Our First Language Evaluation!!!

Well, we had our first language evaluation today and it went pretty well! Both Jonathan and I are at sentence level, and now we have a little more guidance of where to go from here. After we sat for about an hour and a half doing our evaluation this girl Nicole who was talking with me wanted to try braiding my hair. They say our hair is "malo malo" which means soft!!
As you can see, Olivia was very entertained!

Klimbing for Kulau!!

A couple days ago we were visiting this man Paul who has been helping us learn Pigin. He had this boy climb a coconut tree and drop about 5 of them down! Then Jonathan and Paul cut open the coconuts and drank the milk inside. This is what they call kulau- it is the jungle version of Gatorade!

PNG Mumu

Here are a couple pictures of a PNG Mumu. It is one method of cooking done here and considered a nicer meal because it takes more time to do. First, we peeled some sweet potatos, then... the women prepared the fire...
then once the stones in the fire have gotten nice and hot, they punch out the fire and place these banana leaves on top. Then they put the potato and tapiok inside the leaves and wrap them up.
Then they put the hot stones back on top of the leaves and let the hot stones cook the food. After about an hour they enjoy the meal!

Mora Mora

We enjoyed a much needed getaway at the beach this past Saturday with some friends! The beach we went to was called Mora Mora... the guys threw the football, the kids swam, we enjoyed some snorkeling at a nearby reef and all got a good sunburn! It was great!

What's in a name?

Here in New Guinea we've been studying the national language of Melanesian Tok Pisin. So what's in a name? Well, we found out that Melisa means.... Barracuda! Who knew!
(by the way, this picture was taken in Pennsylvania-not New Guinea!)

Some of you have asked how we get around here in New Guinea. Well, when we go to the village (which is right outside the New Tribes gate) we always walk. Sometimes it's a 10 min walk and the longest has been about a 45 min walk depending on who we are going to visit. The town of Kimbe where we would do "shopping" (PNG style) is a 40 min drive away. The mission has a van we rent but it costs about $50 to get to town! I have only been twice since we've been here. We just went to Kimbe yesterday and it had been 6 weeks for me since I had been out last!!!
Earlier in the paragraph I mentioned the "New Tribes gate" so I thought I might explain that a bit. Basically New Tribes has a mission center where all the support role missionaries live and it is where we live until we will allocate to a tribe. All the houses are together and surrounded by a gate with guard dogs around the perimeter and a guard at the entrance. The reason for all the security is so our houses won't get broken into easily and so us women can walk around the center freely without danger.
Here is a picture of Jonathan sitting down with a man "storying". It is very cultural to sit around outside on these benches and visit. It is not cultural for them to invite us into their houses.

Zoe Goes to Kindergarten!

When we got here to New Guinea we knew we had the option of home school or the mission school for Zoe. We didn't rush into either and wanted Zoe to have some time to adjust to her new environment. She made some friends and was wondering if she was going to go to school with them! Although she has just turned 5 we decided to try her in Kindergarten because she really wants to learn. It is from 8-12 and is just across a field from where we live. She has gone for about 3 weeks now and absolutely loves it!

Our Growing Kids!!