Indonesia 2005-06, Part 2
Where in the World Are We?
The country of Indonesia is an archipelago of an estimated 17,000 islands stretching approximately 3,000 miles from Banda Aceh (location of 2004 tsunami) in the west to Jayapura in the east. We live and work in Abepura which is situated between Lake Sentani and Jayapura. From Jayapura/Abepura it is about a one and a half hour drive to the border of Papua New Guinea. The nearest town in PNG is Vanimo, about a one hour drive beyond the border. We traveled there recently to renew our Indonesian visas. (Satellite images courtesy of Google Earth)
UNCEN
We work on the original (old) campus of Universitas Cenderawasih (UNCEN). Cenderawasih means Bird of Paradise, and that bird is featured on the main entrance gate. Located near the main gate is a pedestrian overpass featuring Papuan motifs, as well as the Administration Building and other older buildings. The campus is also being updated with newer facilities.
Birthday Party
Our MCC co-worker decided to throw a birthday party for herself and asked us to help make 10 pies for the event. We also had help from a neighbor family, and the pies were baked, two at a time, in a small stove-top oven. All of her co-workers, friends, and students were invited, and on the day of the party over a hundred guests showed up at her house. In addition to pie, a meal of rice and noodles was served. Entertainment included music provided by a choir of her students. Needless to say, there was a lot of clean-up to do, but there was also time for an informal introduction to American square dancing! It was a fun event.
A Papuan Thanksgiving
We celebrated American Thanksgiving by going out to eat at a “Padang” restaurant with a couple of friends. The “menu” is literally placed on the table in its entirety. What you eat is what you pay for!
Papuan Wedding
We were invited to a wedding that was held in a church on one of the islands in Lake Sentani. The wedding party and all of the guests were transported to the island by Johnson (motor boats). The bridal party was escorted to the church by a drum and flute band. After the 2-hour church service and wedding ceremony we were all transported to another island for a reception at the home of the grooms parents. There we relaxed under palm trees surrounded by beautiful flowers and a nice breeze and were served a full meal.
MCC Team Meetings
On December 9 we returned to Java for MCC team meetings. We had an overnight in Jakarta with an opportunity to ride in a bajai. The next day we saw Javanese countryside through dirty train windows. Then four days of team meetings in a mountain resort provided a good time together with about 20 others, including North Americans as well as Indonesian staff. We worshiped together, shared the joys and frustrations of our assignments, did some planning for the future, and concluded with communion.
MCC Christmas Party
On December 16 all MCC personnel and their families who were in the Salatiga area celebrated Christmas together at the home of the country reps. Thirty-two people enjoyed a feast of chicken, stuffing, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, beans, bread, pumpkin pie, mango pie, and decorated cookies. The evening ended with a gift exchange and some time for singing Christmas carols.
Kalimantan
December 18 23 we traveled to Kalimantan with 3 MCC friends to view orang-utan at Tanjung Puting National Park. We traveled, ate, and slept on a small boat, accompanied by a crew of two and a travel guide, with just enough room for 5 of us to sleep on the upper deck under mosquito nets at night. We took a number of hikes through the rain forest and saw many orang-utan, especially at several feeding stations, but also elsewhere along the way. We had repeated sightings of two kinds of monkeys, gibbons, and many different beautiful birds.
Christmas Get-away
December 23 29 the two of us relaxed by ourselves at a beautiful Javanese get-away home near Klaten (30 minutes from Jogjakarta) provided by friends. It is located in the middle of a small traditional village and came complete with house help, gardener, and driver who took care of us royally! We also had time for shopping and meeting up with friends from Jogjakarta. On Christmas day we had a special meal of gado-gado, chicken, tofu, tempeh, rice, and fresh mango. We provided Christmas music from our laptop.
Return to Papua
On December 29 we left Java late at night. After a 4-hour lay-over in Bali, we continued on to Papua arriving at Timika on the south coast just after sunrise on December 30. From there we crossed rugged mountains the highest in Papua and had a direct view of the controversial Freeport mine. It is the worlds largest gold mine and the third largest copper mine. Then it was on to our landing next to Lake Sentani near Abepura and Jayapura on the north coast. The crossing took about one hour.
Papuan New Year
It was good to be home and enjoy our own simple Christmas decorations again. We also found many preparations underway to bring in the New Year. As the New Year arrived fireworks were going off all around our town of Abepura, and there were about 6 batteries of cannon on the surrounding hills that were booming very loudly. One was just a little ways above our house! The sound and light show lasted about two hours but the cannons continued all night! Added to this, there are many “rumah natal” (Christmas houses) that were specially built and decorated and from which loud music was playing.
Hiking near Abepura
Directly across the valley from our home is a hill that we have wanted to climb. So a few weeks ago, with assistance from an English student and some friends and family, we made the trek. At the bottom we needed to negotiate thick mud from recent floods. Then we ascended mostly through forest and arrived at the top with views of Lake Sentani in the distance one way and the Jayapura bay the other way. Looking directly across towards the UNCEN campus and our house we could also see the devastation left by the floods to the fields below. We took a steep descent on the other side to a small kabun or farm where we saw pigs being washed down in their pens. We rested there a bit and scraped off grass seeds from our clothes with a knife blade before returning home.
Vanimo, PNG
We stayed at the Vanimo Beach Hotel with beautiful views of the bay. We also enjoyed a 3-hour walk around the entire peninsula. Not far from Vanimo are world-renowned surfing locations, but local children have been doing it for centuries on home-made boards.
Opening Lecture
As part of the start-up activities for a new semester Ron was asked to present an opening lecture for all of the students and some of the faculty members of PGSD (Elementary Education Program). So he gave a 1-hour talk on Learning Mathematical Concepts (in contrast to just learning procedures) illustrated by examples from arithmetic, algebra, and geometry. It was delivered almost entirely in Indonesian and was well received by about 150 attentive and engaged students. On short notice Sally Jo also gave a 5-minute report on her work in the School of Education library.
Trip to Serui
We recently made a trip to Serui to become acquainted with the family of a young woman who plans to be in North America next year under the International Visitor Exchange Program (IVEP) of MCC. Our trip began with a 1-hour flight by regular jet to Biak, which has one of the largest runways in Indonesia due to its strategic role during World War II. Because of flight schedules we needed to stay there overnight in a small hotel next to the airport but also next to the sea with gorgeous views across to Yapen Island. The next day we flew low (just high enough to get over the mountains) in a 20-seater plane, with full view of our pilots, to Serui on the other side of Yapen Island.
Serui: Evening walk
Our first evening there we enjoyed a long walk near the coast on the outskirts of Serui.
Serui: Visiting a family
The next day we were treated to a fabulous lunch by Stephannes family. In addition to her parents, we met her grandparents, siblings, aunt & uncle, and several friends. Pictured at the table are Sally Jo, the MCC staff person who traveled with us, Stephannes grandfather, parents, younger brother, and Stephanne herself. After lunch Ron had an opportunity to help Stephannes sister with her math homework, Stephanne worked with the MCC staff person on documents, Sally Jo got acquainted with her mother and grandmother, and many photos were taken, including one of the entire family.
Serui: Visiting schools and libraries
We needed to stay in Serui for 3 nights because there are scheduled flights only on 3 days a week. So one day arrangements were made for us to visit two schools — a middle school and a high school and a public library. Ron had a chance to interact with one class, and Sally Jo was able to experience 3 different libraries. The public library was only 2 years old and was quite impressive.
Lake Sentani
About a 30-minute drive from where we live is a large, beautiful fresh-water lake named Sentani. It sits at the foot of the Cyclops Mountains and includes many islands. Many people live around the lake and on the islands in houses built on stilts. Dug-out canoes are used for fishing and as a means of transportation. Pigs roam freely in the settlements. Birds that we have seen there include herons and terns. (As a side-note, during World War II General McArthur had his headquarters located on a hill overlooking Lake Sentani.)
UNCEN Yudisium (Graduation)
We have just had 3-hour graduation ceremony for about 400 students in the School of Education. In addition to receiving their diplomas or degrees, graduates recited a lengthy pledge to the country and to their university represented by two flags. It was also quite a style show, including one graduate adorned with Bird of Paradise (Cenderawasih) feathers. The lengthy time was eased by providing us with boxed snacks and drink, and even those on the podium were relaxed enough to use a cell phone while names were being read. As a result of us being introduced to the audience we met a young man afterwards, graduating in biology, who lived in our home town of Goshen two years ago under the MCC International Visitor Exchange Program! We had heard of him but did not realize that he was a student here at UNCEN.
