Hello again! We are a little late this week with our update. A mere three weeks before we are due to go home, we have our first sick family member. Hugo has caught a flu bug and was in bed all day Sunday and home from work today, Monday. Currently avenues are being explored to see if there is a possibility of us going home early due to a severe housing shortage here on base. Last week the two year old son of friends of ours was medivaced to Australia as he had become seriously ill. He had tested positive for malaria and was taking a cure when his blood stopped absorbing oxygen and his red blood cells were being broken down. This family was due to leave for the interior, but is now staying here on base longer. Since then the boy is now out of hospital and doing much better. They are currently awaiting test results and he may come home this week. Another reason for us to be doubly thankful that the Lord made all well with Erica and Marc. This week in addition to the usual little repair jobs, Hugo installed a new type of HF antenna for a base radio. This is a trial antenna and if it works as well as it should there will be more put up. He also worked on one of the autopilots. On Friday night we had our annual MAF Christmas program. This is organized by the national staff and attended by all families working for MAF in Sentani. Indonesians love glitz and lights and lots of noise. It was quite the program complete with a three man band, lots of singing, and a message from a pastor. One of the ladies from on base had put together little gift bags for all the children of the nationals. This was a big hit. The program lasted about 2 hours and when it was done all the expat staff and their families formed a long line at the front and shook hands with every last national there. Thankfully our kids did pretty good. After the program we filed out the door and could get a cookie and everyone received a bag with supper in it. Unlike in North America, everything is packed in bags here. Very seldom are boxes used. Normally, everyone would eat their food there at the hall, but Indonesians are very private about eating and do not like to eat in front of others. In prior years many people would eat their food in a corner or facing the wall, so this year everyone took their meals home. We all had the same thing. There was a plastic container with white rice and a piece of curried chicken and a spoon. In a separate little bag were some carrots and beans and some fake meat (bone marrow with tapioca-we don't eat it...) and in another little bag was some sambal and in another little bag was some kroepoek. We also all received a can of pop and a mandarin orange (which are in season all year round here). Indonesians particularly love coca cola and strawberry fanta so those were the two types of pop available. Six months ago our kids would have said, "what kind of food is this? Can we have something else?" Friday night they all happily dumped some ketchup on their rice and ate. On Saturday we went to a photo "studio" and had our family portrait taken. We can pick them up today so we will see how they turn out. There was only one background that Erica deemed acceptable, the rest were tacky scenes from the beach or a farm or candles and stars.... Then we went to Abe where the kids played in the play area at the "mall". They rode on little electric cars and motorbikes and played with Little Tikes toys. When Erica came up with Marc in the baby carrier there was instantly a crowd around them all marvelling at the little white baby. One woman couldn't get over the baby carrier. You mean you can carry it by the handle? And it has a little canopy for the sun? Wow! Pretty funny. After that we went to the new KFC that was having its grand opening. Not quite the same as KFC back home... You can order rice, spagetti, soup, oh and chicken. We ordered chicken strips for the kids only to find out that the meat was laced with sambal. Only Aidan didn't mind it... All food, unless you are taking it home, is put on real plates and there is no such thing as cutlery or those little bags with the salt and pepper and napkin and cutlery and wet wipe.... There are no napkin dispensers, you just use what they give you. The only thing that you can get yourself is a straw and there are ketchup and sambal dispensers, but no little cups to put it in, you need to use your plate. There are also three sinks right by the front counter for your convenience so you can wash up before eating. There was quite a line-up and Erica discovered quite quickly that you need to be very agressive in line or people will happily walk right in front of you. After eating our meals, Erica went back to get ice cream. She ordered lima (five) sundae's and the girl behind the cash register said something to her. Remember that Indonesians love noise... There was Kristmas non-stop happening very loudly at the time. Erica couldn't hear/understand what the girl said and said in fluent Indonesian,"I'm sorry I don't understand I know only a little Indonesian. The girl looked at Erica like she had an extra nose growing out of her head and repeated what she said. After this happened twice, Erica turned around and asked the expat behind her to translate. All the girl kept repeating was, "Is that everything?" Too funny... I guess she expected that because Erica was white she should be buying a lot more food... Also the prices are very unusual numbers. A sundae was something like 6,042 Rups. The smallest denomination that we have seen in coin was a 50 Rupiah piece. Our bill came to 99,999 and when you pay 100,000 you don't get your 1 rupiah back... So that was our KFC experience... After shopping a little, we white knuckled our way home. There are lines on the road all the way to Sentani now, but it doesn't seem to make any difference. While driving home we were passed by two dump trucks while going up hill. Suddenly a car came from the opposite direction and the dump truck swerved back into the right lane in front of us, if Hugo hadn't put on the brakes.... They have absolutely no fear here. So that was our week here. Aside from Hugo being sick we are doing well. Baby Marc is sleeping pretty good and drinking well and Erica feels great. The kids are adjusting well to having a new sibling also. Salamat Hari Minggu! In His Service, Hugo and Erica Feunekes