Christmas around here is very quiet! There are 3 or 4 little trade stores (a counter with a few things for sale behind it) where the kids did their Christmas shopping all by themselves. (They told us they had picked out a gift for Daddy but decided on something else when they realized what they were going to buy was a pack of cigarettes!) The girls were delighted to find some little bottles of nail polish at the corner market (a few women sitting on the ground selling miscellaneous items) which they bought each other as Christmas gifts!
This being a less busy holiday season I took the opportunity to do some Christmas baking with the kids this year, which was fun. We made gingersnaps, crunchy little "Paepanate", chocolate crinkle cookies and coconut Christmas cake. The kids also made some salt dough ornaments which they painted and hung on our little Christmas tree to dress it up a little! Although we miss the gatherings and get-togethers with friends and family, we are enjoying a more reflective holiday season this year.
Best wishes to you this Christmas and we wish you a blessed New Year!
The Derksens in PNG.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Moving to Telefomin
The village of Telefomin has been our home now for just over 3 weeks. Telefomin and the other nearby villages are on a plateau surrounded by mountains all around so we are enjoying the change from the prairies of Manitoba! There is one other MAF family here right now (the only other white people here besides us) with 3 girls, ages 2,4 and 6. The people are very friendly and the kids spend much of their time playing with national kids in the neighborhood - climbing trees, making forts, playing soccer, tag, etc. or making fires (burning the dry bush grass). It rains nearly every day but lately we've had less rain, which means the hydro electricity is on only for a couple of hours throughout the day and evening. (We have a back-up generator to make sure our freezer doesn't defrost with 3 months worth of meat all at once!) We are really enjoying living here and feeling more and more at home.
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