LIVING IN DILI

Living in my appartment compound is like living in another world, u don't feel like living in Dili...
Why did I say that?
Just look at the bilboard sign on the side of the road to the compound...

Most of the people that live here is expatriate indeed *except for me of course *
The environment is really nice and secure...
It has nice restaurant with a swimming pool and basket court...

All appartments look modern and a bit western simple style...
*take a look at my appartment here as an example*
I think all the appartment are fully furnished and have other facilities such as internet connection...
*except for indovision in my case as u have to arrange it by yourself*
While outside the compound, just a few meters away on the side road toward the compound, there's still a house that was burned on the 1998/99 and/or 2006 riot..

Coz stability hasn't been established in Dili, people just left their burned houses unrepaired...
Refugee camps concentrated in a few parts of the city...
People living in tents for more than a year which is a big problem for Dili coz the gov can't seem to persuade them to go back to their homeland district..
Conflicts hasn't been completely resolved as it seems that people still divided into eastern and western block...

I found this tank on the side road in front of youth center building...
For most people here this might just have been an ordinary scene...
Soldiers everywhere, especially in an extended emergency state like now...
But for me, it gives me kinna spooky feeling...
It's like anything bad can happen anytime...

TRIED TO BE A VEGY

I remember when JB, a friend from Cbr asked me whether I wanna be a vegy and I said that there's no way I'm gonna be one coz I really love my meat...
But tonight I (almost) become one...
Bit bored with the sausage and still didn't wanna touch the frozen chicken on the frizz, I decided to have salad (only) for dinner...
So I cut the apple & 1 big tomato, stimmed the corn and the brokoli and served it with a thousand island...
And when ate it halfway I realized that it's too much for me, so I quit...
But something just still don't feel right, as if I haven't had dinner..
So I put 2 slices of bread on the microwave and I ate it with cheese as dessert...
Yeah, nice try rievees

1st WEEKEND IN DILI

Life is sure really funny...
On weekend in my home town in Bogor, I would just loooveee to stay at home and do nothing *though the last month I've been busy subtittling movies*...
I didn't like to go out even just to hang out with friends...
And lately I even almost hate going to wedding invitation just bcoz than u have dress up and everything *not to mention the hours of thinking what to wear since it seems that u've wore all the dress*
This weekend it's totally the opposite...
I'm like desperate to find something to do but I don't quiet know what I want *and partly coz it's really hot outside, I don't feel like going out*...
Woke up early in the morning to clean the house and cook rice *coz I really can't cook anything * than straight on to i-net...
I got no channel on TV since the indovision hasn't been set up yet...
*especially with another extention of state of emergency in East Timor for 30 days, I really really need that*...
Luckily my new supervisor, Colin, who's nice enough *yes Colin, I do consider you as a nice guy* took me to the two biggest shops in Dili to buy some groceries...
So now I got a few things to eat and experiment *hopefully my cooking isn't gonna be too bad*...
Ok, I'll try to cook something tonight..

1ST LIVE REPORT FROM DILI

Hi people! I'm in Dili now...
Yup, it's the "Dili" of East Timor...
I flew here on last Sunday (17 Feb 08), just 5 days after the Ramos Horta shooting...
I'm here insya allah until end of June 2008 for the post swap program...
So I'm temporary replacing local staff that take maternity leaves...
I'm handling the health program...

Anyway, though I was feeling a bit scared, but it was an interresting flight from Jkt to Dili...
I took Merpati since it's the only airlines that fly to Dili...
We transited in Bali to change plane, cos the plane from Jakarta at 06.10 (yes people, it's in the morning) is going to Kupang from Bali...
I was on the same plane as Mr. Carlos Jeronimo, the head of Immigration office here...
He's kind enough to chat with me knowing this is my 1st time to Dili..
Presidente Nicolau Lobato International Airport in Dili is a quiet small airport...
You can see UNs everywhere including their basecamp, helicopters, etc...
The picture above wasn't pretty good coz it's taken when the car that picked me up was about to go...
The city was quiet calm and not many people around that Sunday, it's coz of the curfew that the government announced...

We went straight to my apartment in Palm Spring estate near the Australian Embassy in Fatuhada...
The apartment is really nice and quiet big for me as I'm alone..
It's a two storage building and my slot in on the 2nd floor..
To see pictures of my apartment, klik here...
Though it's fully furnished, but cooking utilities weren't provided...
So not until two days ago me and Yovita, my friend in the office, went and buy them *like I'm gonna cook other than noodles and fried rice *...
Also the indovision still not working (since we have to arrange it by ourself), the gas just bought this afternoon and the pipe to the washing machine leaked (so I still couldn't wash my cloths)...
Two days ago, the lights went off suddenly around 10pm..
Since I know nothing about electricity, I did nothing and went to sleep instead...
It turned out that the credit for the electricity was zero and we have to buy them...
It's really good I think, so we can control our electricity usage...

Hmm.. where have I gone to this city?
I tried the Portugal food, bacalhau, it's special fish imported from Portugal with fried potato...
It's delicious... But unfortunately my phone ran out of battery that day so I didn't took the picture.. Maybe next time when I come back to City Cafe, promise...