« April 2006 | Main | July 2006 »
May 21, 2006
Home Again
Coming back from three weeks vacation means a whole heap of worries about re-culture shock. Especially when coming in from two fabulous weeks in Bali. But, to keep pace with the dismal update rate that I have on this blog (less than one entry a month?! what is this?), I have many things to say, no real time to write an actual blog entry, and no photos!
But Timor, thanks to goodness, is slowly returning to normal. For those who don't know what happened, right before I left (28 April) some rioting broke out in Dili outside the government's offices. The fear, building on the trauma this country has been through, promted a mass exodus into the hills for many Dili residents. Coming back, shops are open again, and though we have eliminated any resemblence to traffic jams in the streets, it is possible to find a taxi. Though they have jacked up the rates again (urg ... more walking for me!). The land is drying out ... while I was gone the seasons did, without a doubt, really change, and my home street is dry and dusty. It's a huge improvement from the pig-wallowing mud-hole that it normally is.
The only thing that spolied my happy return was the cheerful greeting of my landlord who tells me, "You've gotten fat!" to which I did my best to re-muster my cultural sensitivity, and wincingly smile, "Thanks."
Posted by storbert at 8:03 PM | Comments (2)