Blog ending Saturday 22nd December 2012
This last week has seen the final exodus of expats to their country-of-importance
and Friday saw the beginning of local people heading back to the districts.
Many people need that ‘extra’ money for the Christmas break and they were
lining up all week at various financial institutions for payouts. I saw one of
them, right next to Tiger fuel and I thought it was a political gathering, an
end-of-year get together or some other celebration/social occasion. Wrong on
all counts. The ANZ money machines around town were not working including
one of the two at the main bank itself,
so I joined the queue before the machine ran out. The ATM in Lita still has the
software upgrade warning of late August covering the dead screen and the one at
Leader is apparently out of action as well.
There are many small huts-cum-shelters going up- around
town. They have wee fences and are variously ringed with lights, artificial grass
and attendant watchers to make sure the statues/profiles that make up the
Nativity scenes are not tampered with. I took some photos of one very large
nativity scene erected in the Defence building compound. It was covered in
lights and quite impressive, even from the road 250m away. Less than five days
later it was gone – maybe not military enough?
One fellow volunteer had to go to Darwin, on Friday, for a blood test
– something to do with blood sugar. Now they have been sent back to NZ for two
weeks(!). A surprise Christmas back home. Hopefully it’ll be all sorted & they can return in January.
My bike now has a carrier, but that it is not good
enough to keep the mud off me when I cycle. After work yesterday, I went,
watched the afternoon rain shower then wore a nice white shirt to the Dili
Beach Hotel – cycling. I nearly got there OK, before passing through a puddle
and getting black spots all over my front :-(
While in Brisbane a couple of weeks ago, I bought some Christmas
lights – not as good as the flashing ones here that also play Christmas carols
with an Amercian accent, but nice lights anyway. They are now draped over the
porch in front of my door and protected from the rain. Since I am cycling 122km
to Baucau in a few hours time and won’t be here to turn them on at night, I
bought an extension cable and threw the loose end upstairs to the land lord’s
place so they could do the honours whenever they wished to.
Yesterday, we volunteers organised a Christmas dinner
at one of the houses and had a suckling pig + a variety of goodies prepared by
different people. Secret Santa involved swapping your present with others and I
managed to get a magnifying glass and a mini pool set that I have given to the
local children.
Merry Christmas (where did this ‘Happy holidays’ rubbish
come from? Are people afraid to acknowledge the origin of this festive season?)
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