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 of 'rubber time'. Having said that (in an appropriately condescending tone) I'll apologise again for being behind on my blog. It's especially bad timing on my part because, as predicted, the readership of this self-indulgent diatribe has gone up significantly since Sydney University started its exam period. So for helping you all procrastinate... You're welcome!
It's been a busy two weeks so I'll briefly outline the highlights:
1) Playing a G-rated appropriation of 'never have I ever' with my English class
2) Going on a drunken bicycle tour of Dili at 2am with my new friends from Vic Uni who are doing a study tour almost exactly like what I did in indonesia
3) Heading east with a large contingent of Sao Miguel students to Manatuto and stumbling upon a bizarre traditional festival where, along with decoratively adorned horses and festooned native dancers, there was a troop of over-stimulated young people dressed up in drag or as serial killers or terrorists
4) Finally seeing some of the tourist sights. My Timorese friend Leo hadn't been up to the Christ statue (pictured) either so we both finally got around to that. The resistance museum is also awesome.
5) Discovering the delights of 'Cozy' (sic: making time for two hour massages but not blog writing...)
6) Adding the phrase 'hau malai kiak' to my travel lexicon and using it to ward off over zealous taxi drivers and fruit vendors (it means 'but I'm a poor white person!')
There have been a couple of lowlights but nothing too serious just more of the same really; getting spat at by young boys, waiting an average of two hours for everything, perpetually paying twice as much as locals.
Obviously the time between blogs has had an effect on my memory capacity because that's about all I've got for now. I have tentative plans to go to Atauro this weekend and the election is next weekend so there should be plenty more to talk about then.