After 5 hours of not so perilous drive (I was expecting A LOT worse!) we arrived in Maliana, the capital of the Bobonaro district, exhausted but safe and relieved...seriously, we were expecting the roads to be a lot worse but the ride was lovely in terms of the scenery, with just a couple of very large and annoying potholes, and since C (my Colombian colleague also assigned to Bobonaro) insisted on doing all the driving, I laid back and enjoyed the ride, taking lots of photos, which I will attempt to upload later!
Our car, which I had previsouly named "The Beast", actually already has a name here in Maliana and it's called "The Buffalo" because apparently there is an even bigger car already named "The Beast", I like how we name our cars here! But anyways, our car made the trip in style but slower than normal due to its load being so heavy - we were told you can find food here but not the food we 'like' so we were to bring all the nice comforts that we'll need so we loaded the car with a lot of alcohol, a lot of pasta, cereal and a lot of canned food :D
When we arrived we went straight to our colleague's birthday party where preparations were alredy under way...there is nothing to do in Mailana at night so any excuse for a party is welcomed! This place is called Risky Hotel!! Not sure it's a wise choice of name for a hotel ;)
C and I met our other colleagues, our electoral team is now complete. We also met some of the other UN staff based in Maliana...during this time, I found out that I am now the third of the entire women's foreign contingent in Mailana!! We are only 3 foreign women in Maliana, 3!!!!!! The FPU (Foreign Police Unit) here in Maliana is Pakistani, there are also a few Indians, Philipinos, Malaysians and Indonesians, Cameroonian, Cote Ivorian, Senegalese, Nigerian and so forth and all are men, apart from myself, my other portuguese colleague M and T, who is Indonesian and has been here for quite a few years already so she knows well the lay of the land! The party kicked off with delicious food made by the Indian colleagues and T and wine (brought from Dili by yours truly), we even had birthday cake and apple crumble and finished off with Karaoke, of course! Phillipinos and Indonesians LOVE karaoke, and they can actually sing! So that was my welcoming to Maliana, everyone seems very nice and accomodating so hopefully this adventure will be a smooth ride.
Our house, however, is another story! This morning, in the daytime, it seemed better but yesterday, when we arrived, I had a quiet moment of panic...if you can imagine basic living you still haven't reached my level of basic, but slap some furniture and it will look better I'm sure! in any case, I'm looking forward to decorating...my room as it stands is comprised of a bed, that's it...The kitchen and the bathroom are outside, there are 4 rooms in total plus the entrance hall and the dining area which is currently a mess with all of our boxes and cans but hopefully this weekend we'll sort everything out and it will look like a home, let's see...I promise to send photos ;)
that's it for now, time to start working!
Our car, which I had previsouly named "The Beast", actually already has a name here in Maliana and it's called "The Buffalo" because apparently there is an even bigger car already named "The Beast", I like how we name our cars here! But anyways, our car made the trip in style but slower than normal due to its load being so heavy - we were told you can find food here but not the food we 'like' so we were to bring all the nice comforts that we'll need so we loaded the car with a lot of alcohol, a lot of pasta, cereal and a lot of canned food :D
When we arrived we went straight to our colleague's birthday party where preparations were alredy under way...there is nothing to do in Mailana at night so any excuse for a party is welcomed! This place is called Risky Hotel!! Not sure it's a wise choice of name for a hotel ;)
C and I met our other colleagues, our electoral team is now complete. We also met some of the other UN staff based in Maliana...during this time, I found out that I am now the third of the entire women's foreign contingent in Mailana!! We are only 3 foreign women in Maliana, 3!!!!!! The FPU (Foreign Police Unit) here in Maliana is Pakistani, there are also a few Indians, Philipinos, Malaysians and Indonesians, Cameroonian, Cote Ivorian, Senegalese, Nigerian and so forth and all are men, apart from myself, my other portuguese colleague M and T, who is Indonesian and has been here for quite a few years already so she knows well the lay of the land! The party kicked off with delicious food made by the Indian colleagues and T and wine (brought from Dili by yours truly), we even had birthday cake and apple crumble and finished off with Karaoke, of course! Phillipinos and Indonesians LOVE karaoke, and they can actually sing! So that was my welcoming to Maliana, everyone seems very nice and accomodating so hopefully this adventure will be a smooth ride.
Our house, however, is another story! This morning, in the daytime, it seemed better but yesterday, when we arrived, I had a quiet moment of panic...if you can imagine basic living you still haven't reached my level of basic, but slap some furniture and it will look better I'm sure! in any case, I'm looking forward to decorating...my room as it stands is comprised of a bed, that's it...The kitchen and the bathroom are outside, there are 4 rooms in total plus the entrance hall and the dining area which is currently a mess with all of our boxes and cans but hopefully this weekend we'll sort everything out and it will look like a home, let's see...I promise to send photos ;)
that's it for now, time to start working!
Good luck in the new house! You don't sound thrilled about it, but I am sure that creativity will be worked to exhaustion during the weekend, and by Monday you'll feel like lodging at the Four Seasons! What about mosquitos, spiders, bugs, snapping turtles, roaches? That's what would upset me to death...
ReplyDeleteStay well, sing a lot at the karaoke, beware of the Risky Hotel (I loved the name! most appropriate for a hotel!!!). Love. Ana
Oh que confusao isso deve ser , logo na primeira noite! Espero que consigas aproveitar o máximo, e não te ponhas a fazer muitos doces senão engordas. E a praia? Dá notícias.
ReplyDeleteMuitos beijos
Hoje resolvi mandar um e-mail ao Jo; tb tenho pena que ele esteja sozinho!
Beijos