Karl and Kristen Nielsen Just another weblog 
Although this last term of school was been very busy, our family had a few chances to leave campus and do a few things with some of our national friends.
Our friend Jenny who helps Kristen with household tasks on a weekly basis invited us to go to a rugby match in town a few weeks back. Her husband plays for one of the local PNG teams and we were able to go with Jenny and some of her family members to watch him play. 
Karl enjoyed learning more about how the game of rugby is played, the girls made some new friends and Kristen enjoyed spending time with Jenny outside of the house without chores to accomplish.
The other fun event we were able to attend was a birthday party for Jenny’s niece. In PNG, children’s first birthdays are big celebrations and Jenny’s niece, Gracie’s party was certainly no exception! Jenny lives in a tribe across the street from the center we live on so on the day of the party we put on our hiking gear instead of our party clothes to go to the celebration. When we arrived at Jenny’s house, 
she gave us a little tour of her property and we were able to meet her six year old daughter and a few of her other relatives. She lives right in front of a river and is in the process of building a new house a little bit further away from it because her family has had a couple of scary moments during the past rainy season when the river rose almost high enough to flood their current home.
We then found out that the party was going to take place across the river at a different location so we all took turns loading up on a “gumi” tube to cross the river. Since there is no graceful way to do this it was quite a funny event to watch! 
We all eventually did get across the river and then hiked a ways to get to the party. Along the way, we were able to see Jenny’s vegetable and coffee gardens and her pigs. One of her pigs is currently expecting babies and our girls cannot wait to go back to see the piglets when they are born! We eventually arrived at the party and met the adorable little guest of honor, “Gracie” along with many other friends and relatives of Jenny’s. The food at this party was a bit different from kids’ birthday parties we usually attend to say the least….forget grilled hamburgers, potato chips, and fruit snacks. We had bamboo cooked chicken, kau kau (sweet potatoes), and fried bananas. It was actually very tasty and even the girls were willing to try a few things. After visiting for awhile and playing with Gracie, we hiked, “gumied”, and walked back to our house…a tiring but very fun day!
