Happy New Year: Underground Style

I am just going to tell you now that the Indonesians know how to do a party right!! For the last few days, the UG guys took over a friends house and built two covered structures, in the friends yard, just to keep party goers from getting wet!

Sad to say that Chris and I did not stay to ring in the new year, but we went and checked out the party digs anyway!

Here are a few pictures from the night...Happy 2013!!! :)

Papuan Potatoes

Saturday morning, Chris decided to take the three youngest for a hike in the jungle. During their hike, they came upon a potato farm and some native Papuans who lived there. Chris discovered that the guy he was talking to worked in the underground mine and that he liked his Papuan food, that he planted, better than the stuff he could get in the store. The man was generous with his crop and gave more than enough to Chris. So for dinner, Saturday night, Chris boiled them all up for us to eat.

Yes, everyone tried them... I can't say everyone liked them. ;) They were very starchy and didn't have a whole lot of taste to them. The texture was like you were eating wet styrofoam. (I know, probably not a good analogy but the best I could think of at this time.) I have a few pictures of Chris preparing the potatoes, but I forgot to take a picture of them once cooked. :( Maybe next time...

Now don't you all wish you had dinner with us Saturday night?? ;)

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Day in Tembagapura. :)

Christmas Eve with Friends

We had a little get together with the families who stayed in Tembagapura for Christmas. My friend Jen made the turkey and stuffing and I made the rest... Well Mersades helped with the desserts! :) Fun night!

Waiting....

All ready to go for Christmas morning...

Choppering Up!

I never thought those two words would ever be used in my vocabulary!  But after moving here, there are a lot of new words/phrases we now use on a regular basis.... Choppering up/down, visa run, "going JUST to Bali", site visitors, etc......

Anyway, that is not the point of this post, but think twice every time those words come out of my mouth! :)

Because it has come to my attention that a lot of the "site visit" people find my blog, I thought I would post these next few pictures.

I was in the lowlands last Thursday and Friday for some meetings to do with the long range plan of the school.  As I was "choppering up", I had a great seat in the chopper to take some great photos of the area.  Of course I did not have my good camera with me, however my phone's camera took some ok pictures.

Leaving the airport in Timika.

 Flying towards the mountains.

 This is a picture of the road that goes from the lowlands to the highlands! Just amazing!

More mountains...  I believe the highest mountain on the left side of the photo is Mt. Zaagkam.  Tembag sits in the valley at the base of the mountain.

 First look at Tembagapura from the chopper.

Tembagapura, Hidden Valley, and Rainbow Ridge.  HV and RR is to the right of Tembag.  HV is to the left of the road and RR is to the right.

Great picture of the road from Tembag to HV and RR.  This is the road we walk for "fun"! :)  It's 2 miles long and an elevation change of over 1000 ft.!

 Tembagapura... The road going "up" the photo is how you get up to the mine.

Hope this helps explain a little about where we live.  Believe me, the pictures DO NOT do this place justice!

Thanks for visiting this blog! :)
Robin

Freddie Is Here!!!!

We are so excited for our friend Fred to have made it to Tembagapura! What a nice treat for us!

Dinner With Friends

Tonight, friends of mine, all met at the Lupe to have Hot Stone. We wanted one last celebration before some of us left for the Christmas break. I think with all the kids and husbands we were just around 30 people!
These ladies are all good friends of mine. Not one of us is from the same country!! We have American (me) ;), Canadian, Scottish, South African, and Australian! What a great group of ladies! :)

MZIS Christmas Program and Santa...

Friday night we had our school's Christmas program.  I didn't get too many pictures of that but I did get some of the kids with Santa and Mrs. Clause!  The concert was great and everyone had a great time... like always! :)

Next came Santa and Mrs. Clause...

And then there's Teddy.... Poor ole Mrs. Cause...  Teddy made her blush... Or she made Teddy blush! :)  Who knows... They were probably both blushing! ;)

Then a couple of my friends and I enjoyed some time with Santa!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Robin

Ladies Gift Exchange

This year, I was part of the group of ladies who put the gift exchange together for the wives of the expats. The only decorations that were brought in from the Sates were the decorations on the tree and some ribbon. The rest of the decorations came from the hobby shop in Tembagapura. I must say, we did a great job and the ladies loved it!

Bedroom Furniture

A couple of months ago, we moved into a new house... Different house. :). Just in time for our new bedroom furniture to arrive!
We ordered it from a place in Bali. All of it is hand made with solid wood... Just don't remember what kind... It took 9 guys just to get the headboard up the stairs!! It was HEAVY!!
I must say, I love it!!!! :D

Happy Thanksgiving!: A Trip Down Memory Lane...

This morning, as I was thinking for all that I am thankful for, I am feeling as lot blessed and a little homesick.  I miss spending the holidays with my family but also know that we have created an extended family here that makes up for being so far away.

I also started looking at pictures on my computer from way back when and thought I would compile a bunch of pictures of how our family has changed over the last seven years.  (It's seven years, because that is the oldest picture I have on this computer... Unfortunately, Gabby is missing from it because she was screwing around at that time! :))

So here we go, a look back on how much we have changed and most definitely how much we have been blessed and how much we have to be thankful for!

And who can forget Riely... :)

What a fun ride it has been so far!  Here's to many more years of thankfulness!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Robin