End of the first week

Well,  what can I say.  This adventure is starting out just as exciting as I expected it would be.  I'm loving it here in Dili and I haven't even started working yet, or perhaps that's why I'm loving as much as I am!

So we arrived to a warm welcome Sunday last week and since then have been enjoying the hospitality of the delightful staff here at the Esplanada Hotel.  The Esplanada is the home of the Kiwi contingent based in Dili.  We have staff scattered all over Timor Leste but there are about 15 of us here right now.  I will review the hotel so see below for that.

The five of us that came this week have been going through induction for the United Nations Mission in Timor Leste (UNMIT) and I have found it all very interesting to see how the machine runs.   Okay, it's not fast but I think if you can roll with the thing then it won't take long to become accustomed to it's lumbering gait.

We have been issued ID cards, bank accounts and Berets.  We have received email addresses, mobile phones and the first month's pay.  We have been tested on our driving, our shooting and our English.

Then each day we pop an anti-malarial pill, drink 4 litres of water and wonder if today is the day we come down with a nasty case of Dili dribble.
  Actually I haven't wondered that at all.  I'm far too laid back for that kind of worry.  I have been more concerned about getting up here in the evenings and getting my correspondence completed so that all my friends and family don't feel like I'm neglecting then at all.   The sad thing about that is that the internet connections here in TL are very slow (although they are still faster than the dial-up system I was using at home in NZ) and if everyone is trying to Skype home at the same time the whole system fails.

Needless to say I have not yet tried to Skype anyone and I have still not yet got right up to date with this blog!

But I don't want you to think I've been spending all my time in Esplanada's lovely pool, no, we've also spent a couple of mornings walking around central Dili, checking out the shops. 
  Prior to coming here we were told the streets were so dangerous that we would have to carry our weapons with us even when off duty but that is not the case here now.  The people are friendly and most have greeted us with a cheerful "Boa Tarde" when we have greeted them in that fashion.   Yes, the country is being rebuilt from ruin and the place is pretty dirty on the whole, but it would be a lovely place to come and get away from it all for a week or two and I have to admit that I still feel I must pinch myself every morning as I get up to the restaurant for breakfast and look out over the sea. 
  I would say in 10 year Timor Leste will be giving Bali a run for it's money as the place to holiday.  It reminds me so much of my trip there in 2006 already.

....and to top it all off, today the five of us qualified for our first overseas service medal.  Somehow I wonder how I earned it.