Skull Island Update

Life in Hidden Valley continues smoothly.  Our little neighborhood is a loop that is the perfect length for a brief walk after dinner (if it’s not raining too hard).  We’ve been meeting more people, mostly ex-pats.  Hopefully as we get more confident with our Indonesian we’ll be able to talk with more locals.

Emily’s met a few ladies who are starting a Tuesday/Thursday play group.  Most have at least two kids (several have 4 or 5!), and Diana is one of the youngest, but it’s nice to know that there are lots of other children in the neighborhood.  There may also be a toddler/baby swimming class coming up soon, so there are plenty of organized things for the stay-at-home moms and their kids to do.  Diana has been adjusting really well to life here so far (as you can read below).  She’s able to focus on smaller things now, and enjoys grabbing at the flowers and ferns that we stop to look at.  She’s a little short compared to the average baby, so she’s just fitting in her 3-6 month clothes.  Luckily she’s stopped spitting up so much too, so we don’t go through so many outfits in one day.

Our dining experiences have continued to be very good.  The café down the street has wonderful food for about $4, so we’ve gotten take-out a couple of times a week.  Neither one of us has gotten sick, and we’re certainly eating healthier than we were in Morenci.  We’re able to get enough familiar food at the grocery store to feel comfortable, while also getting some things that weren’t readily available before like fresh lemongrass and passion fruit.  We are also having fun noticing the Asian knock-off products in the store (Happitos, instead of Doritos, Mister Potato – who is Mexican with a sombrero instead of the Pringles barbershop-looking guy, and a Dolce & Gabbaa handbag, etc).  

Working for the Underground Geology Department has been a lot of fun so far and also difficult since Ben doesn’t have any specific projects or duties to work on.  The department is small with only fourteen geologists (one other expat) and five samplers (hourly guys).  The other expat is originally from Holland so Ben is the only native English speaker in the department.  Most of the other geologists know some English, so he usually kind-of knows what’s going on with work, but can’t understand the small-talk & gossip.  Most of the geologists are younger than Ben and they laugh a lot and often sing a bit when they’re driving underground to wherever something needs to get done.  (Maybe a result of karaoke or maybe why they like it…)  After three weeks Ben has visited all of the underground mining or development areas which have fun names like Big Gossan Mine, Deep Ore Zone, Kasuang Drift, Grasberg Ventilation Drift, Amole Tunnel, and the Common Infrastructure project.  The project that Ben might end up working on involves the development for the Grasberg Block Cave mine which will eventually be the underground mine directly under the Grasberg open pit.  Right now, they are drilling rock core holes to determine if one section of the rock is solid enough for a room about the size of three football fields (!) where they can put the underground crushers.  (The Grasberg Block Cave will be the largest of its type when finished with only El Teniente in Chile being close.)