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.