We’re finally here! After wonderful vacations with our families in Vermont and Michigan, we got on the long
flight to Indonesia. We stopped over for a three day mini-vacation in Bali, which was a life saver. We were
able to catch up on sleep and get over our jetlag a bit. We stayed at a wonderful little resort, and never
left! We were feeling a bit like we should go out and explore, but decided it was better to relax and let Diana
catch up on sleep and have regular naps. Plus, the food was great there, and we enjoyed a bit of Asian television to help adjust ourselves to life here. The resort also had a spa, so we got massages before heading off to Papua, which was wonderful!
We got to Papua without incident and Zulfiadi, our HR liason, drove us up to Tembagapura. The drive is
unbelievable! Near-vertical at times, gravel, and all kinds of twists and turns. Diana slept through it all,
which was a huge relief. We got shuttled around town to set up bank accounts, get library cards, a PO box, phone service, etc. We also picked up the one box of airfreight that was waiting for us. We were really excited to see what it was, but a little dissapointed to find that it was just baking supplies. Maybe we’ll make cookies this week while we wait for the rest of our things to arrive. We had lunch at the cafe at the Family Shopping Center and were immediately set upon by a horde of ex-pat wives. It was great! They were really welcoming and helpful, and then two came over to our apartment that first night to bring Em the Ibu (Ladies) Phone List and make sure we were settling in ok.
We ventured on the bus to the shopping center on Saturday and ran into Jamie, a co-worker from Morenci who has been here since November. It was nice to see a familiar face, and we decided to meet up for brunch at the Lupe Lelah Club on Sunday. Grocery shopping was a little stressful since almost all packaging is in Indonesian. Food was pretty easy to figure out, but we had a hard time trying to figure out which of the various chemicals might be a bathroom cleaner. They seem to have a lot of Windex-like products, but nothing to fight soapscum. Maybe if you have a maid who cleans the bathroom everyday, you just don’t have soapscum…
Sunday we got a ride to the Lupe for brunch which was unbelievable! Aside from the pasta/omlette/crepe/schwarma/dessert bars, there were plates of smoked salmon, avocado salad with walnut dressing, roasted duck, pork loin, an amazing eggplant and cheese cassarole, and much much more. The variety and quantity of food available was far beyond anything we expected. And it was an expensive $12! We’re already planning to have dinner there on Saturday which the calendar says is “For the Gormands.”
