Adrienne here again...just thought I would send a quick post to let you know that we are getting closer and closer to village living. The 6-weeker students (and families) left this afternoon. Our class size now consists of 11 adults and 9 children. Tomorrow, we go into town to buy what we need for this Saturday when our was famili comes to our haus kuk. We are planning to make a stir-fry for them. Not "American" but it is our favorite recipe so far that we have had here. We will cook some plantains when they arrive and eat them like french fries. Then, we will have a stir fry with a TON of rice followed by tea with banana cake and a warm custard on top. We have been told that this current rainy season is unlike any they have had in the last 5 years. We are already positive the ground will not dry be dry by Saturday. Now, we are praying that at least it will not pour as we prepare the meal and entertain our family.
Next Thursday, we leave for our 3-day hike. We went for a gear hike a couple days ago. We started at 0 elevation and climbed to 1200 ft in 3 hours....all the while I was carrying over 16 pounds and Caleb was carrying over 22 pounds. On Thursday, we will start our hike. That afternoon, we will come to our first village. We will eat with them, sleep there and then "story" all night. In the morning, we will start our hike to the second village where we will do much of the same. While we hike, we will have Papua New Guinean guides (one male and one female) who go with us. By now, they have become good friends. We are looking forward to this time where will we practice our Tok Pisin in smaller groups and with new people.
After that, we leave for village living (March 25th). We will be in the village for 5 weeks without internet. We may have phone coverage there (weird!). That reminds me of a funny story....
We went on a really long, all-day hike two weeks ago. On the way back, we were walking on a pig trail (did I tell this story before? I feel like I told it before). Oh well....I can't remember so I will tell it again briefly. We were hiking on literally the side of a mountain, at times through grass over our head, other times skiing through mud. We are in the middle of a jungle with practically no civilization around....and our Papua New Guinea guide has a cell phone that rings. Makes me laugh! =0)
One last comment....we FINALLY received our letters and packages today. Our water filter arrived (thank you to everyone who made that possible)...we won't have to boil all of our water for 5 weeks!! Also, we received birthday cards, valentine cards and some packages. We are not sure why it took over 6 weeks for some of these things to arrive. If you have our next address, it would be best to start sending any mail or packages there. Just let us know if you need that address....we plan to send it out in a newsletter soon....
Em tasol. Mi go nau.
Hope you enjoyed the pictures that Caleb was able to post! We are so excited it worked. Wish we could write more about them....but hopefully you have been following the blog and figure out which pictures go with which post!
Miss you all! Ben gives tons of hugs!
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