First steps...

...In the next couple of blogs we will take you on our journey. Starting on where we live, what life looks like and what we do.


    So let's get started, Deb and I arrived at Dili International by mid September 2015 and we were warmly welcomed by the MAF-Staff. The team consisted of 2 pilots and 2 aircrafts. One pilot is also the program-manager and the other one a mechanic.
    Our future house was still occupied when we arrived but we were able to stay with another MAF-Family for the first week. Being new to this 3rd World country easily exceeded the amount we could possibly absorb. We heard, saw and smelled things we couldn't put in any box. There are  lots of things we couldn't connect with any prior experience, it feels like walking on the moon but without a space suite ;-)

    The house we got to live in is located right at the beach of Beto Tasi, a "suburb" of Dili. Beto Tasi is a quiet neighborhood with only one dirt road leading in but it becomes a maze after the first junction....

Finding our house was not always accomplished by the 1st attempt.

Our little pink one room 6/7meter house, from above not bad...

...but from the inside, it was desperately asking for paint

...so we painted

Our kitchen when we moved in...

...couple of days off...

...a bit more useful

After that we built a small extension.

2 timorese workers helped me...

...up to the point when I started to pay them in advance...

...building the roof, windows and door was then up to me ;-)

Then I found a little painter...

Then my brother arrived for Christmas and new year and I got another one, a painter I mean.

old rusty security bars got a new look...

...and also the outside, from pink to white.

et voilà, thanks to the help of my brother all done now.

All done, well not quite. Here are some future projects.

The Landlady asked me to cut the trees, not because they are blue now,
no because they were growing to big and endangered our roof

Our garden is waiting to be cultivated. At the moment it only
bears pineapple and papaya...

Our water tower needs some attention too. Too many mosquito larvaes and dirt
blocking our filter...

    As you can see we won't get bored anytime soon. We truly like it here but not everything that shines is gold. Yes we live close to the beach and it can be wonderful if the current is flowing in the right direction, otherwise we get all the sewage from Dili then it becomes slightly less wonderful. Yes the people are friendly, but you will always be the rich "Malae" which gets ripped off in a very friendly way all the times. If you are involved in a traffic accident, the question is not who is responsible but rather who is the one with the money and that is and always will be us. Therefore I came to the conclusion; no matter where you are and what you do, every coin has a flip side. Deb and I feel that we are in the right place at the right time and that's all that matters...

    In this sense, Deb and I are exited to take you with us on our journey through Timor Leste - Where people don't possess much but have a lot of time.