Perhaps it's not surprising to anyone at home, but I can happily announce that I have survived 8 weeks in Timor-Leste! It was touch and go for a while there.. Not because I was worried I'd get bored or fed up with it, there are too many wonderful things about this country for anyone to be in danger of that. Rather, I quite literally thought I would die on sporadic occasions; usually when in a small car with ten squealing high school kids and a driver threatening ...

Apologies to my loyal fans! I've been slack lately, and as busy as it is possible to be in a country that doesn't take stock in getting things done. Ever. You may sense that I've been frustrated lately by the prevailing cultural propensity toward being totally apathetic about tardiness, or for that matter doing absolutely anything in a time-conscious way. Turns out it's not just native to Indonesia, I think most of South East Asia has fallen victim to the scourge...

First, an addendum to last week's post: I have in front of me a delicious (albeit pretentious) cup of coffee, with silky milk and carefully constructed latte art. Totally worth the awkward request to make it myself! The effort of teaching the nuns about tamping and pouring techniques however seems rather futile when your core ingredient is long life milk.... But enough snobbery. Another promise from last week: to brief Berejiklian on the foolproof way she will u...

My favorite spot in Dili so far - Cafeteria Mazzarello - is admittedly, not very Timorese. As I write, a nun is bringing me a cafe latte that she made while I conspicuously supervised her and instructed her not to make it too hot - burning the milk is an unfortunate vice of every Timorese barista I've encountered so far. Before I walk through the beautifully kept garden to the cafe I grab a mini lamington (yes, a lamington!) from the french bakery out the front o...

My first day in Dili and two taxi rides down. After a brief and futile attempt to barter the fair, both times I opened the door sharply and without thought. Both times, I successfully damaged the taxi - although this is of no consequence, many of them are so poorly maintained that they barely crack 20 km/h - as well as the object that got in my way. The first time I hit the short sea wall that separates the beach from the road and thought nothing of it. The seco...