DanandDalaina.com

For the past couple of days Dan and Scott have been busy getting the water lines piped to our yard from the road. The contractor and paid Caquinte workers laid the pipes, but each family is responsible for burying their own lines in addition to hauling their own sand for the cement and providing a wooden post for the faucet. So Dan & Scott have been digging and burying, much of the time through rain. Hopefully today they will be done with the job.
Last night Dan hooked up the generator to our lights as a dreary day depleted any solar energy we had accumulated. Worked like a charm though it will have to me moved to another spot because the exhaust was making its way into the Welsh's house. This trip has not been nearly so rainy, and I rather like the cooler weather and plenitude of water. The major downside is that Moses gets bored inside. One of the twins managed to climb on the desk the other day and sent our portable dvd player flying, which means no more dvds to occupy him when he can't play outside. Gah!
The twins have been pretty awful most of the time we have been here. Their little gums are super swollen and painful looking, but those stinkin teeth just won't make an appearance. Yesterday I sat in the hammock with them for something like 2 hours total just holding and rocking them. In fact, Ben wouldn't even sit in his high chair to eat. I had to hold him for that too.
On a funny note, today we had an “only in Tsoroja” moment. A bunch of the neighborhood kids came to the porch looking for Moses, and they brought their “pet” with them. It was... a huge cockroach. On a leash. Nope not kidding. They tied a plastic string around the thing. We got a laugh out of it and took a picture. I told Dan that I could just hear our friend Maradi say, “Oh... my... gosh!” in her usual manner. I guess that will be a picture for the album.

This morning we woke up to go to church and were greeted with a “Happy Valentine's Day!” by the Welsh kids. Dan and I both had a laugh because we had both completely forgotten about the holiday, and neither of us had bought/made anything to bring out for the other. Oh well, as least we both forgot and not just one of us! Our teammates and we decided to share ingredients to make a peanut butter pie with oreo crust to celebrate the holiday together tonight.
There ended up not being a church service because about 15 minutes before it was to start, the village chief called another meeting to discuss the water project. So we stayed home with the kids, sang some songs and read a couple of Bible stories.
Yesterday afternoon, the twins and I had an adventure. Moses was still napping, so I took Jake and Ben with me to go visiting. We went to the other end of the airstrip to visit one of my mothers, Juana. Who is also one of the oldest women in the community. She lives with her husband and a shlew of kids, most of whom I think are her grandkids, and a co-wife that is also a granddaughter (still grosses me out to think about it). Anyway, she was delighted with the visit and presented me with a big bunch of eating bananas and a huge yucca root. The twins wolfed down 3 bananas while we were there, and I think she got a kick out of that. They explored her house while I attempted to communicate a coherent thought. Eventually, they were muddy enough and I was brain-dead enough that we headed home. I am not sure that I get a whole lot of language in visits like that, but if nothing else it gives me the chance to practice my vocabulary and show them that I am interested in their lives.
Mercedes continues to visit me almost every day, and I love having her around. She doesn't seem to mind the fact that our communication is at about 10% most of the time. Maybe she is just coming for the juice I keep giving her. :) I am thinking about seeing if she wants to be my language helper, but I am still intimidated by that whole process. Maybe informal visiting is a better way to go at this point... I guess I'll have to make up my mind about that soon. But if I do get a language helper, I think she is on the top of my list.

Two nights ago, the eve of the Welsh's flight, was the loudest night I have ever experienced. At 1am and incredible thunderstorm began. It was loud enough to wake all 5 of us, but luckily, the kids didn't seem to mind it too much. Lightening was flashing through the boards overhead, and, at one point, struck close enough to the house that Dan ducked and covered and I squealed. We were afraid that something in our electrical system had been struck (it hadn't). The r raged on for hours. After managing to sleep through the noise, we all slept in (until 7:30!). When we got up, the worst of it had past, but it was still pouring and our yard was a lake. We both figured that the Welsh's flight was not to be. Dan called in via radio as scheduled to let the pilot know how dismal the weather was, but John said he wanted another report in an hour as the satellite showed the storm moving on. Through the morning, Dan checked in every half hour, and by lunchtime the plane was in the air expecting clear enough skies by the time it got near the village.
Our teammates got in safely, and John did a quick shuttle to a nearby village for a Caquinte man before returning to Pucallpa. We had them over for pizza, caught them up on village events since they were last here, and heard some team news that we had missed. After dinner and getting the kids to bed, we started season 3 of NCIS which we have been watching together for a few months (they got us hooked on it the first time we were here).
The bad news is that the milk is still nowhere to be found. No one remembers seeing it once here, though Kenan saw it get loaded on the plane. We've searched all 4 houses, and have decided to just let it go. My best guess is that some one walked off with the big sack of it. Nothing has even been stolen like that before, but I guess there is always a first time. Luckily, the Welshes have plenty of milk for all of us for this month because they are staying for 3 months this time and are stocked up. We will share with them and replace what we use on our back flight.
Today, Dan and Scott are at a village meeting about the water project in the village. The oil company is in the middle of providing potable water for the village. Each family will have a faucet at their house. The project has also given the Caquinte jobs as paid laborers for the contractor. It's been neat to see the community rally around the project. I can't imagine how excited many of them must be at the prospect of not having to haul water from the spring any longer. It will be much less work for these industrious Caquinte women, and for that I am grateful.

Tomorrow we will be cleaning up the Welsh's house, getting it ready for them to come in on Friday. It is also our 1 week mark. I am quite impressed with ourselves for having survived a week without teammates (though I am very glad that they will soon be joining us). I think the twins being a little more independent and able to entertain themselves has made all the difference. Dan has been at the house most of the time between his cold (that I have now) and all the rain, so that has been very helpful as well. I even had the thought today that we could actually do the solo thing for a longer period of time if we needed to. It's not optimal, but it might be necessary at some points when our schedule conflicts with that of our teammates.
Today we let the twins outside to run around for the first time. I never let them do it before because they weren't really walking yet before, and I did not want to spend every second pulling stuff out of their mouths. All three kids loved running around, chasing each other with sticks. No one got hurt, though everyone was filthy by the end of it. It still took me constantly chasing them to keep them from going out of the yard, under the house, or up the ladder. In a few months, I might actually be able to let them out to play alone. Ahhhh... that will be the day!
Our lights went out for the first time today, just about when we expected them to. Dan will juice up the generator tomorrow to re-charge them. With the Welsh's here, we will use less because their house is the place to be after all the kids go to bed. We brought 10 gallons of gas for the generator, it remains to be seen how long that will last. At least we have had more sun this time than the last, but Dan also thinks that our batteries are pretty shot. Good thing we have some replacements coming in soon.
Language study is progressing as usual – quickly for Dan and frustratingly slow for me. One of the teenagers here, home on summer break, has been showing up for long periods of time every day. Dan has really enjoyed spending time with him, and he has proven to be a very helpful, informal language partner. He is good about correcting Dan and giving him complete information, not just directly translating when he is asked.
About the only interaction I have had is with a few visitors. Mercedes remains the most helpful in terms of language – mostly because she just laughs and starts a new subject when I get to the point when I say, “I don't understand.” Others have not been so helpful. Yesterday there was a mom and her slew of kids, including some older girls. When I said something and asked if that was the right was to say it, they just laughed at me and said no. But would not tell me how to say it correctly. Thanks a lot...
I also realized that the disconnect between what I have been studying on flash cards and hearing them say comes from the fact that my accent is totally off on much of what I am learning. Dan and I have been going over my flash cards, and I am relearning them correctly. Glad to figure out the problem, though frustrated to have to relearn so much.
Anyhow, on it goes. Nothing terribly exciting, but that is probably a good thing. Also a good thing that it still seems manageable this time. Dan says that it is night and day from the last time that we were here in regards to my emotional state. I just hope that the Caquinte can see that I am really making an effort to know them and to speak their language.

Our flight to Tsoroja left Pucallpa as scheduled, but we ended up circling the village several times waiting for the rain to let up so that we could land. Eventually we did land during a small break in the rain. As soon as our pilot got in the air to return home, the rain started again.
              Our first day back was rather quiet. We had a couple of visitors, but most of the village is away in their gardens. Which is probably just was well because the morning after we got here, Dan realized that he was coming down with a pretty nasty cold, I got a migraine, and the twins both started teething like mad. Ibuprophen has been flowing like water here lately. Dan has been trying to stay away from people as much as possible (we skipped church) because a yucky cold can be life-threatening to a malnourished child.
              Despite feeling crummy, we found this transition to be the easiest thus far. The kids adapted to the sleeping schedule and new rooms smoothly, and we were completely unpacked before noon the next day. The only major hiccup that we have had is that our milk is missing. We ordered 180L worth of powdered milk (yes, a ridiculous amount, but then my kids are ridiculously big!). It was supposed to come on our back flight, and I just now realized that I never saw it before we left last time. We are really hoping that Scott and Nichole have it in their house because they do not have any extra room on their flight on Friday to bring us 15 boxes of milk. Dan will radio in the morning to find out if they know why the milk is MIA.
              We have done some visiting most days as the rain lets up for a few hours in the afternoon. The first day, we visited the pastor's family. The second visit was to Irma and Dan's house. It was a little awkward trying to express our sympathies for the loss of their 9 month old daughter while we were gone because we didn't really know what was appropriate to talk about. In the end, we simply told them that we had heard the news and were very sad. They both choked up a little, and we let it drop. I hope they understood our hearts. This afternoon Moses and I went over to Marvi's to see her and her new baby. It was a short visit, but I was thrilled to see a healthy little boy (Elmer) and mom.
              Already I can see a major difference in how I feel here compared with last time. In December, my depression symptoms got pretty out of control, and I don't think Dan nor I realized how bad it was until I switched medications in January and got my sanity back. I feel so much more able to handle life here. It is not nearly so overwhelming to try to talk to people or even take care of my family. It actually seems do-able now. Realizing that I am only in day 3, I am hopefully optimistic about this trip out being much more fruitful in terms of relationship building, language learning, and even my own confidence in being able to survive as a missionary in the jungle.