Hi all! Well, we've survived here for a week and a half now! I don't know if that means anything... This week Hugo started work. There is a Cessna Caravan in for servicing and the autopilot isn't working properly, so Hugo was ready to dive in. Otherwise he has been fixing radios. We are still waiting for the rest of our stuff and his tool box is in those totes so he is somewhat limited right now. They decided to send our stuff via boat as MAF had airplane parts to send as well and everything totalled over a tonne in weight. However, the boat takes two weeks to get here... Yippee! In the meantime Mikah has only three shirts to wear and no dresses. Fortunately the start of school has been delayed by a week until August 19. On Wednesday we went to Jayapura, the capital of Papua, to do our paperwork with immigration and the police. We first went to The Missions Fellowship office, they are handling our paperwork for MAF, and filled in some more paper work there. Then we went to the immigration building where we were all finger printed. They use some very strong black ink and the only way to get it off is with vaseline and baby wipes. Aidan decided to go into the room while we weren't looking, and even though there were other things he could have touched, he decided to put his whole hand on the ink blot. After that we went back to the Missions Fellowship to fill in some more paperwork. By this time the kids were bored to tears. Mikah got to sign her own paperwork, which she thought was pretty neat. Then we went to the police station... The room we went to was like something out of an old movie. There was a desk and a metal table with a type writer on it. There were boxes stacked up, files apparently, and a mannequin - not sure why that was there. There was also a weigh scale and a ruler to see how tall you are. In another corner was a sink and mirror and towel. We waited for a little while and then the man came. Hugo, Erica and Mikah were weighed, measured and finger printed. Sometimes the scale got stuck and you had to bang on it to make it work... Finally we were done! So we went to downtown Jayapura and ate some lunch at Miami Fried Chicken. They had a little slide and ball bin that the kids could play in. Before eating there it is important to sanitize your hands with Purell. The bathroom there was quite the place. There is a ceramic hole in the ground and a tub of water with a bucket that you use to "flush" once you are done. Needless to say, we did not take Mikah in there. The streets of Jayapura are very busy and there are sewers running under the sidewalk. There are people who will find you a place to park and will direct you to get out when you want to leave. You will pay them because they put their lives on the line getting you out into traffic. It's pretty crazy there. Thankfully, Paul Dukes the maintanence manager, drove us. Then we went to a town closer to Sentani called Abay and went to a supermarket there that carries some things that you can't get in Sentani. I stocked up on green peppers and bought some chicken just like you can back home-in styrofoam with plastic wrap around it! We also visited the bank machine and took out the maximum $3 million Rupiahs that we could. That is about $530 Canadian. They have a few bank machines there in Abay but there is only one in Sentani and it is often out of money. As this is the only way that we can get money here, we have to take advantage of the opportunity. We can give the money to MAF to hold for us so that we don't have so much cash laying around the house. By that time the kids were finished and we headed home. The road is incredibly windy and the scenery beautiful especially around lake Sentani! On Friday Justin Koens completed his first solo flight with MAF. Tradition is that upon the pilots return, he will taxi up to the hangar and when he gets out he is doused with water. So everyone was waiting for him, cameras and buckets ready, and he was appropriately soaked. After that there is a "feast" and Justin and Corinne provided pop and fried stuff to eat. They love their fried food here. The main things are fried banana, thin fried tofu (very nice), lumpia (nothing like the ones that you can get in Canada)they have soy beans in them, and a triangular shaped thing that has a layer of tofu and inside there are some vegetables-also very yummy! If your stomach is not used to all that fat, you will suffer some side effects.... On Saturday we visited the school where Mikah will go and met the principle who is a fellow Canadian. We also made use of the beautiful library that they have. Later that day we went with Justin and Corinne to visited the Vandebeek's. He is a missionary sent out by our churches in holland. One year ago on Saturday their one year old son drowned. At that time they were living in Boma. They are quite alone here as they have only been here for a couple of months. They live in the house that my Uncle Keith and Aunt Coby lived in when they were dorm parents for the missionary kids going to school there. After that we went up the hill call Postujo (I think I spelled that wrong). There are a lot of Nationals living there in tiny little houses. Corinne went to one place to see her pembantu (househelp) who has been very sick with malaria. It was my first experience seeing how people live in a third world country. There was a child there with an infected eye and the eye was about 5-10 times normal in size. Very sad. There are also a lot of missions that are located there on the hill and many of the teachers from Hillcrest school also live there. The road is incredibly bumpy and curvy. Quite the place! Today we went to the chapel at the Hillcrest school for Church. So that was our week! Take care and God bless, Erica for Hugo and the kids P.S. We would love to hear from you, but aren't sure that our MAF address: hfeunekes@maf.org is working... Keep trying, I will work on getting it fixed!