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A post about politics
Tomorrow, Timor holds its fourth-ever presidential election. In a quirk of timing this self-confessed politics nut was thrilled with, my first month in Timor coincides with both the presidential election and my home state’s own election: last weekend, Western Australia had a state election I watched very closely from Timor, desperately refreshing live blogs on…
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My first weekend in Farol
It’s been a week of settling in and getting oriented: last weekend, I said goodbye to the madres and moved into my permanent home in a beachside suburb called Farol. To celebrate the weekend and the good weather, my new housemate Laura and I climbed the hill to Cristo Rei – the Jesus statue overlooking…
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Aprende Tetun
Parabens to us – Laura and I have just finished our first week of Tetun classes! It’s Saturday morning and I’m out in the nuns’ courtyard, drinking a cup of coffee (hau hemu kafe) with my laptop open in front of me. I’ve organised to move out this weekend so three of the nuns just…
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A busy Dili day
A quick update from what’s suddenly becoming a very busy week. We started Tetun classes at the Dili Institute of Technology yesterday, and will continue with four hours of morning class every weekday for the next month. This week and next we also have induction activities at the AVI office in the afternoons – more…
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A weekend in between
Between our arrival in Dili on Thursday, and beginning our language classes on Monday, we have nearly four days of time that, with the exception of a few short orientation activities, is completely our own. It’s unnerving for me having free time in a new place, particularly when I don’t really know what’s available to…
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24 hours in Timor
I touched down in Dili just before 7am yesterday – my early morning Air North flight the third and final in the journey that has taken me from inner-city Melbourne life to my new gig living and working as an Australian volunteer in Timor-Leste’s capital. While certain things about those two situations are similar –…