I�ve now been in Dili for six and a half months and am beginning to feel like an old-timer, especially with the arrival of the bulk of our staff since I last wrote. I�m to the point of recognizing lots of people by their license plate numbers, and even more telling, I remember where the potholes USED to be!
The biggest change in my life has been the purchase of a refrigerator, which has allowed me to begin cooking for myself. I go shopping every Saturday after work with some of my co-workers who live in the same apartment complex. We usually make the rounds of four stores: Leader, which has mostly housewares, then to three grocery stores (Landmark, Hello Mister, and Stop �n Shop). Each has a different selection, much of it from Australia. I�ve been able to make my own sandwiches and take them to work (starting before the refrigerator with peanut butter and jelly, now with cold cuts and cheese). Dinners have included seafood spring rolls, rice, peas, curried noodles, fried chicken patties, spaghetti with homemade sauce (I�ve found stewed tomatoes, crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, garlic, basil, and oregano), birds nest pasta with pesto sauce.... I�ve even found curried lentil vegetarian hamburgers! I�ve also seen the most incredible variety of Cadbury chocolates imagineable; I�ve counted 20 so far: Dairy Milk, Hazel Nut, Brazil Nut, Roast Almond, Fruit & Nut, Pineapple, Old Jamaica (Rum & Raisin), Black Forest, Caramello, Top Deck, Milky White, Honeycomb Crisp, Dream, Marble, Strawberry, Peppermint, Turkish Delight, Swiss Chalet, Toffee, and Caffe Latte.
I�ve commented before about power outages, but now they�re every night. We started out losing power from 9pm to midnight but now seem to be on a 7pm to 9pm schedule, though it sometimes goes out again at midnight. One morning when we asked what had happened to knock the power out at an unusual hour, the staff here showed us that our line from the street had melted from the heavy load. We�re lucky, though; some parts of the country have power only two or three hours a day, and one district has had no power at all since a storm in December. I don�t know about the folks in California, but I�ve become very good at remembering where things are, especially my various flashlights. I�m also glad I brought so many rechargeable batteries.
Water supply is also interesting. I learned today that our apartment complex has been operating from a well but is in the process of connecting to the municipal water system, which has been under repairs for a while. I�ve seen a number of �informal� connections around -- people find ways of connecting hoses to exposed sections of pipe, since many of the pipes are not at all large and often run above ground, particularly in rural areas. I�ve also seen a number of open bamboo pipes carrying water in rural areas.
I think I�ve also commented on driving habits, but I�m even more sensitive to them now that I�m driving more. The one that concerns me most is that of driving with no lights. In a city with few streetlights to begin with and such widespread power outages, it�s nearly impossible to see vehicles (and particularly the hundres if not thousands of motorcycles and scooters that are so common on the streets of Dili) at night when they drive without lights. Many drivers will also swerve into oncoming traffic in order to avoid a puddle or a pothole. Given the depth of some of the potholes (and the ability of the puddles to hide deep potholes), it�s understandable on one hand, but the vehicle coming directly at them would seem to be the bigger danger. There are also people who, either because they�re not really sure how to drive, they�re hoping a pedestrian will flag them down for a ride, or their vehicle just won�t go any faster, drive about 15 miles an hour in areas where the speed limit is twice that. I�ve heard that there was very little traffic in Dili before 1999 compared to now, and these habits make that easy to believe. Pedestrians often act as if a vehicle is about the last thing they expected to see coming down the street towards them. The dogs are even worse -- some will eventually decide to move once you blow the horn or flash the lights at them; otherwise you just have to figure out a way to get around them.
On the work front, the biggest news is the signing of the electoral law on March 16 and the simultaneous announcement that the elections would be held on 30 August. The politics of getting this through the National Council ended up being much more grueling than we had anticipated, but we�re now able to move forward with our preparations. Political parties are now busy gathering signatures for their registration applications. Given the violence that surfaced here in 1974-75 when the Portuguese announced their intent to withdraw and parties first became active, many of the people are afraid of partisan politics. We have a lot of work to do to convince people that a political campaign is a good thing, that it will be safe to go and vote, and that their vote will indeed be secret.
I�ve mentioned the street vendor who sells plants, but there are lots of others as well: the young men offering to exchange Australian dollars, Indonesian rupiah, or US dollars; the younger kids offering bread, cigarettes, or music and video CDs; the guys with their bicycle stands selling coconuts or water, sodas, and snacks; and others carrying fish, meat, pineapples, bananas, oranges, caged birds, or vegetables on long sticks carried on their shoulders. While I�m leery of buying meat or fish on the street, I do frequently buy fresh oranges or bananas from these guys as they come by our office.
Despite life getting steadily better here, I�ve been reminded of the real danger of the environment, with two of our staff coming down with dengue, a mosquito-borne illness that can be intensely painful. Unlike malaria, for which there are relatively effective protective medicines, the only way to prevent dengue is not to be bitten by the mosquito that carries it.
I find myself wondering what the long-term impact of the international community�s presence here will be. We will undoubtedly leave behind many things - especially refrigerators, bicycles, microwaves, and other durable items that we�re buying to make our lives more like what we have at home. The question that comes to my mind is how useful all these things will be to the East Timorese, too many of whom don�t have roofs, walls, or beds.
I hope you're well!
Ray
