12^th February

Ok so we look like we have a house to move into in. It needs a toilet/bathroom built, repainting and some mozzie proofing. The toilet/bathroom will be Timor style wet room in the front yard. To finalise the deal we had to go and see the hospital administrator and sub administrator of the district, both of whom were in Dili till Monday this being Thursday means it’s another few days before anything happens. We need to get used to the slow pace of things happening which is not too hard to do just a bit frustrating. We also need Mr Fix it AKA Marino as he is the only one who can translate plus he knows everyone, so sometimes we wait a day for him to be around. Marino is one of 6 kids although 3 have passed away and his parents are dead as well. Plus his brother’s wife had a stillborn baby this week which is not that uncommon.

Ginny and I have both felt a bit crook for a day or two so have been taking it easy but (now it’s Monday) we are feeling better now.  Hopefully this will last as we just went and had dinner at the warung (local restaurant) and with the dirt floor, rice and chicken that were just sitting unrefrigerated after being cooked earlier today…we’ve been told it’s ok to eat there but we are not too sure what the night will bring!!  Poz is already feeling sick, just demonstrating the power of his mind!  (We hope…)

Below is Mario fixing the electrical problem caused by Charlie’s chicken roosting on Michele’s power main all night.  Note the pink rubber gloves to guard against electric shocks.  OH & S standards here are somewhat lacking!!  We keep on getting little electric shocks off the walls of the building, especially after it has been raining a lot.  We have been on to an electrician and hopefully it is getting sorted out! 

I did my first English lesson today, which was lots of fun.  There were about 10 staff from the hotel in the class and I think they enjoyed it… It is a luxury to have plenty of time to plan a lesson, I spent the morning supervising Charlie doing his schoolwork and finalising my lesson plan then just had to teach one lesson today!  Nice pace.  I will be teaching 2 lessons on Tuesdays and Fridays and one each on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday.  Some to the hotel staff, one to the girls at a local boarding house and two for the community in general – ranging from kids to adults.  So a good variety. 

7 February 2017

Lots to update and have even got photos!  We are still in the hotel, accommodation is not quite sorted out yet; we checked out another house but there were big gaps between the roof and the walls (probably due to having no ceiling!) and there was no kitchen or bathroom although there was a Timorese toilet (hole in the floor).  Am trying not to be a princess but can’t really put Charlie somewhere where mossies and other creatures not to mention rain can get in.  I could handle it of course ;-)  So at this stage we might move into Michele’s little house for a month or so and there is another possible new house which still needs a toilet to be put in which we may be able to rent for $100 per month.  I would say, judging by how quickly things move that it will be ready just when we are about to leave!  Michele says she doesn’t mind having a homestay while the other house is being finished, so we’ll see how things go.

Yesterday visited the kindy.  The kids were so cute, and Charlie looked absolutely enormous next to them. 

 They don’t have desks, just sit on the floor and they come in two shifts of about 35 kids each shift.  The playground would raise a million red flags for anyone doing an Australian standard health and safety check.  Bits of rock lying around under the equipment, rubbish, old metal swing seats with no actual seat just the frame, rusty metal equipment etc.  And they are quite an affluent kindergarten apparently. 

Everyone is so friendly, they all greet you and each other; no one walks past without saying good morning or good afternoon etc.  There is a real sense of community.  So we have become pretty good at saying all the greetings!  Big smiles all around.  People are always wandering around, there is a lot of sitting around too!  I think they would find Australian suburbs like a desert.  Ross was unloading some sand the other day to help with the water tank and Charlie was helping, next minute all these boys turned up to help and ended up having a great time with Charlie, it was great to see him interacting kids his own age. 

We took the Frisbee down later to see if they’d be around but of course it poured with rain.  It rains every day of rain.  , not all day but when it rains it is this mad downpour with wind and sheets The power goes off regularly; in the hotel they have a generator so all good but anywhere else the power could be off anything from an hour to all night.  Today I went to visit a convent school where 40 girls board, some because they are from remote areas and are there to get an education, some because their family don’t want them/can’t support them so the nuns take them in.  We walked in through their dining room and water is leaking through the iron roof, running along the light cord and dripping down a metal pole!  Then walked in to where we thought we were having a meeting about me doing some English lessons but instead it was a big room with all the girls squashed into wooden benches, one light on so it was really dark, all of them waiting expectantly for an English lesson!  Mad panic of thinking what to teach on the spot but then it got sorted out, they ran out shrieking happily that they didn’t have class and I was extremely relieved!  That will start next week. 

Our first week...

Well I have actually set up a blog and it was suprisingly easy!  Feeling technologically confident now.  Firstly we want to thank everyone who helped us before and after we left.  It was pretty crazy for a while there, not sure what we could have done better but thanks to family and friends who gave us a hand so cheerfully and helped again when our plans changed again and changed again with the house!

The first week in Timor-Leste has been eye-opening and full on to say the least.  Dili is your typical third world city, but even more run down than we had expected.  Poz says not as run down as that but I felt a bit shocked on the way in from the airport.  I think there is a big difference in how you view a place if you are a tourist passing through compared to someone planning to stay for half a year.  How I was viewing it the first day is probably summed up like this "FAAAARK!!"

The first day was spent trying to sort out our working visa.  We started at the Ministry of Immigration.  Ross was not let in anywhere as he was wearing shorts and men have to be in long pants to get into government buildings.  Good move on his part.  So the Ministry of Immigration sent us to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  They didn't want to know and sent us to the Australian Embassy.  They then sent us to the Ministry of Justice.  Which is in at least 4 separate buildings.  After finding the right one, the official there said...You need to go to the Ministry of Immigration!!
They might be short of a few things in Timor-Leste but bureaucracy is not one of them.  So we still don't have a visa but we think we have worked out what we have to do and will return to Dili within the month to sort it out.

There is a shopping complex in Dili called Timor Plaza which has big supermarkets and a few different shops where we stocked up on stuff we can't get around here, like UHT milk, pasta, frozen grated cheese etc.  Then we hit the road for Balibo.

The poverty in Timor-Leste is hard to understand until you see it.  It boggles the mind that Australia could be fighting over maritime boundaries to stop them from getting access to the natural gas resources which are in their waters if you draw a boundary equally between Australia and Timor.  We have so much in natural resources and it is unbelievable that we could think to deny them when they have really so little.  It makes the Australian government look like complete arseholes really.  Anyway that's my rant for this post!!

The road to Balibo was pretty interesting...There had been tons of rain so there were sink holes in the road, land slides and pretty large rocks just sitting in the middle of the road!  Its a 3 hour drive made longer by lunch break and landsides.

Poz here now

We have been given a week in Balibo Fort Hotel while we sort out the house. The hotel is great the house we are meant to live in is not. The house is basically a shell with a roof however with Timor Leste building methods the rain was running down the walls, no kitchen no bathroom although it did have a squat dunny. Its also 5 kms out of Balibo which makes it tricky as Ginny will be running classes morning and afternoon. Anyway we felt bad as our local contact Marino has organised the house but we can,t live like that for 6 months. There is a few options to check out in the next day or two.

So we sleep in the hotel and cook down at the Community Learning Center, which is Ok especially as I am not allowed to cook or wash up as I will lose respect with the men in the town. I don,t like it as I will pay for it big time when we leave.

There is one other Australian working here on a 2 year contract as volunteer . Michelle has been fantastic meeting us in Dili and driving back to Balibo . It would be really difficult to do this without her guidance and I think we will all be able to work well together.

Today had drive to Maliana about 45 min away to get this internet sorted and shop for food at markets which was interesting. Plenty of food ,good veges, questionable hygiene.Definitely clad we are in a smaller town as large places can be overwhelming.

Today is Saturday tomorrow we are going to the beach to bag up some sand so I can set up a watertank at CLC and Monday make an attempt at starting work although have accommodation to look at too.
Will post photos next time.


.