Hello again! We would like to wish you all a blessed New Year! We apologize for the late update this week. We are in the midst of packing to go home to Canada. Unbelievable that six months have passed already. God has truly blessed us during our time here. Hugo was able to be effective in the hangar and we were blessed with good health and the birth of our son.
We are very thankful for this experience and thank all those who were instrumental in making it possible.
This week Hugo wrapped up his work in the hangar by finishing off an autopilot repair and a compass system repair. He also left a to-do-list for Wesley the radio repair guy here for when ordered parts finally arrive.
Things take a long time to get here...
Otherwise, it was a quiet week so to speak. Up until the weekend, we had been hearing a lot of loud bangs around here. Young kids get large pipes and plug them on one end and then heat them up until there is an explosion inside forcing the plug off and making a very loud sound like a bomb going off. New Years eve felt like a war zone with smoke everywhere and fire crackers and these loud explosions. We also let off our fire crackers, much to Aidan's dismay, he cried the whole time and clung to Mommy... We had an enjoyable evening with some of the other folks on base. On New Year's day we went to the best local hotel with the Koen's. We phoned ahead to check when they had last cleaned their pool... It's not always done as often as it should be... When we arrived we went to the outdoor section of the restaurant and ordered our food. Then the guys and the kids got changed and hopped into the pool. After a good long swim the food was finally ready and we ate. After that the guys and the kids hopped back into the pool again.
Aidan and Christiaan had their photo's taken by Indonesian's who wanted their children on a picture with the boys. All in all it was a very enjoyable and relaxing afternoon.
On Sunday we had a picnic at McAurthurs's lookout with the Wiley's. Wally is the program manager here in Papua. Hugo had fixed some dive lights for him and he promised us some lobster in return. So we enjoyed some barbequed lobster for supper - yummy! Then as the sun went down as it always does at 6:00, we enjoyed the lights of the metropolis of Sentani.
Tonight, Monday, we went out to our favourite local restaurant with friends for a final Indonesian meal. We thought we would be smart and order ahead by phone so that we wouldn't have to wait so long for our food.
Unfortunately we weren't the only ones dining there tonight and we ended up waiting about 45 minutes for our food to arrive. But it was worth the wait and was very tasty. This particular restaurant is known for its good food and looooong wait to get it.
We are scheduled to leave Sentani at 10:00 am on Wednesday for Jakarta. On Thursday we are going to tour an audiology clinic and visit the Canadian embassy to complete some paperwork for Marc. We already have his passport thankfully... On Friday morning at 11:00 am we are due to leave for home.
It will be a long haul with stopovers in Kuala Lumpur, where we change planes, and Taipei, where we will have to deplane for a time, and L.A. where we will again have to change planes and then we will arrive in Vancouver at 10:30 pm, D.V.
Well, that was our week! We will only be retrieving email from this address until Wednesday morning and then you can email us, if you want to, at hwfeunekes@hwfeunekes.com.
Thanks to all those who kept in touch with us during our time out here. We loved getting your emails!
In His Service,
Hugo and Erica Feunekes