Well, it was only a matter of time before I got lazy and didn’t update the blog. Although, my argument could be that I have been trying to adjust to life in Maliana! After spending four weeks in Dili feeling like a backpacker, hanging out meeting lots of fun and interesting people I jumped in the car on the morning of the 16th of November and headed out to Maliana with my boss. The four hour drive was beautiful, mostly along the coast with pristine waters, picturesque villages…and the slightly scary roads.
The first three hours of the drive basically followed the coast, until about 6 km’s shy of the Indonesian border where we head up into the mountains. The climb up towards Balibo is spectacular. The flame trees are in bloom, which meant the brown earth of the dry season and the green were beautifully disturbed by this incredible bloom of red, while behind us there were amazing views of the coast line far below. We climbed the mountains and dropped over into an enormous plateau, on the other side of which is the town of Maliana. Half of the township sits on the plateau, with the remainder of the town snaking its way up onto the side of the mountain.
I have been in Maliana for three weeks now. I’m in back in Dili at the moment, which is a nice change from Maliana but feels very surreal. Maliana is very small, with three restaurants or Warrung’s (where the food is prepared and you select from what is on offer). There are probably about 10 shops, and thankfully a great market that is on everyday. The produce in Maliana, in Timor in general, is really beautiful. It is mostly local, fresh and organic (as there are no pesticides here). I am looking forward to finding a house so that I can start cooking with all this delicious and local veg.
The first two weeks of my time in Maliana I stayed in a guest house, and then in my third week I was lucky enough to stay in Sally and Ben’s house while they went way for the week. Sally and Ben are two Australian volunteers working at the hospital, which is especially great as they have one of the best kitchen’s in Timor Leste and it means they are connected to the hospital generator during the day. Maliana has electricity from around 6.30pm – 6am every night, so being able to use a fan during the day was pretty special! For the first two weeks I had been waking up pretty much as soon as the power went off at 6am, as the fact that there was no air movement was pretty noticeable!
So, most mornings I have been up at or around 6am, and then heading of to work just before at 8am for an 8.00 start. The work day in Timor is pretty nice – 8am – midday when there is a two hour lunch break, followed by 2pm – 5pm. The lunch break is pretty good, although it is fairly hot by that time of the day. The nice thing about staying at the guest house was that it was on the hill, which meant that it got the breeze that usually kicks in at about 11.30. On the days that there is no breeze it is so stinking hot and disgusting! But thankfully, in the time that I have been there have been breeze’s most days.
Also since getting to Maliana the rains have arrived. The first few days there everything was very brown, but it is amazing how quickly things have started to turn green with just a few “udan boot” (big rains). The other massive change has been that being completely surrounded by Tetun has improved dramatically. My workmates have been wonderful at helping me learn, they’re very patient! While there are certainly many moments of pure frustration I never thought that I would enjoy learning a language so much. I am looking forward to the day when I don’t need to take my Tetun word finder with me everywhere!
My workmates are wonderful, and I am looking forward to getting to know them better. Maliana has a pretty big contingent of UN staff. I’m not sure how many exactly (maybe 30 – 40), but I haven’t met any of them. I have however met most of the other Malae in town – Sally & Ben, Sue, Ida and Bas. All of us are Australian, except Bas who is Dutch. I have spent a little time with all of them, and think they will be a great support over the next year or so. So, I guess that fact that I am currently one of 6 white Malae’s in town (not counting the UN) gives you some indication of how much I stand out. I think am also the only Malae in town riding a motor bike – everyone else pretty much has a car. So, I am quite the spectacle!
That’s it for now – I’m sorry to say that my internet connection is too slow to put any photo’s up! I hope you're all well.
The first three hours of the drive basically followed the coast, until about 6 km’s shy of the Indonesian border where we head up into the mountains. The climb up towards Balibo is spectacular. The flame trees are in bloom, which meant the brown earth of the dry season and the green were beautifully disturbed by this incredible bloom of red, while behind us there were amazing views of the coast line far below. We climbed the mountains and dropped over into an enormous plateau, on the other side of which is the town of Maliana. Half of the township sits on the plateau, with the remainder of the town snaking its way up onto the side of the mountain.
I have been in Maliana for three weeks now. I’m in back in Dili at the moment, which is a nice change from Maliana but feels very surreal. Maliana is very small, with three restaurants or Warrung’s (where the food is prepared and you select from what is on offer). There are probably about 10 shops, and thankfully a great market that is on everyday. The produce in Maliana, in Timor in general, is really beautiful. It is mostly local, fresh and organic (as there are no pesticides here). I am looking forward to finding a house so that I can start cooking with all this delicious and local veg.
The first two weeks of my time in Maliana I stayed in a guest house, and then in my third week I was lucky enough to stay in Sally and Ben’s house while they went way for the week. Sally and Ben are two Australian volunteers working at the hospital, which is especially great as they have one of the best kitchen’s in Timor Leste and it means they are connected to the hospital generator during the day. Maliana has electricity from around 6.30pm – 6am every night, so being able to use a fan during the day was pretty special! For the first two weeks I had been waking up pretty much as soon as the power went off at 6am, as the fact that there was no air movement was pretty noticeable!
So, most mornings I have been up at or around 6am, and then heading of to work just before at 8am for an 8.00 start. The work day in Timor is pretty nice – 8am – midday when there is a two hour lunch break, followed by 2pm – 5pm. The lunch break is pretty good, although it is fairly hot by that time of the day. The nice thing about staying at the guest house was that it was on the hill, which meant that it got the breeze that usually kicks in at about 11.30. On the days that there is no breeze it is so stinking hot and disgusting! But thankfully, in the time that I have been there have been breeze’s most days.
Also since getting to Maliana the rains have arrived. The first few days there everything was very brown, but it is amazing how quickly things have started to turn green with just a few “udan boot” (big rains). The other massive change has been that being completely surrounded by Tetun has improved dramatically. My workmates have been wonderful at helping me learn, they’re very patient! While there are certainly many moments of pure frustration I never thought that I would enjoy learning a language so much. I am looking forward to the day when I don’t need to take my Tetun word finder with me everywhere!
My workmates are wonderful, and I am looking forward to getting to know them better. Maliana has a pretty big contingent of UN staff. I’m not sure how many exactly (maybe 30 – 40), but I haven’t met any of them. I have however met most of the other Malae in town – Sally & Ben, Sue, Ida and Bas. All of us are Australian, except Bas who is Dutch. I have spent a little time with all of them, and think they will be a great support over the next year or so. So, I guess that fact that I am currently one of 6 white Malae’s in town (not counting the UN) gives you some indication of how much I stand out. I think am also the only Malae in town riding a motor bike – everyone else pretty much has a car. So, I am quite the spectacle!
That’s it for now – I’m sorry to say that my internet connection is too slow to put any photo’s up! I hope you're all well.
