Hello, everybody!
I got a ride into the Internet cafe (where it's cheaper
than using the Internet at school), but I forgot the
cable for the camera. I was going to upload video
from the Day of the Dead holiday at the Santa Cruz
cemetary. That was three days ago - Friday, Nov. 2.
Sonju and I went to check it out. I will post that video
the next time I can. For now, I'll explain the Dili
waterfront.
I wanted to take a video (with my digital camera) just
driving around Dili, and this is as far as I got (from
where we're staying to downtown). There'll be more to
come, hopefully.
The video starts with the taxi driver and the woman
in the backseat is Sonju, another teacher at the school
from Chicago. She arrived three days after me. On the
left is, of course, the waterfront (notice the kid sitting
on the harbour wall "cheering") The first building on the
right is the South Korean embassy (yay, South Korea!).
There is also a Chinese embassy. The video ends just as
we're approaching stacks of big white UN cargo boxes
(I'm not sure of the word - like train-cars). They all say
UN on the side (as do many of the vehicles going by)
but the video cuts out before you can get close enough
to read it.
Part 2 - This was an unusually overcast day for Dili
(nevermind all the smoke). Also, when looking out to the
left over the water you should be able to see the island
of Atauro (all vowels pronounced). It's very large and
mountainous - it's hard to believe it didn't show up at
all this day.
The building with a white fence, pink at the bottom,
is the Royal Thai embassy. Then you can see the ship
burning. We really had no idea what this was about
(if anything), but people seemed pretty unfazed by it.
We found out later that the gas tank had just exploded.
It burned all day and all night.
You could accuse me of having bad journalistic
instincts for turning the camera back to the other side
of the street, and I guess you'd be right. The tents on the
right side of the street are one of the IDP sites (Internally
Displaced People). I'll have to explain what I know about
that situation another time. For now all I can say is the
rainy season is coming, and the UN is supposed to be getting
better tents for thos people (someone who works for the
UN told me). If they don't get them in time, there will be
trouble. It rained last week and a road going to the
east of Dili was closed because the people in an IDP
camp along that road were throwing stones at UN
vehicles (presumably because they weren't happy
about sleeping in puddles).
The video stops with the Hotel Timor (white building)
just appearing on the right. You probably can't see the
clothes left out to dry on the bushes in front. Is this
the Hotel Timor's laundry service, you ask? No, it's the
'laundry service' of the IDPs.
Speaking of rock-throwing, two of the teachers went up
to Ramelau mountain (the highest in Timor) with some
other people (in a UN vehicle). To avoid getting rocks
thrown at them, they decided to roll down the windows
when they went through a town and wave at everyone
(mostly little kids). And it worked! Curran said he actually
saw kids dropping rocks so they could wave back at them.
I have to say, from the Timorese I've met - walking down
the street, wherever - they certainly don't seem like a
stone-throwing kind of people. In fact, they're very friendly.
But, of course.....
Monday, November 5, 2007
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
A great example of the disarming effect of a simple human gesture like a greeting!
Post a Comment