Hau nia kolega sira mai visita hau!

My friends have come to visit me!

At the beginning of April (a long time ago now!) I was lucky enough to receive two lovely visitors in the form of Alissa and Steve (who came bearing Hot Cross Buns all the way from Melbourne). Al and Steve are very good friends of mine from Melbourne. We met several years ago when Steve and I worked together and he became insanely jealous of my poster making abilities.

Al and Steve had arrived for an 8 day tour of East Timor, and of course, to hang out with me!! I was so excited in the lead up to their arrival – I could barely concentrate on work and kept annoying all of my friends with stories about Alissa and Steve and how wonderful they are. We had a whirlwind tour of East Timor traversing the East-West extremities of the country and heading into the centre of the country to visit Maubisse.

It was so fantastic to have them here, and rather than bore you with words, please enjoy some photo's from our trip!

It was nice to be reminded of how fantastic my family and friends are and how important they are to me. I had a great time. Much laughing, some great chats, several beers, a beautiful bottle of wine from home, and lots and lots of fresh and delicious fish!

Fresh fish! Delish! We bought these beautiful fish off some of the local fishermen whose livelihood is dependent on the tourists that come to this far flung corner of East Timor (Jaco).

I don't have any photo's of Jaco...but it is spectacular! (Sorry, I'll do better next time!)

Our hotel room. Incredibly cheap, amazing views, and a free wake up call.

Just a few minutes after this a boat came by with that mornings' catch...so we bought some more fish for lunch!

The road from Jaco up to Tutuala. This stretch is pretty good...some of them are terrible.

The road from Baucau to Dili...beautiful, isn't it?

The town of Maubisse

Steve shopping in the Maliana market!

Steve and Alissa on the Risky Balcony enjoying a beverage.

Thanks for coming guys.

Kapaas loos

Every week my counterpart Leandro and I try to have a meeting to talk about work issues. Because there is no privacy at our office we go to my place and sit on my balcony, drink a cup of coffee and talk about things we couldn't talk about in the office.

I commented to Leandro one day that I love the view from this balcony. It's wonderful to see the mountains, or to watch big rains come in - sometimes you can be forgiven for thinking there are no mountains there they are completely obscured by the clouds. Almost every day the sunset is reflected spectacularly on the mountain, and the light is amazing. I love that it's a corn field and that I have watched it grow from when it was planted, and how people use it as a thoroughfare. Sometimes I just sit there and watch people come and go. I told him it is "kapaas loos", very beautiful.

He agreed, "Sin, Mana, kapaas loos."

A few days later we were standing around at work and he said to me, "Mana Susan you know that corn field opposite your home that you like to look at everyday?"
"Yes, Maun, I know it."
"In 1999 my best friend and a group of others were shot there."