social and culinary delights of ET

I mentioned breakfast as a social event earlier in this blog - occasional downside is that people effortlessly flow into work mode when with certain colleagues so even that traditional sloth-like time of day requires alertness and perhaps sitting up straight before coffee.

Quite a proportion of socialising seems to involve colleagues - a lot of people are flying in/out for short bursts, more in R's line of work than mine (my colleagues don't afford this hotel usually). A sort of exception was last night when we attended a quiz night held as a fortnightly fundraiser for the clinic. R and I invited along a friend (actually originally a friend of my sister but we like him too, and she isn't here to be his friend). We were joined by other clinic volunteers after we had eaten dinner, then discovered we were several cafes away from the correct one so the second bunch cancelled their dinner order and we moved on. Very noisy cheerful place, the Dili Beach Cafe, pizzas looked good but they only had strawberry flavoured icecream. Anyway, our group had to split up to have the correct table size so R, friend and I, plus the new volunteer doctor, joined an Irish couple, also novices in this scene. Quite a bit of arguing with the quiz mistress (?), not just our table, and we came third. Mercifully only four rounds or we would possibly still be there. How many of you know the capital of Burundi? - I confess, have forgotten already, apologies to all Burundians. Ended up taking a complete stranger home (very respectable, dropped him at his apartment gate, no taxis after dark in Dili).

I am lucky enough to have a little car to drive around, makes a huge difference to my comfort and independence, and social attractiveness I suspect. Driving here has its challenges: potholes; poor lighting; lack of road sense in people and animals and drivers; UN power junkie drivers in 4WDs; one way streets without signage; lack of signalling of lane change or turn; torrential wet season downpours..... I gave a cowboy yell the first time I crossed a particular 'no right of way' intersection by nosing out the car with rapid escalation of adrenaline and bravado and impatience, and suddenly, I was on the other side. Certain young men in my family/life crave exitement when they drive - they might find it here, even when only going 40kmh - India would be far more challenging but there are thrills to be had here - and quite a few accidents too, not surprisingly. The taxi drivers can be very particular about washing their cars (not a habit of mine) but apparently they are less concerned about seat belts.

Dili has many restaurants. 'Old timers' tell me they rapidly change in character. R and I have already a few favourites. the Paradise seafood restaurant on the east side of town does wonderful fish but service is very slow (though not slowest in town apparently) when you are at a big table. There is a little Thai Kitchen just down the road. Not fancy but tasty food and very nice woman running it. Today is 'Loy Krathong' festival day and we have been invited to join in the festival this evening, to float lights in a leaf cup and join in some food. I hope the rain has finished for the day. An interesting local delight is chocolate milk and avocado juice, a little overpowering for me though one of my fellow clinic volunteers is almost an addict. The pineapples are great and there are reddish bananas which are reliably tasty.

Today is also a public holiday in commemoration of the Santa Cruz massacre which happened in 1991, when pro-independence East Timorese were killed by the occupying Indonesian forces. I did not organise myself to get to the cemetery for the ceremony, though some other women from the hotel did go. The horrible things in Australia's history seem so long ago, and still so fresh here - That massacre has had many more horrors after it.

(I know there are many things about Australia which need to be addressed, but we have not, in our recent history as a nation, had this sort of thing to contend with and recover from.)