The rainbow never sets

strong. It turned out that there was no 'wind' in Maumere. I was still perplexed about the attitude of the airline, although by then I should have known better. I'm learning very slowly! In Kupang the whole family was there to meet me. How precious, and how good it was to be home again.

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In 1972 a new electricity generator was installed by the Council. This meant that from then on all of Kupang had electricity all day and all night. We could hardly cope with such fantastic luxury! We would be able to use a fan now for the very hot and sticky days and especially for my afternoon sleep! Rumour had it even that Television would come to Kupang. Would we then stop watching our monkey Simpson in the evenings, when he performed his antics for us? And what about my excuse that I couldn't work at night by lamp light? I could see that the pace of life would change drastically. But I needn't have worried. Television never made it to Kupang in our days.

From 10 June 1972 we took seven weeks' furlough to visit our families in Europe. As the Jungs were packing up to leave, having finished the building of the ATK (Theological Academy of Kupang), they asked us to take their eldest daughter Birgit with us and deliver her to her grandparents at Brussels. Well, one more child, having already four of our own to travel with, it was all the same to us. We took our time to get to Jakarta, stopping at Bali for some sightseeing, then to Surabaya, where we again enjoyed John Rossner's hospitality, and then to Salatiga to visit Mes. This was the first time we met Thres, his future wife. We went together to the Borobudur and to Solo, where we visited the Kraton and the Zoo. At the Zoo Mark and James must have annoyed an elephant. Whatever it was, the elephant took revenge by squirting them with some filthy water, much to their dismay and to our amusement. In Jakarta we had just one afternoon to hire a taxi who took us around most sights, including the newly erected giant Istiqlal mosque. From Jakarta we flew straight to Brussels, where we delivered Birgit safely to her grandparents, and made our way via Ostende to Dover by ferry, where we were met by Alison's parents. A wonderful family re-union. We stayed at Goldstone for five weeks. Our children especially loved the cool weather and the country life with their grandparents.

On our way back we stopped at Hannover, where we were picked up by Vater and Mutter. They had hired a V.W. Combivan, big enough for our large family. Tante Alice, Mutter's sister, let us stay in her house at Masherode, near Braunschweig for the fortnight of our visit. We made a few tours around the countryside, saw castles, and even visited Onkel Werner and Tante Margaret in Göttingen.

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