All for the cause and never cease to be amazed...

It's funny, as I was sitting next to a dear friend of mine, she laughs and says this place is like the Desperate House Wives of Tembagapura. I think what she means, and I agree, that it isn't drama or anything like that, it's that there are so many amazing women here. They all have character to each their own and unique stories. The women have tremendous differing talents, grace and loveliness. They have such big hearts and all would do anything for anyone. It is very true that a camera crew would keep very busy and entertained filming the various lives of the women and families here. Not to mention the stories of the men who go up every day and work in the largest gold and copper mine in the world.  
Today all of us women gathered for a charity event called the Pink Tea. Now the events here are out-of-this-world amazing. The women who put these events together leave no detail out. I thought I knew how to throw a party but this is a whole new level.
The Pink Tea's intent is to raise funds for a few charities for breast cancer. A few international charities and a local, Indonesian charity. It was mentioned that in Indonesia, most of the time, when breast cancer is discovered is it already at stage four due to lack of education and religious barriers.
The Tea was held in the restaurant where there were white linen-lined tables and chairs with pink sarongs tied around them. The tables were delicately decorated with beautiful lanterns as centerpieces with tiny boxes full of treats as gifts to each lady. The walls were lined with an abundance of gift baskets, paintings, jewelry and flowers, all donated as part of the silent auction.  One wall was encrusted from one end to the other of bras. Each bra was personally decorated by the women as a competition and fund raiser. The bras completely baffled me! The time and talent that each woman put into them was inspirational. The bras varied from a metal "Zina" like look to a feathered bird to massive sparkles to beans and pasta. That was really fun. There was a tree in the middle of one of the tables that held hearts with names of friends and family members who are battling cancer. I placed a name on the tree of a friend back home who is battling ovarian cancer. There were also tons of door prizes, food and drinks.
The entertainment was a drumming group of comprised of ladies called the Thunder Ladies (I think that is the name). They were awesome!
The blessing of the event came when two beautiful ladies of Tembagapura shared their personal stories of beating breast cancer. Two quotes, one from each of their stories moved me- "happiness is a choice" and "don't be afraid". Their stories brought us all to tears.
The event was truly moving. The time, talent and monetary donations of the women, the company and other companies was absolutely stunning. We all had such a great time and raised a lot money for a great cause. It never ceases to amaze me how lucky we are to be apart of this adventure in this tiny little town.  

The magical stairs into the clouds...

In conjunction with another, very, busy weekend we finally climbed, as the kids call them, "the magical stairs". These stairs reside on the road from Tembagapura to Hidden Valley (from the lower town of the highlands to the upper town of the highlands). Theses stairs' purpose and intent is unknown but I do know they pleasantly feed the imaginations of my little angels' minds.
Blessed with amazingly, gorgeous weather, after a bumpy bus ride up, we walked down part of the road to get to the stairs with buses and mine equipment passing by. The stairs came into view and the kiddos were super excited yet a little nervous with the unknown adventure that was about to commence! We climbed over a tiny stream at the base and up we went. The stairs look like they came from a wicked movie. The slats of the stairs are made up of tiny 4x1s, unevenly spaced and unevenly placed side to side. They are nicely slicked with black, tar-like moss with one rope on the right side laced with invisible slime. We all became more aware of our balance and focus, Mason especially. The staircase tips, bends and climbs into an overgrown jungle full of singing birds and scurrying lizards- "Lizzie the Lizard" and "Frank" followed us all the way up.
Hannah bravely lead the way with immense confidence! She communicated the necessary navigations of the wooded route. Up and up we went until we came to a building. An old guard shack, we assume. Tattered with graffiti, litter, old clothes and a haunting essence of something not right, we moved on. Shortly up from the building is a random platform- a site-seer's paradise that overlooks the many peaks and waterfalls of the towering local mountains (thanks to good weather). A few pictures later Hannah took the lead once more.  
Very shortly an "uh-oh" was uttered by our fearless, little, leader- a large tree had fallen and destroyed our only path. Mike stepped up and ushered us over the obstacle and another tree was encountered, again with his help, it was safely succeeded by the Gines family.
Finally, we reached the beginning of the top of the staircase. A flatter area there was more evidence of the local villagers' existence. The grounds were flattened, groomed, an old burned-out fire pit of used wood lay quiet, trash, gloves and clothes- all empty and left behind. We finally made it up to the top and civilization came into view. Our jungle trip came to an end and we walked to our next adventure- a one year olds' birthday party. All just apart of living in the jungle. It was a great adventure!
It has been a fabulous weekend.

The little things and the many eyes of wonderment...

So living in a remote town in the jungle has many advantages and many disadvantages. One becomes to enjoy the little things. The little things vary like buying chicken breast- our store was out of chicken breasts for three weeks. However, every other part of the chicken was available except the breast. Many questioned where the breasts ended up!? The ground beef is also hit or miss and the steaks look great but are very expensive. ! So once the chicken breasts were placed in the meat case I bought 2 kilos worth which is 4 pounds. There was still plenty and within the hour it was all gone. The store also provides the most random selection of things, for example, an entire aisle of the most delectable and expensive chocolates, another aisle of a plethora of shampoos, conditioners and face cream yet there are extended times where there aren't any vegetables, chicken, yogurt and milk. But rest assured your sweet tooth, face and hair will survive just fine. You can, however, buy a head of lettuce for $10 USD and a thing of broccoli for $15 USD. It's amazing that the town villagers can afford anything!
Another of the "little things" came up when I was in the travel department. I walked in and some lovely ladies I know were waiting their turn when suddenly a bell rang and an automated voice spoke a number in Bahasa Indonesia. It was like being at the DMV- you take a number and wait until your number comes up on the screen. This is new! One of the ladies and I almost fell off our chairs with laughter as this is a very big deal. Such technology and thought of organization is very rare. Normally you walk into the department and sit down, some one walks in behind you, an agent becomes available and the person that came in behind you moves up and takes the available spot, right in front of you (this happens everywhere you go here). So this is just craziness! Actually, quite comical.
The little things, for me personally, are all the opportunities I have. Most recently, I am training with a gentleman from Italy who is teaching me to teach Pilates (in addition to my yoga which is going amazingly). Another is the opportunity to help teach swim lessons to the 1st graders from the international school (this one is out of my comfort zone but I think we'll get through it just fine). Lastly, I got to go to the, company sponsored, dormitory for the local tribal children whose parent(s) work at the mine. The dormitory houses, feeds them, teaches them to read and write in Bahasa Indonesia and English and math etc. Some of the ladies go once a week to teach them various things. Today was food from different parts of the world. The goal was to have them look at the food to guess what was in it, where it was from and find where it was from on a map of the world. I have never in my life seen such curiosity; their eyes were huge with wonderment and they soaked in every bit of it. They are well-mannered and very sweet. It was a necessary moment for me to really acknowledge where they come from and who they are. I appreciated them and found a new role in this place and their lives (and they in mine).
Hannah and Mason seem to be enjoying school. Mike is getting busier and busier at work but seems to really be thriving.
We are officially on a countdown to get to Australia (4 weeks from now). People have said "you never stay on the island longer than 3 months" and they are right. There isn't much to do here and the itch gradually increases and trips must be had!! 
More pics of town are below and the beautiful faces of the kiddos I got to work with.
As always, to be continued!!!!