little fingers steal personal belongings. Ones personal belongings should never be left outside or you will see them on someone walking in town days later.
I hope to get a new camera soon so I can really start documenting this dynamic place with better visual representation. Until then and as always, to be continued....   

Random pics of Tembagapura....

As I am waiting for my online class website to load (concerned of the possible success of such), I thought I would upload a few random pics of Tembagapura...

Power, oh power...

I have started my online classes last week and since we have had several power outages during the day. Haven't had any until I started school. The lights go really bright as I am typing my paper and I frantically press save.
We've had water outages but the power outages are more of an issue now.
We just came home from Mexican night at the Lupe which was delicious and the decor was, as always, amazing.
We are getting ready for bed when suddenly the lights go out. Our little drama princess screamed to the high heavens and after I peeled her from the ceiling and grouped her and Mason together, Mike and I gathered the flashlights and lit candles. It was a fun and invigorating experience. The lights came on fairly shortly thereafter and to bed we went. Never a dull moment...

Random encouragement...

It's odd how things that are present in your everyday life are overlooked and make their presence randomly. I feel these random moments are treasures to survival and hope.
I crawled into bed tonight and admired the wedding photo of Mike and me- the frame is signed by our loved ones who shared our special wedding day with us. One name caught my attention and filled me with tremendous emotions of love and pain. Why these moments come up here is beyond me- a greater being or force at hand I am sure. Hope and home?
I have had two instrumental women in my career life. Vicki and Liz. Both have taken me under their wing as a sister, daughter and friend. Both of them have guided me during times of pain and times of happy triumph.
One of the names on our frame is Vicki's. I hate to admit that I have been so caught up in life that I haven't really taken the time to read or look at our wedding frame. I worked next to Vicki for many years. She patiently listened to me gripe about life related issues that now seem so ridiculous and petty. She was so good at centering me and grounding me it was unreal. She knew me so well.
Vicki and I ended up at a job together after about a year apart. At that time we both suffered severe losses. Me, we lost our first child and she her youngest daughter. The pain is still very heavy. Before our loss Vicki lost her sweet daughter, Mackinzie. Her strength during that time penetrated through me.
Mike and I soon became pregnant again and we went back and forth on naming our soon-to-be daughter Mackinzie. I felt that Mackinzie's name was hers and was meant to remain that way. So Hannah it was.
I haven't had contact with Vicki for a couple years now. I think she'd be so proud of me and happy that my family and I are on this adventure. She was so go-with-the-flow and full of light and love. I saw her signature on our frame and knew that it was a message of encouragement.

Troop 572...

Oddly enough my faint memories and lack-there-of come full recollection here. (Mostly.)
Hannah, Mason and I walked up to the shops today to go to the bank. Given their (some-what) good behavior we stopped to get some ice cream after an/the unsuccessful trip at the bank. As they finished their ice cream and I finished my cappuccino we eyed the craft store. Yet to be visited by Hannah and Mason. Not a fascinating place but not much is here. Don't confuse not fascinating with things that don't cause contentment. There is much contentment here including the craft store. Moving on.The kiddos got to pick out their own bundles of colored string- what we were going to do with them was yet to be determined? I have much aspiration and high hopes.
We get home and reheat leftovers- Mike's Chili- yes, amazing and with corn bread.Totally rad! :)
Anyway, we settle into post feasting and an idea pops into my head- friendship bracelets! I belonged to Girl Scout Troop 572 since I was about six years old (?) and we made many things and did many amazing things! One of them being friendship bracelets. My mom was our outstanding Troop Leader.
The adventures we accomplished solely as little women with brave women leadership would leave many in awe.
I can still smell the halls of Little Elementary where we met for our scout meetings.
She was (is) a ferocious visionary. She would say "we are going to do this" and we, little troopers, would say "great! Yes! When?" She led us into snowy mountains with hand-made stove pots, taught us to tie life-saving knots, skills of fire starting and tending, canoeing, how to save little creatures of the forest and how to pee in the woods, among many other talents :) She even won Leader of the Year! She and her co-leader (another brave visionary) carried us through scouts until our Senior year in high school.
Hannah and I are saddened by the restrictions here of creating a troop by a) not having her here to be our leader and b) there is not much we can do safely that a normal troop does- there is no camping here in the mountains it's just not safe.
I broke away from my many happy memories of scouts with my mom and taught Hannah and Mason how to tie friendship bracelets. They, mostly Hannah,  were excited at the process and both ended with unique bracelets.
The thought of the time and dedication my mom (and dad) put towards my troop humbled me tonight. I still remember my dad staying up all night knocking snow off our tents to keep them from collapsing and my mom taking us to Girl Scout camps all over the state with minimal mom reinforcements/supervision. I attribute a lot of my independence and strength to my mom and appreciate Mike's quiet, behind-the-scenes support much like my dad's.
As I snuggle into bed tonight I am pleased to know I shared a small gift from my mom and dad with my children and am truly blessed to have such lovely memories and loving parents.

  

PGA and armored convoy...

Boarded an armorstruxx (bulletproof) bus full of fabulous people from Tembagapura this morning at 7:30. This bus is the  "quality of life" bus. This bus brings people from Tembag to the lowlands. The lowlands consist of the town of Timika, the town of KK (I will get the appropriate spelling and update) and last but not least the Rimba Resort Golf Club! A PGA course that is more beautiful than words and pictures. 7:30 was pleasantly gorgeous in Tembag and excited I was to board. Once we were loaded and ready the Security Officer got on the bus to do a debriefing. Things went from fluffy to serious in an instant- as quickly as the rain begins to pour here. He says (note- not word-for-word) "we will leave here with an armored convoy.  Three cars in front and a bus and three cars in the rear. In the event we are shot at stay on the bus. We will move the convoy to the next security post which occur every 2 miles or so". Such security and bulletproofing exist due to prior events on the road that left two buses riddled with bullets, some injuries and no fatalities- thank goodness. Why travel, one may ask? Why not, I say! Life is somewhat calculated but risks and adventure lead to pleasure and pain, therefore life! And life is what I am living.
We have a wonderful girl to watch our kiddos while we are gone.
We begin our journey and all of a sudden a loud pang hits the bus and immediately my heart sinks. Mike with a calm, gorgeous smiles says "it's just a rock from the road from the tires". Phew!
We arrive at the Rimba with no issues and immediately the class of the club is almost overwhelming. The staff takes the clubs and the women and men part ways to their respective locker rooms. Beautiful locker rooms! Once changed we are greeted by our caddies. Men who know the course and the game. The course twists and turns in green wanderlust. There are swampy steps met with horn bill shrills! This is freaking jungle golf- PGA style! I was just waiting for a teradactle to come flying out of the crowded tree line.
The day ended well (I had a fabulous game). Mike and I ate brunch at the restaurant and met a new couple all the way from Alaska- adding to the list of people and their places.
We once again boarded the bulletproof bus and on our way we went back to the city in the clouds. Before we left we were debriefed again but this time there will be one stop on the way up- a potty break. The bus slowly makes it up the steep hill and comes to a stop the doors open and men jump off to relieve themselves. I jump off and the security guy says with a humored look of shock "you are the first woman to get off the bus when it stops here". "Really?" I ask. "Yep really" he says. I wanted to say that this isn't my first rodeo- maybe may first jungle rodeo. Peeing in the mountains is no big deal. He lead me to a more private area and Mike came to hold his coat around me and suddenly a few security guys that are stationed at the post come up and ask if I needed something- they were truly perplexed over the stupid buleh Ibu who was not on the bus. It was a first and notable experience for everyone, I am pretty sure.
We got home safely and the kids had an amazing time with their new friend.

Close to home, amazing people and bats....

We are getting settled from our American dinner at the Lupe and I am almost in tears by their thoughtfulness and contribution! We walked in and there was a beautiful Statue of Liberty, pictures of the American flag and Abraham Lincoln! All hand carved by an artist here from Styrofoam! An amazing talent!
The staff here make us feel so special and make an effort to get to know us!
The love from the community is so humbling! We are right at home- our second home and very blessed!
Happy Independence Day! From Indonesia!
As we were standing outside a bat swung by and holy hell he was huge. Bats at home are 1/3 of the size! My Aunt Linda would've lost her sh*t! :) we were hoping for more of a visit from the bat but no such luck!
Our party tomorrow is much anticipated  and needed to celebrate our Independence! As always to be continued. ..