We Arrived!
We arrived in Timor-Leste (Tee-more Les-tay) in the dead of winter, which means a typical day has clear, sunny skies, getting up to about 30 C. There might be a bit of a breeze, and some mornings even feel a little cool. Winter also means it’s the dry season. We've been told that it has only rained once since May, and things are starting to look pretty brown. However, I’m told that all this will change by October or November, when we transition into the wet season. With it, the wet season promises to bring greenery back to the hillsides, mud oozing into our sandals, and lots of mosquitos.
We’ve been provided with a beautiful, spacious home that has recently been completed. It is situated on a compound with 2 other homes as well as the temporary ADRA offices where Matt works – it takes him about 30 steps to get to work each morning. I, on the other hand, have a 10-25 minute trek to our temporary school (on the church grounds), depending on the method I choose. I can walk; this takes about 25 minutes (20 minutes at a brisk pace). Or, I can hop on a mikrolet; this is a little mini-van that acts like a bus. There are many, many, many, but often over-crowded during the busy times of the day, with people even hanging off the sides. They only run along the main road, so there is still some walking involved, and since they make frequent stops this method isn’t much faster than walking. But it’s only 25 cents, no matter how far you go, so it’s a pretty good deal! Another option is to take a taxi; this usually also requires walking out to the main road to catch one, but then it would drop me right in front of the church compound. This option will typically be reserved for days that I’m running late and need to get there a bit quicker. It only costs $1.50-$2.00, but to take a taxi on a regular basis would become a little pricey on a local salary. We don’t have bikes or a vehicle yet, but perhaps these options might open up in the future!
Many things are different here than what we’re used to in Canada – the language, food, culture, and of course, driving on the other side of the road. However, probably the biggest thing that will take some getting used to is the internet, or perhaps I should say, the lack thereof. When was the last time you checked to see how many megabytes of data you used while surfing the internet? Do you know many megabytes it takes to upload photos or email a PDF? Or how many gigabytes it takes to stream a video? These are important things to keep track of when you’re paying $1/100MB (or $10/800MB, $25/2.5G, $50/6G, and so forth). You don’t want to buy too much, or it will expire at the end of the month before you use it all, but if you don’t have enough or you’re not careful, it’ll run out before you know it! So, the internet isn’t limited in the sense that it’s hard to find (there’s plenty of it if you want to pay for it), but it’s very limited in that you have to be careful what you do with it. It’s not something I ever had to think much about before!
Our first week has been a whirlwind of settling in, getting oriented, and figuring out how things work here, including our new jobs. We still have lots to learn, but for now, we’ve arrived, and that’s great progress!
We’ve been provided with a beautiful, spacious home that has recently been completed. It is situated on a compound with 2 other homes as well as the temporary ADRA offices where Matt works – it takes him about 30 steps to get to work each morning. I, on the other hand, have a 10-25 minute trek to our temporary school (on the church grounds), depending on the method I choose. I can walk; this takes about 25 minutes (20 minutes at a brisk pace). Or, I can hop on a mikrolet; this is a little mini-van that acts like a bus. There are many, many, many, but often over-crowded during the busy times of the day, with people even hanging off the sides. They only run along the main road, so there is still some walking involved, and since they make frequent stops this method isn’t much faster than walking. But it’s only 25 cents, no matter how far you go, so it’s a pretty good deal! Another option is to take a taxi; this usually also requires walking out to the main road to catch one, but then it would drop me right in front of the church compound. This option will typically be reserved for days that I’m running late and need to get there a bit quicker. It only costs $1.50-$2.00, but to take a taxi on a regular basis would become a little pricey on a local salary. We don’t have bikes or a vehicle yet, but perhaps these options might open up in the future!
Many things are different here than what we’re used to in Canada – the language, food, culture, and of course, driving on the other side of the road. However, probably the biggest thing that will take some getting used to is the internet, or perhaps I should say, the lack thereof. When was the last time you checked to see how many megabytes of data you used while surfing the internet? Do you know many megabytes it takes to upload photos or email a PDF? Or how many gigabytes it takes to stream a video? These are important things to keep track of when you’re paying $1/100MB (or $10/800MB, $25/2.5G, $50/6G, and so forth). You don’t want to buy too much, or it will expire at the end of the month before you use it all, but if you don’t have enough or you’re not careful, it’ll run out before you know it! So, the internet isn’t limited in the sense that it’s hard to find (there’s plenty of it if you want to pay for it), but it’s very limited in that you have to be careful what you do with it. It’s not something I ever had to think much about before!
Our first week has been a whirlwind of settling in, getting oriented, and figuring out how things work here, including our new jobs. We still have lots to learn, but for now, we’ve arrived, and that’s great progress!
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