Weir in PNG

Wow! So sorry that we have not written lately. We are in need of a water filter for our 5-week village living phase, so we have been using all our "internet time" to set up how to get that! We think that is all set up now!

On a quick side note, we are able to read your comments on this blog. Thank you for all your words of encouragement. Please keep them coming!

This has been another busy week! Last Thursday, our "was famili" (watch family) came to visit us! We have a was papa and a was mama and they have 4 children (Tok Pisin word for children is pikinini). During the time, our was famili provides an informal atmosphere where we can practice what we have learned in Tok Pisin. They have been a was famili 10 different times, so they are used to helping us out with our vocabulary (Adrienne) or grammar (Caleb). The night went so well! Our was famili is so nice and so helpful! Their children played with Ben the whole night. Children are children in any culture. They knew exactly how to play with each other! I can honestly say that I learned more about PNG culture in that one night that I have learned in all our lectures. I wish I could share more, but I do not feel like it would be appropriate yet. We are still learning the ways of PNG life and my words would not do it any justice yet. This is a fascinating culture and I fe!
el privileged to be immersed in it this way. Perhaps Caleb can share more about this later.

This Thursday, we will visit our was famili's house in their village. I am really looking forward to this time!

Over the week-end, we had our first successful haus kuk week-end. On Saturday morning, it was pouring rain! Caleb miraculously got the fire going under the tarp in our haus kuk. We heated up water for hot chocolate and enjoyed a simple breakfast of fruit and cereal.

After the rain calmed down, I took a trip up the mountain to visit the ladies selling fruits and vegetables on their way to market. I scored a pineapple and some ripe bananas.

As soon as I got back to the haus kuk, it was time to begin lunch. It takes so long to make meals, you have to start cooking them before you are even hungry! We chose lunch to be our "big effort" meal for the day. Ben was happily playing with the other kids, so Caleb and I worked together to prepare our pork-(tin meat...like spam....yum)-fried- rice. Honestly, it was REALLY good. We were rather impressed with our meal, so we took lots of pictures. However, we made enough to feed everyone going through this training. Lesson learned.

Ben napped while we cleaned the dishes then we all napped for 2 hours!

That night, we fixed a delicious cabbage salad (with Ramen noodles, peanuts, homemade tangy dressing, etc). We had tuna fish sandwiches on homemade multi-grain rolls (made preciously during class time on Friday).

Sunday morning, we had another simple breakfast before church. We ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch since we knew we could get food that afternoon when we went swimming at Jais Aben resort (a regular Sunday afternoon event). But, Sunday night, we grilled pineapple and cheese sandwiches on homemade bread. With it, we ate fresh cucumbers with dip (homemade sour cream) and the rest of our cabbage salad.

I guess I should have mentioned this earlier, but in case you didn't realize, we have no refrigeration on the week-ends. This is preparation for when we go to live in the village and don't have refrigeration for 5 weeks. This is why we had to make our own dressing, sour cream, etc.

Over the week-end, I also baked brownies in a hand-crafted oven over a fire. Friends who already live in PNG, sent us a goody box which included a brownie mix. Since our was famili's son had a birthday that week-end, I wanted to make brownies to give to him on Sunday. Evn though the brownies took an hour and a half to "bake", they were delicious.

As successful as our week-end was, we still welcomed Monday morning when the dining hall opened again!

This past week has been much of the same. Classes on Tok Pisin, PNG culture, swimming, hiking, etc. Everything is coming together! We are learning so much! Soon, we will be spending the night in a nearby village. I guess that is it for now! I know I have rambled on a bit! Please feel free to post questions if you have any!

We think of you often and have enjoyed showing pictures of you to Papua New Guineans all over the mountain. We miss our family, our friends, and our church. Looking forward to sharing more of this journey with you later...