Role Call Part 3

The final installment!

Sally "I Can't Believe It" Thompson: this title is a compilation of three occurrences. The past few months Sally has been living in Indonesia and, as such, has been introduced to a lot of new things—from scenery, to language, to horrible traffic, to cultural practices. Hiking into a jungle village in a remote corner of the globe was bound to have a number of first time experiences as well. It seemed that every day Sally was commenting on a new experience. The first day, it was “I can’t believe I’m in Papua!” and we, with her, were all marveling at how beautiful it was, how remote it was, etc. Two days later, it was “I can’t believe I’m hiking up a mountain in a rainforest!” and we all were marveling at how beautiful it was, how remote it was, etc. Two days after that, it was “I can’t believe I’m on my knees vomiting into a squatty potty!” and we all were…thankful it wasn’t us. Needless to say, she didn’t let a little 24-hour bug get in the way of enjoying her new experiences to the fullest! It was great to be able to share the country with someone and re-experience the things from my childhood with someone who was experiencing it for the first time.

Birage “Insta-friend” Tandon: a relief to anyone who spends a lot of time in the kitchen is seeing the words “Instant ______. Just add water”. In your head you’re thinking “It can’t be that easy!” But you try it anyway and realize that all it took was that little addition of water to bring about the delicious result. Now, the trouble with friend-making is that it usually takes a while to get through the awkward get-to-know-you’s, get a feel for the others’ comfort level, etc…similar to a recipe with a lot of prep and preheating. The reason we named Birage “Insta-friend” is because getting to know her was as easy as just adding water. She was everybody’s best friend and had something to contribute to every situation. Each member of our group was very different (as you can tell from the previous entries), yet Birage was able to relate with everyone on multiple levels. Being so easy-going and friendly put everyone else at ease because no matter which group she was put with, when we needed to split up for flights or hikes, everybody knew they had a talking/walking companion and a friend.

Kathy "Biggest Panties, Smallest Wardrobe" Wacek: if you have perused any of the photo albums from the trip, you may notice that, although our scenery changed a lot in the 10 days, mom’s outfits…..did not. Aside from the dedication outfit she brought that was a little dressier, she brought only one or two extra shirts for the EIGHT OTHER DAYS. Whenever I am trying to give the illusion that I “change clothes” or “have good hygiene” or whatever it is most people do regularly, I will pick a t-shirt that can easily blend into the mix—a light blue, a tan, or a generic white. Kathy’s always been a tad unconventional and chose instead a BRIGHT blue t-shirt with a huge image of a pair of whitey tighties fit for a double-x woman. As if this weren’t enough, across the front of the underwear are plastered the words “Put on your big girl panties and DEAL with it!” It’s subtle, quaint, and blends right in with Papuan village life. Jokes aside, what this wardrobe malfunction highlights is mom’s ability to keep a light-hearted attitude in any situation and can blend into any setting (while her clothes may not J). Kathy has the ability to crack a joke in the middle of a grueling hike or make hitches in plans seem like no problem at all.

Rick "Baby-Kissing Moses" Wacek: I don’t claim to be the Bible scholar that, say, Larry and Linda are, but I do recognize that there is no recorded scripture reference to Moses kissing babies. It may have happened, but that’s not what I’m referencing here. What this title is referring to is Rick’s incredible ability to a) find and hold the nearest child, and b) attract crowds of people. The baby-magnet aspect of this title is probably due to the fact that most Papuans have never seen anything so hairy and want their kids to get a picture with it….oops, I mean him. No, just kidding. In reality, I think it is because my dad LOVES children…he is willing to jump, yell, play, roll on the ground, or do just about anything to get a little kid to laugh. And, really, that same determination is what accounts for b) above, attracting crowds of people. Just as Birage can relate to anybody about anything, Rick can tell you anybody’s life story within about ten minutes of meeting them. He truly has a passion to get to know people and an ability to set people at ease instantly upon meeting them.

Ben "Helping Hand" Wacek: this title is a tad mis-leading, as Ben was willing to use whatever he had to offer to help out. In any weather (rain during the parade), at any time (he’s already sitting down to dinner), and to anybody (we all got to experience this), Ben was willing to help. I didn’t know that spending ten days in a mountain village would be some of the most relaxing days of my life. But, between the always-ready Papuans who would have carried ME up the mountain had I asked, and my cousin Ben who would have carried the Papuan who was carrying me if need be, I was surrounded by servant hearts. The others in the group can back me up on this, but it seemed like before our mouths had even started the sentence “I can’t really—“ or “Do you mind—“, Ben was already up helping. The old adage states that a smile is the same in every language, and to that I would add that serving is the same in every language. Ben and his sister were working against a language barrier, but both were successfully able to communicate love to the Papuans as well as gratitude for including them in such an incredible experience. (Note: we thought about titling this the "Helping Hand, Back, and Butt" award for how he always helped out, carried all of our stuff, and taught the boys how to transform their squatty-potty into a jungle bidet. Feel free to ask them for details!)

Leah "Monster Clown" Wacek: at first glance, this title may seem a little unkind. And, well…you decide. What “monster clown” emphasizes is Leah’s desire to know and love the people of Papua. She just recently returned from studying abroad in Uganda for a semester. During those months, she loved getting to talk with the people of Uganda, live with them, learn their traditions and experience what they experience. She had the same desire for her trip to Indonesia. The hiccup? English is one of Uganda’s national languages; not the case with Indonesia. So, stripped of a common language, Leah had to rely on the three L’s: Limbs, Large gestures, and Loud laughing. When trying to communicate an idea, she would perform nothing short of a full mime routine. When we would translate a joke, she would laugh 30 seconds after everyone and, to compensate, would laugh twice as loud as necessary (Leah: “I wanted them to know that I appreciated the joke even though I didn’t laugh at first!”). You may be saying “Well, that certainly sounds like a clown, but I don’t quite think its monster behavior”. True. Enter: children. Children, unlike adults, aren’t so sure they want to interact with a loud-laughing mime. You wouldn’t hold someone’s hand before taking them on a date, and you wouldn’t hold a kid before making it a game. So, in order to be able to hold the children, Leah invented the “monster”. Basically, she would run around “rawr-ing” and chasing them, eventually grabbing and tickling them. And they loved it! All in all, Leah just wanted to interact with the Papuans and used whatever means necessary.

Steph "Spongey-Sponge" Wacek: as a teacher, Stephanie often jokes that the extent of her medical training is being able to put on a band-aid and/or call someone in to clean up puke if one of her students is sick. Once, I even saw her put on Neosporin! Needless to say, the day of the clinic put her in a “sink or swim” situation as far as medical care goes. She eagerly volunteered to help in any way possible (as she always does) and was put to work. She quickly mastered the art of measuring babies and asking “What hurts?”, which I think are at least Master’s level skills in the medical field. She was contentedly processing patients when there arrived a child with a 107 degree fever. Charis said “He needs to be sponged!” and the next thing I knew, the bandanas on both my and Sally’s head were in Stephanie’s hand and in the rain. Talk about Jungle Medicine! She sat beside the child and “wet-bandan-ed” him while he waited to be seen by Dr. Teubl. You could practically feel the relief on the child’s mother’s face as Steph took such care with her son. About thirty minutes later, a similar situation happened (this time the fever was 104 degrees) and Steph acted just as quickly and with as much care. We were all impressed by her patient care and thought that when we shut down the clinic at the day’s end it would be the last we saw of sponging. Being a teacher, Steph knows the importance of understanding a subject FULLY before being able to feel confidently versed in it. I suppose in her quest for knowledge, she wanted to feel what it was like to be on the receiving end of being sponged, because three days later she chose to pass out while throwing up and landed her head far-from-gently on the ceramic tile floor. We informed her, after the fact, that we would have happily simulated being sponged, but I suppose she prefers good ol’ fashion experience! Though she lacked previous medical knowledge and ended up being pretty sick for two days, she didn’t let any of those things get in the way of helping out a TON and being a joy to be around. Even when we were checking to see if she was concussed, she was making jokes—what a gal!

Molly "Most Enthusiastic/Best American Dance Moves" Wacek: before you think I’m arrogant and think I’m a lot better dancer than I really am, I am turning the blogging over to Stephanie for this last one. What follows is HER description of this title:

“Dancing Queen” may have been a more suitable nickname, but considering she was competing with women doing synchronized dances while wearing endangered Birds of Paradise head ornaments, “Best American Dance Moves” seemed much more appropriate. Throughout our entire 10 days, we observed some sort of singing or dancing DAILY, much to all of our delight. Having the rhythm and musical ability that she does, this was a small dose of Heaven for Molly. She was always the first one to jump out of her seat and join in the Papuan dances (invited or not!) and took extra time and effort to learn/try to learn some of their songs. As if public dancing weren’t enough (it never is), each night back at our host home, Molly would get the troops riled up for our own little, usually-silent-because-the-head-of-the-village-was-next-door, house dance-off. This is where her American moves really shone as she taught the Papuans how to do the Lawn Mower (short lived because they don’t have such a thing), the Sprinkler (short lived because they don’t have such a thing), the Robot (short lived because they don’t have such a thing), the Shopping Cart (short lived because they don’t have such a thing), and finally the Big Square-Small Square-Cardboard Box (long lived because everyone finally joined in and we all pranced around the table looking like fools!). So much energy and laughter were added to our trip because Molly was on it, and I’m sure the Papuans she met will never be (or dance) the same!

Tiger Air-WEIGHS

Obviously, Tiger Airways knew that our return trip back to the States would be rather uneventful, so they made sure to start us off with a good story to tell. Now, you're probably all thinking, "What is Tiger Airways?" Well, let's just say, that is a GREAT question and one that should have been our first red flag!
Tiger Airways is a tiny budget airline based out of Singapore that doesn't necessarily have the best flying record. But, since we're brave, experienced travelers and extremely cheap, when booking our flight from Jakarta to Singapore, we figured we could take the risk and only spend $25/each, as opposed to feeling safe and spend $50. We're here to tell about it, so no use calling us foolish. :) With that $25, though, after deliberating with mom and dad, we also went ahead and paid $20 extra for a 15 kg allowance fee. I say deliberated because mom assured me that we wouldn't need even that much extra weight because they could bring back 4 suitcases free and would bring all our stuff, etc, etc. They also assured us that since we both were allowed a free carry-on (up to 7 kg according to the website, but again, mom and dad promised they wouldn't even weigh them!), we would have plenty of space. Using my better judgment, I went ahead and bought the 15 kg anyway.
So, we arrived at the airport at 5:38 pm (thanks to our driver who interprets our requests to drive fast or slow VERY literally!) and were supposed to check-in at 5:40. It's a good thing we got there when we did, because we ended up needing all the time we had! We walked into the terminal and past a couple of long lines (for other, safer airlines!) to the Tiger desk, where only 2 people were waiting to be helped. Red Flag #2. We quickly got up to the desk and put our one rolling duffel bag up on the scale... 30 kg. Uh-oh. Then, the man looked over and saw Molly's rolling suitcase and said, "Is that your carry-on? It needs to be weighed too." 15 more kg. "That can't be a carry-on, you have to pay for that." Add mine in and we're sitting at a whopping 60 kg total and zero carry-ons. By now another employee had joined the first one, and between the two of them, they did some quick calculations and kindly smiled up at us and in the calmest of voices said, "You owe $360 US Dollars."
Ok. Hold the phone. WHAT????????????? First of all, why the HECK are you charging us in USD when you are based out of Indonesia? Secondly, our total ticket cost was $50 for two people, OBVIOUSLY we're not loaded or big spenders! Additionally, the total value of everything in all three of our suitcases combined (clothes, coffee, souvenirs, etc) was probably around $200.. if that. He went on to explain that we could purchase another 'packet' (aka 15 kg) for $24, and then after those 30 kg, EACH kg would cost $15, hence $360. Without skipping a beat, I looked at the man and said, "We're not paying that. We'll be right back."
We grabbed our suitcases, walked 5 feet away to the edge of the desk and started going to town. We opened up all three suitcases and started to rearrange. Now, as similar as we are, apparently Molly and I have different trains of thought. Her first reaction (which she verbalized) was, "I am NOT above putting on every single piece of clothing to get the suitcase weight down." My first thought was, "With a little logic and moving around, we can make this work." So, we started tearing through the luggage, me using my method, Molly using hers. After moving a few items from one suitcase to the next, I looked up and noticed Molly was now wearing her glasses. Since I know the are reading glasses only, I gave her a quizzical look and she explained that they would help lower the weight... um, ok. Thank you, now what are you going to do about the other 29.95 kg we still need to get rid of?! Next time I looked up, she was wearing a new hat she had bought. Then, I saw her grab a pair of soccer socks, tie them together and put them inside her hat. Ok. Seriously?! Because I didn't know what she would possibly do next, I zipped up the suitcases and told her it was time to go re-weigh.
We waited in line again and got to the front, through Molly's wardrobe change and my rearranging, we had gotten it down to one 7 kg carry-on, and 39 kg of checked luggage. Still not willing to pay almost $200 extra, we looked the man in the eyes and said, "We'll be back again." That is, after Molly pounded her fist on the counter and said, "That is SO expensive. Seriously. That is RIDICULOUSLY expensive. Do you understand how expensive that is?" Thankfully, I think some of her fury got lost in translation, and the man just smiled and nodded.
Back to our little 'workzone' we went. First thing Molly saw when she unzipped her suitcase was a pair of jeans, she quickly picked them up and said, "Are you kidding? These are my heavy jeans!" Before I could blink an eye, she had them on, on top of the jeans she was already wearing! Taking her lead, I switched from flip flops to tennis shoes, put on a jacket, drank one of the bottles of juice we were bringing back as a souvenir for Tim, and stuck a book in my pocket. (I DID put my foot down and refuse when Molly suggested/demanded I put on a gray headband that has been part of our family since I was in 4th grade. I guaranteed her it WOULD NOT make or break our weight allowance!)
Since there was just no way we could possibly redistribute the weight any further among the two checked bags, we decided our only option was to take some more of it out. Thankfully, Molly had bought a huge purse at the market the day before, so we stuck a bunch of heavy stuff in there (coffee beans, another huge bottle of Pocari Sweat (for Tim!), and some cookies... why we had a package of nasty Indonesian cookies is beyond me. You're lucky they made the cut, mom, the trash can was our next option!). We loaded almost all of the books into my backpack (except Molly's 6 pound textbook, which we just left in the middle of the floor while we went to weigh and picked it up later on our way to the plane!) and crammed a little more stuff into my purse. Then, with much prayer, we waited in line a third time and got to the front of the line. 30.4 kg for the two checked bags! Success! I quickly ran and got some money out of the ATM (thankfully my card worked because we had ZERO cash!), paid for the second 15 kg bag, grabbed everything else and we darted to our gate. Now, hopefully you've been able to follow this story thus far. If so, you'll realize that the people working the desk may not have been the brightest since, as Newton's first law tells us, weight cannot just disappear. We still have NO idea what they think happened to our 30 extra kg, although, we're hoping they did at least notice our wardrobe changes and dedication! But the fact that they didn't even second guess the fact that we had arrived with 3 suitcases and a purse and were now headed to our gate with 2 purses, a camera bag, 1 suitcase, and a backpack, leaves us wondering what they did notice.
As we passed through security, we realized that in all the commotion, we'd forgotten about the 3 oz. liquid rule. For once hoping that the Indonesian security would be as unsafe and lax as always, we loaded our suitcase onto the belt. For the first time ever, we got stopped for them to inspect our bag (unless you've traveled there, you don't understand how rare this is.. last summer Molly bought a gun-shaped lighter and took it through security without them saying a single word or giving a second glance!). They found the Pocari Sweat and despite our sweet-talking, guilt-tripping and white skin, we couldn't talk them in to letting us keep it. Considering that was the least of our worries now, though, we begrudgingly handed it over and continued to our gate.

Sorry, Tim. We tried. Your other ole-ole is pretty sweet, though, so you can still be excited!

Less than 30 minutes later, we were on our plane (with more prayer that our extra weight wouldn't cause a disaster!), and then 2 hours and a little turbulence later, we were finally in Singapore, free of Tiger Airways forever. We found it ironic that the last thing the pilot said was, "We hope you enjoyed flying on Tiger Airways, the low-fare airline for all your flying needs." CLEARLY he has a different definition of "low fare" than we do.. or he's never tried to bring more than one outfit of clothing with him on a flight.

Role Call-Part 2

The next few members of our group...

Daniel “Mr. Nice Guy” Peckham: Daniel was friends with everyone, was up for anything, loved the people and country, and never said no to a photo idea someone in the group suggested even though I’m sure he wanted to sometimes (“Hey, Daniel, get a photo of this cool blade of grass!”; “Get one of me so it looks like I’m picking this animal’s nose!”; “Okay, just ONE more of me with a Papuan…last one, I swear”). This new title holds true in every way except one: finishing last. Although he encompassed the whole of what it means to be a nice guy, he was always one step ahead of us all. He was able to traverse the jungle terrain as if it were nothing, and took pictures all the way.

Will "This Podium Goes Up To My Knees" Davis: joining us all the way from Texas, Will proved the old adage to be true that everything really is bigger in Texas. Especially when compared to Papuans. Although Will was actually only behind a podium once (to read a Bible verse), it painted the perfect picture for how he looked walking around those 10 days. The Papuans were amazed at his height, but more amazed when he stooped down to interact with them. So, embodied in this title, is Will's comparative height, but also his willingness to participate in the culture of the Papuans despite their differences, both physical and cultural.

Steven "Most Unlucky Traveler but Happiest Camper" Blue: after all of the mishaps that occurred during Steven's travel, we were seriously considering calling it "Blue's Law" instead of "Murphy's Law". Everything from lost baggage to postponed flights to losing TONS of sleep to rain to cramped planes and more were experienced by Steven. Out of our whole group, he would have had the most legitimate reason to complain, yet I didn't hear a single negative word come out of his mouth the entire trip. He also re-defined the phrase "grin and bear it" because he was constantly smiling and taking everything that was thrown at him in perfect stride. It was sort of like trying out for a sports team. You can always look at somebody who is playing more poorly than you are and it gives you confidence. We could always look to Steven, smiling and joking, and say, "Well, [insert any number of travel woes] didn't happen to me, and look at him!" Great attitude-check and a joy to have on the trip.

The Teubl Family (photo at the bottom)

Bill "Clutch" Teubl: for those of us who have ever played on a sports team or driven a manual, we understand the importance of the clutch. In sports, it’s that irreplaceable play that changes the outset of the game; in driving you wouldn’t get far without using it. So it goes with Dr. Teubl. There are two particular times on this trip that I am thinking of as I am writing these titles, though I know there are many more “clutch” situations in which he was present and helpful. The first “clutch” play was his involvement in the clinic. He kept us moving steady the whole day and determined our pace in how quickly we would see patients. I know the villagers are grateful for his ability to make on-the-spot decisions regarding their health that were beneficial. And, at the end of the day, I swear he had said “Okay, this is the last patient” about five times before he was actually leaving the clinic. I know those last few patients he squeezed in were thrilled! The second situation, the one which solidified the title “clutch” for me, was when my sister Stephanie passed out. Dr. Teubl happened to be walking past the bathroom just in time to watch it happen, alert the troops, and make sure she was still relatively okay after the nasty spill. I think it’s something about the presence of a physician that calms the nerves in situations like the two above. Although he probably didn’t realize he was doing it, his willing heart and medical confidence were irreplaceable parts of our group…kept us “running” and won us the World Series? (okay, so that metaphor breaks down a bit…)

Claudia "The Singing Hymnal" Teubl: if you were raised in the church, you have probably heard of or experienced Psalty the Singing Songbook. If not, a basic recap is that he is a life-sized, blue, book (with the necessary cartoon features of hands, feet, and a face) who loved kids and singing songs about the Lord. Due to how many stares we already received as white-skins, we were all thankful that Mrs. Teubl resembled Psalty in attitude, not appearance. She is much less blue and hard-covered than Psalty, but she always had a fitting hymn to sing whenever we fellowshipped or just whenever the situation merited it. It was such a great addition to our group time and kept our hearts in a posture of worship, which is what the whole trip was about.

Lydia "Newest World Traveler" Teubl: if Lydia is going to do something, she isn't going to do it halfway. Example #1, she is going to run a triathlon. I, on the other hand, would feel completely content running OR biking OR swimming any of those lengths individually. Example #2, if I had never traveled West of the Mississippi, I would probably try something small like Oregon. Lydia, on the other hand, not only went to a country on the other side of the globe, but also one of the most remote parts within that country. And she adapted incredibly well! This isn't even like how you say, "She dances well for being in a wheel-chair"; she actually fit in great. She hit the ground running and was soaking up the culture left and right, getting a very full experience.

Gracie “Smarty-Go-Lucky” Teubl: this title is what we like to call a mash-up. It’s the combination of the word “smart” and the phrase “happy-go-lucky”. Grace was constantly amazing us (though she may not have known it!) the whole trip with her broad knowledge of, well, everything. I loved hearing her insights into cultural situations, hearing how the Lord was working in her, and, of course, learning how it is that cicaks stay stuck on the wall like they do. Though I’m highlighting her intellect here, it is not her defining feature. Gracie was first and foremost one of the happiest and up-beat team members. Even when she was explaining to me about quantum mechanics (which, if I’m clear, is the Latin name for giraffe), she did so with her trademark giggle. Let’s just put it this way: if all of my professors had her attitude (and laugh!), I would start playing hooky from my social life to go to class. As an aside, another potential nickname I was considering was Rosie the Riveter…both because of her “we can do it!” attitude and her nationalistic desire to work in factories to promote wartime industry. Oh, yeah, and cause of her kerchief.I hope you feel like you know these seven people a little better now! One more blog post to go and then we'll have addressed every member of the Dream Team.

Role call!

After spending about a week and a half with the same 25 or so people, you get to know them well. Add to that close sleeping quarters, eating every meal together, moving as a group, and sharing a common language and let's just say our 10-day-acquaintance felt like we'd known each other for at least a half a year. The beauty of such a big group is that each person contributes something uniquely different that gives the group its flavor. We decided that we should highlight a trait for each person to give our faithful (4-5) readers a true taste of what it was like to spend some time with the Serui-Crewi. We'd also like to extend our group's stardom beyond the standard photo-shoots and handshakes to official celebrity titles. So introducing, for the first time in public, we have....

Larry "The Rock" Jones: if you’re imagining Stone Cold Steve Austin, the WWE champion wrestler, you are…a little off. Now, if you were thinking of something solid that acts as an anchor, you’re right on target. The whole trip, Mr. Jones centered our group on the whole reason for our being there: the dedication of God’s Word and the glorification of our Savior! He also made it a point for us to come together at the end of the day or at meals to fellowship, read scripture, and share stories of how we were being challenged or how we were growing. This made everything flow a lot more smoothly the whole trip, as everyone was moving from a similar foundation. Naming him “the rock” proved to be an incredibly fitting name especially after we all learned more about the translation process. Through the nearly 30 years of the hard work, Mr. Jones kept his priorities rock-solid.

Linda "Camper of the Week" Jones: when I used to work at summer camp, we would give weekly awards to the kids at the end of the week. You had the usual “helps clean up at meals”, “memorizes scripture well”, “learned how to swim”, etc. However, every once in a while, there was a camper who couldn’t be pinned down with a single title or accomplishment. These campers were constantly helpful, loved the devotional times, were leaders by example, and enriched the quality of the group through their general sweetness. For these special few, we reserved the award Camper of the Week (or C.O.W., for those of you privy to camp-counselor-speak). Mrs. Jones was practically glowing the whole trip, relishing in God’s goodness over the past 30 years and His faithfulness still today. I’ve never been more pleased, nor has it ever been more fitting, to call someone a C.O.W!

Nathan "Showin' a Little Leg" Jones: before you begin thinking I'm accusing Nathan Jones of immodesty, let me explain. Yes, I'll admit he does have a lot of leg to show off if he so chose. What I am referring to, however, are his dancing skills and his skirt-wearing. The gift Nathan received as his initiation to the clan was a hand-woven Papuan skirt, which he proudly wore. Just as happily as Charity took a bowl of water being dumped on her, Nathan rose to the challenge of wearing a skirt all day and didn't bat an eye. Immediately after tying the skirt around his waist, the men started dancing and cheering. Again taking everything in stride, Nathan joined. He certainly was "showing a little leg" muscle when he jumped higher than anybody else in the parade line and was already a head taller than everyone else, too. It was quite a sight and the joy on the Papuans faces when he was joining in their celebration was priceless. Needless to say, he put his long legs to good use!

Charity "Newest and Wettest Member of the Pi Clan" Jones: one tradition that we were all introduced to on this trip is how the women of the Pi clan welcome members. In this area of Papua, members of a clan are expected to marry members of another specific clan. The counterpart for the clan that Nathan was inducted into is the Pi clan. After our long and very wet hike up the mountain, Charity had finally arrived in the village and changed into a nice, DRY shirt to try to maintain an acceptable/tolerable level of freshness (on an unrelated note, we later found out that, for all of us, it took more than a t-shirt change to smell fresh in a mountain village). As Charity was walking back in to join the rest of the group, sporting a dry t-shirt, women of the Pi clan approached her holding a bowl of water. Charity was hoping with all her might that it was for her hands or feet, but guessing that it was probably as it seemed: a full-body baptism into their clan...starting at a very soaked head of hair, making its way down past the dry t-shirt, to the already-wet shoes. Welcome to the family! Like a true Jones, though, she took it like a champ and felt honored to be welcomed in.

Caleb “Who?” Jones: oh yeah…there’s a third Jones kid. During the first dedication, the whole ceremony they kept referencing both Nathan and Charis Jones again and again. Every once in a while they would even reference Charity. All of us listening in the audience kept thinking we had just misheard or hadn’t heard when they talked about Caleb. By the end of the speech, however, it had become clear that we had been listening closely and the master of ceremonies had actually forgotten Caleb! We later found out that the people running the ceremony didn’t know the Jones’ as well as everyone else in the village, so instead of simply forgetting him, they actually didn’t know he existed. Is that better? As the week went on, we began to realize that had the master of ceremonies ever met Caleb, they couldn’t have forgotten him. He was super fun to hang out with, always had a good attitude, and is very easy-going. A great addition to the group and NOT forgettable, don’t worry!

Charis "Golden Heart" Jones: following in her mother’s footsteps, Charis is an all-around incredible young lady. I hadn’t spent an extended amount of time with her since we were about twelve years old. Back then, the more important things in life were wrapped up in beating Donkey Kong levels on our Super Nintendo and jumping off the couch into beanbags. That was about ten years ago and her passions have shifted quite a bit! It was such a cool experience being able to team up together in the clinic (along with the 6-7 other volunteers and Dr. Teubl) to tackle physical ailments instead of videogame bosses. And, actually, I think working at the clinic was more fun. I loved seeing the way Charis glowed while working with these patients. She truly has a deep love for the people of Papua and thrives on serving. Included in the title “golden heart” is her servant’s heart, but also the parallels between Charis’ caring touch and Midas’ golden one. It seemed that every Papuan she was able to care for or pray with went away glowing. I’d gladly serve with her again any day…or, more appropriately, be the Ditty Kong to her Donkey Kong.

Josh " The Golden Retriever": in the spirit of full disclosure, I must admit that this title is not original with me. Caleb mentioned that a few in his family jokingly call Josh a golden retriever on occasion because of his constant smile and always-willing-to-help attitude. They mentioned it early in the trip, so we were able to observe him for the remainder and it is, truly, an accurate description. Dogs, in general, are loyal and everybody’s best friend—and golden retrievers are the Cadillac of dogs. Josh could have won a Senior Superlative for just about every category: Nicest, Best Smile, Friendliest, Class Clown, etc. The biggest difference is that golden retrievers strut their stuff all day with their gorgeous golden coats, while Josh was clothed in humility and behind-the-scenes service. Not to mention his remarkable ability to chase a stick and catch Frisbees with his mouth—truly a talented guy!

Ethan "Mercury-Poisoning Jungle Medicine" Johnson: the longer version of this story can be found in the blog entry written about the Clinic Day in the village. The shorter version is that Ethan was incredibly helpful at the clinic—measuring baby’s with a tape measure, helping wet bandanas to sponge off kids with malaria, and taking temperatures. That last item was the trickiest. The only thermometer we had with us was a shake-down mercury thermometer. In a fluke accident, Ethan was shakin’ it down a little too hard, and apparently glass is more fragile than wood. Like true jungle doctors, we acted with what we had and scraped the pieces of mercury through slats in the wood floor of the clinic as our way of containing the hazardous situation. On the bright side, if all the patients who come into the clinic begin complaining of the same symptoms, it can be easily diagnosed as mercury poisoning! But, in all seriousness, having Ethan in the clinic was so great and that tiny little thermometer accident was nothing in comparison to the amount he helped out. His question was always “How can I help?” or “Where would I be the most helpful right now?” All in all, he was a grrrrrr-eat addition to the group!

[Note: for the sake of brevity, we have broken up the list into three separate blog entries. Our hope is that each entry will be “bite-sized” so you are able to appreciate each group member’s fully without being overloaded! Also, thanks to Ethan Johnson for the majority of these pictures!!]

It's Never Boring at Taman Safari

Usually “How many people have died here?” is not a question asked when visiting the zoo. At Taman Safari, though, the question is probably closer to “How many people have died here today?” Thankfully, we made it through the day without witnessing any deaths, although we came close to being part of a couple.

The morning started early with a 7:30 departure from our apartment. We hit almost no traffic all the way up. In fact, the most excitement we had was when Sally was looking out her window and started FREAKING OUT! She put her head in her hands and shook her head and squirmed. Then, she looked at Molly and said, “Did you SEE that?” Molly, unsure of what could POSSIBLY cause anyone to have that reaction said, “No! What was it? Someone getting decapitated?” Steph chimed in, “Was someone pooping in the street?” Leah asked, “Was there a dead dog?” When Sally finally gained her composure she stammered out, “Spiderwebs.” The rest of us lost it. We honestly could not believe anyone would have THAT reaction over some spiderwebs. So, needless to say, we haven’t let her quite live it down. But, it sure was a fun way to start the craziness that would ensue. I will say, however, that such an extreme reaction to spiderwebs unnerved Steph and I a little because we knew that we were headed to Taman Safari—a “zoo” that averages around 20 deaths per year because of the unsafe conditions and dangerous animals. Spiderwebs were going to be the least of our worries. (We managed to find the spot on the way home from the zoo and stopped to take pictures… you tell us what your reaction would’ve been….!)

Once we arrived at the zoo, Dad’s co-worker (Wan) and his family jumped out of the car with more excitement than if it were Christmas morning. Apparently, the kids (ages 6 and 8) had been up since 4:30 that morning in anticipation of the trip to the zoo. Thankfully, this childhood excitement was exactly what we needed to make it through such a full day with such a small amount of sleep. Our first obstacle: the “safari” portion. On the side of the road leading up to the park there were loads of carrots for sale. Both cars bought some so that we were equipped with cameras, carrots, and windows rolled down when we saw the first animals. At almost every turn there was a sign warning “No cameras allowed” or “No feeding the animals” or “Keep your windows up at all times”. Since there’s no such thing as rules or safety at this zoo, though, naturally we took hundreds of pictures, fed every animal, got out of our car multiple times and had our windows down the whole way. Highlights of the safari included Sally kissing a zebra, Leah being terrified of every animal, Ben and Molly getting peanuts sucked out of their hands by elephants, Ben touching a hippo tusk and then getting bit on the hand by a goose.

When we’d finally driven through the whole safari (including a lion, tiger, and bear cage), we got to part 2 of the trip. We headed over to the Baby Zoo location where the closest restaurant was located. We walked past leopards, baby tigers, a lion all waiting to have their pictures taken with us, and ended at the orangutan station. He was in a very ‘bitey’ mood, so after we made sure everyone had all their limbs, we headed over for lunch at Safari Fried Chicken. When we were all full, we went back and decided to do pictures with the orangutan while we were in the area. Dad went first, after getting permission to enter the ring with no shirt on (for comparisons’ sake on who was hairy-er!). As the crowds gathered, we saw the orangutan go from sitting gently on Dad’s lap to cuddling in his chest hair to examining him to make sure Dad wasn’t his mom. It was quite the riot, so Ben decided to go next. No sooner had the orangutan been put on his lap and Steph had snapped one picture when we saw Ben’s demeanor suddenly change and everyone burst out laughing. The orangutan had started peeing, so the ‘trainer’ grabbed him and carried him over to a bush to finish his business. He wiped him off and then handed him back to Ben for a few more shots. By then, Leah had bought her $1 ticket and joined Ben in the ring. Within a minute of Leah sitting down, the orangutan had gently pried her earring out of her ear and stuck it in his mouth. After the trainer managed to pry it out, they arranged themselves for more pictures. We saw the orangutan’s hand gently go up and start playing with the back of Leah’s head and gradually saw her ponytail start to fall as the orangutan pulled out her hair-tie. By now the crowd had lost it, so we took our final pictures and then decided to get going. Since the Dolphin Show was about to start on the other side of the zoo, we made a group decision to go to that and come back for the rest of our animal pictures later.

After the Dolphin Show and taking pictures with the Dolphins (again, for $1… a little different than the same experience in America!), we moved on to the highly stereotyped Cowboy Show. None of us still has any clue what the Cowboy Show was doing at a zoo, but it was entertaining and we were glad to see some impressive stunts and no buildings burn down. From here we headed to the “Globe of Death,” which is a terrible name for ANYTHING at Taman Safari. Again, we didn’t see what 5 BMX bikers riding around a steel ball had to do with animals, but the 8-year-old boy claimed it was his favorite part of the day, so I guess it was worth it.

Next, we went to the Sea Lion show, which was pretty traditional. One part that we all found a little odd was when the male trainer was doing the trick of “slow dancing with the sea lion.” It could have been a funny/cute trick, except that it lasted for 10 minutes too long, he had his eyes closed for most of it and looked like he was enjoying it way too much…. It was quite strange. When the announcer said it was time to move on to the next trick, he said, “Ok. Just one more dance.” Weird. We took pictures kissing the sea lion (we all hesitated at first, but then realized this was probably not an opportunity we’d have very many more times in our lives!) and then went to the Birds of Prey show. Since Birds are pretty boring, we didn’t stay long before some of us went to look at the Komodo Dragon and the rest went to save seats at the Lion and Tiger Show. That was our last show of the day, thankfully, because I don’t think our hearts or fingernails could handle anymore Indonesian “trained” animals. (It deserved its own blog post… check it out here!)

When the shows were done, grabbed some ice cream and then headed back down to the Baby Zoo to take some more pictures with animals. Unfortunately, we got back too late and they weren’t selling anymore tickets. So we walked around and took some pictures just outside the animal areas and noticed that they were extra active since it was feeding time. Dad had gone over and gotten our driver to come take a picture, so we were extremely disappointed when we found out they closed. When we went to confirm with the leopard trainer that picture time was over, he said, “Yes. No more pictures. The leopard is too hungry.” All of a sudden, Leah pulled an extra ticket out of her purse (she had bought two when she got her picture with the orangutan). The trainer saw it and said, “Oh, if you have a ticket, you can take a picture.” WHHHHHATTTTT??! Obviously, Leah was not about to enter that cage after his previous comment, so she handed the ticket to our driver and sent him in. The trainer settled the leopard down into a laying position and our driver walked in with a look of terror on his face. He ever so nervously put his hand on the leopard’s butt, we took a few shots and then he high-tailed it out of there. Shortly after this picture, the trainer put the hungry leopard on a thin chain-link leash and walked him/was dragged by him to his eating area. THAT is why people die at this zoo.

Since the sun was setting and things were shutting down, we decided to go see the elephants one last time before we headed out. Sally really wanted a picture with them, and thankfully we got there just in time. As elephant after elephant walked past us (about half not with any sort of trainer, just sort of doing their own thing in the semi-stampede), we made sure we were highly alert. Finally, before the last elephant walked away, Molly asked the trainer if Sally could take a picture with it. He of course said yes, so Sally walked over. Before even one picture was taken, someone had handed Ben a bag of bananas to feed the elephant. After multiple attempts at trying to throw the banana in the elephant’s mouth and having it pop out every time, we were informed that Sally would have to place it in there. She did so bravely and then the elephant went on his way.

We made a quick stop in the souvenir shop (where Leah put on a child’s Komodo Dragon costume for no reason other than, “It’s a Komodo Dragon”) and did some last bathroom trips before doing a final head count and piling in the cars. Once again, we confirmed that there is NEVER an uneventful day at Taman Safari.

Visit to the Orphanage

Part of Mom and Dad’s role at JICF is to head up the multiple ministries the church is involved in. As the Wacek kids were all planning our trip to Jakarta, we heard about some of these ministries and decided we wanted to visit a few of them. One that really piqued my interest was to visit an orphanage. As shown by my career choice, kids are my passion, and I thought it would be nice to provide some support to these children who probably do not receive much attention. So, mom got in contact with “her people” and we made plans to go on Friday, July 8. The lady who would be taking us, Lenny, asked if we’d be up for providing some sort of entertainment or craft for the kid. Since the four of us were blessed with the Wacek singing ability (which is worse than none), we opted for the craft idea. All through the week we brainstormed crafts that would be meaningful, easy, and nice enough not to get thrown away right when we left. Some ideas we came up with were macaroni or fruit art (which were both nixed because we figured there are too many people in poverty here for us to be ‘wasting’ food), tie dye t-shirts (too messy and not hands-on enough for the kids), bracelets (cliché), and picture frames (would possibly remind them of the families they didn’t have.. or that was Mom’s logic at least!). The winning idea was to make no-sew pillows with them.

Before we could go, though, we obviously needed materials. So on Thursday, Leah, Ben, and I went with our driver to a little hole-in-the-wall fabric store to get everything we would need. After struggling to pull out 3 HUGE rolls of fabric, the employees finally told us that there were sample swatches of each fabric roll hanging all over the shop, so we just had to point to what we wanted. They watched in amusement as we went through each one deliberating over whether or not it would be a good pick. As we calculated, recalculated, chose fabrics, measured, and changed our minds, etc, the employees were very gracious and never once got upset. Now, this could be because we were white and in a section of town where white people typically do NOT shop and they were in awe. Or, it could be because with our 27 meters of fabric, we were giving them more business than they’ve ever gotten. Whatever the reason, it made it easy to do business with them, especially when they gave us free bottled water... something that’s unheard of in Indonesia!

After we finally figured out how many boy patterns, girl patterns, young patterns, and old patterns were needed, it was time to buy the stuffing. Since none of us claim to be expert seamstresses, the concept of pillow stuffing was somewhat foreign to us. Additionally, since Indonesians operate in the metric scale (as Americans should!), when they asked us how many kilograms of stuffing we needed, we were completely clueless. Doing what any quick thinking twenty+ year olds would do, we decided we needed to make a sample, so we had them cut another half meter of fabric and started cutting, tying and stuffing. With our extremely accurate measurement of “3 handfuls for one pillow,” the employees somehow came to the conclusion that we needed 10 kilograms of stuffing. Not wanting to run out, we upped it to 12, and then were given 13. After we paid up and managed to get the HUGE bag of stuffing into the car, we walked next door to a stationary store to buy 25 pair of scissors and then went home.

In case anyone was wondering, THIS is what 13 kg of stuffing looks like.

Our prep job wasn’t done though, as the 27 yards now had to be cut into 2 ft by 2 ft squares to be handed out to the kids. Then, we had to cut out each of the 4 corners to allow the kids to tie them correctly. Thankfully, as mom always says, many hands make light work and we had everything ready before it was time for us to go to Young Adult Bible Study.

Getting ready to cut the fabric.. we just so happened to get two of my FAVORITE fabrics EVER. Man. U and America!!!

At 7:30 am the next day, we loaded everything in the car to try to get to the other side of town before 9. Turns out traffic is a lot less than we were expecting heading that way, that early on a Friday, so we made it before 8. Well, the mall doesn’t open until 10, and as soon as the driver found out we had an hour to waste, he took it to mean “please drive at 2 mph around the mall for the next hour.” Eventually, we found a coffee shop that was open (most of them open at 10 with the mall… a LITTLE different than in America!!) and hung out there until our escort arrived at 9:45.

When we got to the orphanage, we found out our escort wasn’t staying, so we quickly introduced ourselves and had her do whatever translating we needed and then we got right to work making pillows! It turned out to be the PERFECT craft because the directions were simple enough that we only had to give them once, it was easy enough that almost all of them could do it on their own (we had to make some for the infants and toddlers and help with tying for the 4-5 year olds, but otherwise they were all self-sufficient!) and the kids LOVED their final products! We knew they were practical, too, as soon as we finished making a Barney pillow for a little one-year-old, handed it to her, and she laid down and fell asleep on the tile floor in the middle of all the commotion!!

Turns out our calculations on materials was pretty much spot on. We had only a few pieces of fabric left over and almost the perfect amount of stuffing. (We ended up running out initially, but it’s only because each kid in the beginning was stuffing his or her pillow to the MAX. As soon as we said they needed to share, though, they gladly did so and each ended up with just the right amount!)

As they were finishing up their pillows, we handed out printed copies of Matthew 11:28 and through broken Indonesian I explained that these pillows were for physical rest, but God was the only source of true rest… hopefully they gathered SOMETHING from what I said. Then, Ben prayed and we sang 2 worship songs with them (they provided the guitarist and lead singers, thankfully!) and then we left. It was a really neat trip and we all left glad we got a chance to meet these kids, no matter how brief.

Adventures in Papua- Day 7- Down the Mountain

The third night with no “spongy sponge” was probably the worst for all of us. Sally ended up getting sick around midnight and somehow managed to find her way out of her mosquito net and to the bathroom before it was too late. Some of the residents saw the event and determined it must be because she was cold, so then she was asked/forced to sit next to the fire for the next 30 or so minutes. Leah, unaware of Sally’s situation, also made a trip to the bathroom in the middle of the night. The only reason I know this is because I was under the same mosquito net as her and sharing the same bed as her… the mosquito net she pulled on and ripped down one of the corners from and the bed she STOMPED on to make her way back into bed. Then, about 6 am, Steph had a dream in which Sally announced to everyone that it was already 8:30, the time when they were supposed to be packed, dressed and at breakfast. Needless to say, Steph had plenty of time to get ready, and the other girls were wide awake by the time dad came in at 7 to wake us up!

After breakfast and saying our good-byes to the people at our home, our trek down the mountain began. It started with a 20 minute hike UP the mountain to get to the outskirts of the village. From here, we piled all of our bags into the truck (remember, there’s only one on this side of the landslide!), along with the people in our group who had an international flight to catch the next day. Just in WHATEVER off chance some of us didn’t make it down the mountain today to catch a flight back to Sentani, we needed to make sure it wasn’t the people whom it would affect the most! Since the bags took up half the truck, only the “internationals” (as they became known) could fit, along with Mom (in charge of getting them on their next few flights), Larry (in charge of getting them their bags of stuff they had left at the bottom of the mountain), and Sally (who sat in the cab of the truck, for obvious reasons!).

The rest of started walking… and walking… and walking. The plan was for the truck to come back and meet us Waceks wherever we managed to hike to, take us to the landslide and then go back and do a third trip to pick up the Joneses. So, despite rumors that we were hiking DOWN a mountain today, it turns out that first you have to hike UP to the peak and then go down the rest of the way. As luck would have it, after hiking for approximately 1.5 hours (3 miles) with only one orange, 2 bottles of water and 2 coconuts between the 5 of us (plus about 8 Papuans), we saw the truck and all cheered. Unfortunately, it was low on gas and had to continue on all the way back to the village to fill up. Not wanting all of our hard work to be in vain, we said we’d continue walking until it could come back for us.

By now our legs were sore and our water supply had run out. Wanting to regain our momentum, one of the Papuans suggested that he go fill up our water bottle with fresh water from a mountain stream. Thinking about cold, fresh water (and probably not using our better judgment!), we agreed and literally 2 minutes later he was back with a full water. As soon as he handed it to Dad and Dad commented on how cold it was, one of the Papuans who was walking with us said, “Kulkas Alam” (“Natural Refrigerator”). We all chuckled at the ‘joke,’ but it apparently hit this man’s funny bone because he full-out laughed for about 3 minutes and proceeded to shake each of our hands and repeat the joke about 15 times. Now, it’s important to note that this man’s nickname by this point in the trip was “Duke.” Not in the royalty kind of way, more in the “Daisy Dukes” sort of way, because of the shorts he was wearing. Duke (later referred to as Daffy Duke thanks to mom’s unfamiliarity with Disney characters) had been following us since Dedication #1 (4 days prior!) and was not about to let us out of his sight until he could help it. He even commented to Molly that “I slept by the side of the road last night so that I wouldn’t miss you all leaving!”

But, I digress. The water tasted just as good as it sounded and we were ready to continue on. We hiked another 3 miles, taking occasional breaks to listen to Duke do bird calls, rest our legs, take pictures, and finally for Molly and Leah to go to the bathroom. No sooner had they pulled their pants back up then the truck came barreling up the road, with the bed full of the Jones family, their luggage, and a handful of Papuans! Thankfully, through some rearranging and Molly’s baby knees, we were able to all squeeze in for a quick drive down the mountain. (Please note that on the hike TO the village, we hiked UP to the mountain peak before getting picked up by the truck. Then, hiking FROM the village, we hiked UP to the mountain peak before getting picked up by the truck…. What is wrong with this picture?!)

We got to the point of the landslide in no time and thankfully beat the rain. We grabbed some walking sticks and started our way down. It went relatively quickly and before we knew it we were safe and sound at the other truck where Papuans were waiting for us with fresh bananas and sweet potato chips. After a photo shoot of the boys on top of the truck (as soon as the pictures were done, the Papuans made them climb down… probably for the best because we likely would have capsized otherwise!), we climbed in and took off.

Shortly after we took this POSED picture, they made the boys climb down... oops! :)

The trip was relatively uneventful except for one episode where the Papuan sitting on the floor of the truck at the very back dropped the gas can she was holding. We stopped, picked it up and arranged it more securely in the middle of the truck. Since her hands were now free, another lady handed Larry to her, a baby with WAY more energy than I’ve ever seen! (When we first got in and dad saw the baby squirming, he said, “Wow. Larry’s really active!” At that point, Leah didn’t know that that was the baby’s name and thought he was referring to Mr. Jones! J) As soon as she handed the baby over, Ethan commented, “Yeah, that’s a good idea. She just dropped a gas can off the end of the truck, now let’s hand her an active baby!” No babies were harmed and we made it to the bottom of the mountain without any problems.

From here, the Waceks continued on to the Serui airport and got there just as the planes were about to board. It just so happened that our weights worked out and we were able to all ride in the same tiny airplane together. It was a short, beautiful flight and a lot of us slept most of the way. Since our plane was the smaller, lower-flying one, the plane that took off after us (with the Internationals on it) was actually waiting for us when we arrived in Sentani. We all headed to the guest houses, got showered up (it had been 3 days since any of us had done so, and it felt REALLLL good!), and then headed over to a highly recommended pizza place called Papa Ron’s. We had been living off of 3-meals a day of vegetables, rice, and noodles, so we were all looking forward to some “American” food.

Sally was still not feeling 100%, so she decided to stay behind and the rest of us made our way over. On the way, something started to disagree with Steph’s stomach, but she made no complaints. After ordering, we decided to pray for the food so we could eat when it arrived, and no sooner had Will said “Dear Lord,” then Steph bolted out of the restaurant, through the mall, and into the bathroom to throw up. Nurse Molly came to her rescue and got her all cleaned up so she could go back to the restaurant. With no interest in eating, Steph laid down on the bench of a booth and watched everyone enjoy their yummy pizza. About halfway through the meal, dad was up walking around, made eye contact with her, smiled and then sat down. Upon questioning him later about why he hadn’t come and consoled her, we found out that he and mom were unaware that she had thrown up and he said, “I thought it was weird that you were laying down, but you’re kind of weird, so I didn’t think anything of it.” He was so clueless in fact that when Molly was trying to come help me, she went to ask dad where the bathroom was and he motioned to my empty seat and said, “Ask Steph, she knows.” What?!

We made it through dinner with no more incidences and quickly got back to the guesthouse. While everyone else was hanging out in the living room (including Sally who was now feeling much better), Steph went to lay down on Mom and Dad’s bed, since her bed was at a different guest house. As soon as her head hit the pillow, though, she felt another urge and again ran to the bathroom. Apparently, low blood pressure is a common problem with women in my family and so standing up and puking is highly advised against. Unfortunately, I was not told these two pieces of information beforehand, and so before anyone knew what was happening (or at least before I did!), I was waking up on the tile floor surrounded by concerned faces. Falling off a six-inch step onto an unforgiving tile floor is not necessarily how I planned to spend my last night in Papua, but with the medical expertise of Dr. T and the tender loving care of Mom, Molly and Leah, it was manageable. (Notice, I did not say the TLC of dad, who walked into the bedroom where Steph was being tended, pulled the chair out from the desk as if to sit at her bedside and tend to her, but then proceeded to carry the chair out to the living room while saying, “Sorry, Steph. We have guests,” on his way out!) I did not throw up anymore and was able to walk away with just a severely bruised elbow and possibly a minor concussion. After crying over every little detail for about 20 minutes (like Mom offering me Indonesian Peanut M&Ms called Cha-Chas), I got some Pocari Sweat in me and eventually drifted off to sleep. The others partied for a little while longer (all of my commotion ruined their attempt at playing FishBowl Charades… sorry guys!) and then headed for bed.

Life in the Coliseum

A day at Taman Safari ALWAYS results in a multitude of ridiculous stories of unsafe conditions and hilarious borderline life-threatening mishaps. Our trip on Monday was no exception and the list of unheard-ofs was unending! The most ridiculous event, though, one deserving of its own blog post was the Lion & Tiger Show.
The first thing that needs to be made known is that we never saw a single lion at this show. This was a good thing though, because who knows what would’ve happened had there been. A second important piece of information is that no one died during the performance. Now, you will probably be able to appreciate the details of this show a lot more than we did knowing that information. We did not have that confidence prior to the show and spent the entire show through half-closed eyes and lots of prayer that that would be the result.
We were eager about watching the show, so we made sure to get there with enough time to get good seats. We managed to get center seats, just two rows up… which turned out to be a blessing and a curse. We quickly noted that the tiger ring was enclosed with what we thought was a sturdy metal chain link fence, and within two minutes of the show starting, we found that to be false.
The preliminary show began as two tigers and one trainer entered the ring. It was 10 minutes before the start time and all of the announcing was done in Indonesian, so we’re not sure if this was actually a planned part of the show or not... but then again, we weren’t sure if any of it was planned. The tigers strolled around and marked their territory by peeing everywhere and then it quickly became clear that Tiger Training Best Practices weren’t used at this zoo when we saw the trainer slap the tigers on the face and pull on their tails. (Molly later commented that those were probably the ONLY two rules taught at Tiger Training 101… only further confirming that neither the tigers nor trainers had ever gone through training!!) Just three minutes in, we decided this was going to be the most interesting and terrifying show of the day when the two tigers growled and attacked each other and then one of them suddenly lunged at the trainer, putting his paws on his shoulders and his open mouth directly in front of his face. With a huge smile on his face, the trainer pushed the tiger down with all his might, continued slapping him in the face, and then pushed both tigers out of the arena. We all held our breath until the trainer was free of the tiger, but little did we know, that would be just the first of many similar experiences to happen over the next 25 minutes!
After a brief introduction (all in Indonesian so we didn’t understand anything!), the real show began when three tigers ran back out followed by 2 guy trainers and 1 girl trainer. Before we could even get through the introductions of the tigers, one of the tigers was performing the trick that was meant to be the grand finale. He went lumbering up a 30-foot wooden pole to retrieve a half-pound of raw red meat that had been hung since prior to the preliminary show. As he ran up, the trainer did what would naturally be anyone’s first instinct when they see a tiger running up a pole to ruin the tiger show, and grabbed the tiger’s tail to try and pull it down. He was unsuccessful and the tiger polished off the meat in one bite. Thankfully, the tiger then decided to climb back down the pole instead of jumping over the fence into the crowd, which he easily could have done because it was only a 20 foot fence. The response from the crowd was not great since it was clear this was meant to be the final act and we were all curious as to what would happen next. I think the trainers were also wondering the same thing.
Our theory is that because there were no lions and the grand finale happened within the first five minutes, they had to resort to a lot of creativity which explains much of what ensued. For the next 10 minutes, we saw some real tricks like getting the tigers to stand on their hind legs to drink out of a baby bottle, jumping from one platform to another, shaking hands with the trainer, and jumping through a metal semi-circle that was covered in leaves.
The time for the tricks of the tiger was quickly over and then it was time for the tricks of the trainers. The only thing separating the trainers from death during these next tricks was the tranquilizers given to the tigers before the show (however small they were) and the small buckets of raw meat attached to the trainers’ hips. As soon as we noticed that the announcer was behind a brick wall at the very top of the crowd with only a tiny hole for him to see out of, we got a little nervous. Then, when we saw the trainers all shaking their heads and waving their hands in a negative motion, we realized no good was about to happen. The announcer continued urging on the crowd and the crowd (well, mostly just dad’s co-worker, Wan, who was accompanying us with his family to the zoo) kept urging on the trainers to do whatever trick it was that the trainers did not want to do. Giving in to peer pressure, we suddenly saw the two male trainers try to pick up one of the tigers. They got him about two inches off the ground and then put him down smiling.
The announcer wasn’t impressed, so again got the crowd/Wan chanting that they wanted more. Begrudgingly, the trainers pulled two platforms about two feet apart and beckoned a tiger on top of them, front feet on one platform, back feet on the other. Then, before we knew it, the shorter man was attempting to squat the tiger! One of his legs got tangled up in one of the platforms and, needless to say, he went down pretty quick, tiger and all. When he stood up, he was holding his ankle and looking angrily at the tiger, ready to hit it for being so…. Heavy? (The only real part of the introduction that we did understand was when they were explaining that each tiger weighs approximately 180 kg and is a very fierce animal. Since this was broadcast over the loudspeaker while the trainers were already in the ring, we know that the trainers were fully aware of this fact!) Tiger 1, Man 0.
After this attempt, fail, and broken ankle, it only made sense that the other male trainer should try the same thing. Try number one for trainer 2: leg got stuck, man goes down, tiger goes flying. Tiger 2, Man 0. Try number two: man gets a few steps away from platform and collapses under weight of tiger, with tiger landing on top of him. Tiger 3, Man 0. Try number three (why they were STILL trying, we are all unsure!): success... sort of… as successful as you can be when doing this trick. I mean, can having a tiger on your shoulders ever really end well? But, he did get the tiger on his shoulders for a good 20 seconds, did a few spins and then bent down and let the tiger slide/jump off his neck in a very ungraceful way. Tiger 3, Man ½.
We thought the show would quickly come to an end after these “tricks” (due to the fact that all the trainers were now limping and holding their shoulders), but little we know it was only half over. Before the next trick could start, we suddenly heard a burst of commotion coming from the left side of the cage. Turns outs, when you gotta go, you gotta go and this tiger had no shame. Apparently the chicken-wire fence was not a sufficient barrier between the steady stream of urine coming from the tiger and the audience members standing on the other side. Despite the trainer’s attempts at pulling the tiger away mid-pee, the tiger wanted to finish his business and soaked a few people pretty good in the process.
When that unplanned event was over, the trainers thought they had a few more tricks in them, but it seemed the tigers had had enough. We’re not sure why a trick would be to have a tiger stand and put its paws on your shoulder, but that was what they chose to do, and hopefully they’ll nix it from their routine quickly. Before we could blink an eye, the trick had turned into mauling #2 of the day and the trainer had his back against a very bendy chicken wire fence with a tiger pushing him further backwards. After getting scratched on the shoulder, he was able to throw some meat on the ground and get the tiger off of him. He was lucky he got him off when he did because his attention was quickly drawn to his partner sitting stuck between the edge of the cement stage and the fence batting away a hungry tiger. (Leah noted that on a list of top 5 things you would never want to happen to you while in a tiger cage, losing all mobility is at the top of the list. We’re pretty sure they also encountered #2-5, we just lost track with everything that happened!) After as many attempts as it took to finally lift a tiger, he finally got his friend out of the gutter and everyone cheered. At this point, mom checked the schedule to make sure we were watching the lion and tiger show and not the three stooges show because it was so ridiculous.
We thought they had finally seen their lives flash before their eyes enough times that the show was over, but of course there had to be one more “trick”. Instead of just sending his tiger out like the other two trainers did, one trainer decided it would be cooler to ride it out of the arena. Had the tiger sauntered out majestically as planned, it would have looked cool. Instead, it decided to take off full speed. Just in the nick of time, before the tiger ran into the tunnel, the trainer jumped/fell off, taking his partner down with him. His partner was not happy because now he had a hurt head to add to his hurt shoulder, back, ankle and knee.
I don’t think we’ve ever cheered so loud for a show to be over. Nor have we been able to clarify enough times that tigers and comedy should never be part of the same show! We’ve thought long and hard trying to figure out what these trainers’ resumes must look like. Molly thinks an interview would go something like this:
Taman Safari: Do you have an IQ?
Trainer: No.
Taman Safari: Are you strong enough to lift a tiger?
Trainer: No.
Taman Safari: Are you willing to try?
Trainer: Yes.
Taman Safari: You’re hired.

Sadly, we didn’t get the show on video, but hopefully through our description and these pictures you can experience the enjoyment of the show without having to grimace and hold your breath every other second.