January means business

Dili in December is all nativity scenes and plastic Christmas trees in irksome shades of green. But some time in the second week of the new year reality kicks in, and the baby Jesuses and loitering Santa Clauses (there’s almost always a token Santa hanging out at a respectable distance from the nativity, sometimes wielding a spear and/or machete) are dismantled unceremoniously. 

This was our local roundabout Christmas tree, a perfect way to dazzle traffic and spread Christmas cheer

The flashing lights are packed away and sadly, the local boys lose their favourite hangouts. The combination of coloured lights, music and shelter is understandably an alluring magnet for young people who usually just have to  hang out on the street, deprived of the ambience created by soft lighting and ‘bring us some figgy pudding’ in melodious beeping. Clearly what was missing that first Christmas in Bethlehem was some locally made wine and a guitar sing-a-long. Apparently various Bishops get annoyed about the ‘misappropriation’ of nativity scenes every year, but to me it seems like a fairly prosaic way to celebrate Christmas. If they set up similar places in shopping centres in Australia, I’m pretty sure they would soon be filled with bored men and fed up women, wallowing in Christmas cheer.

A local night hotspot

With the departure of the nativity scenes, Dili seems to be getting down to business. The presidential elections are in March, followed by the parliamentary elections a few months later. The current prime minister Xanana held his party conference up the road from us last weekend, and there’s frequent talk at the office, at lunch, everywhere you go, about the elections. About the ‘martial arts groups’ (a very Timorese euphemism for gangs). The F-FDTL. The PNTL. UNMIT. The IJMTAUTAY (I’m Just Making This Acronym Up To Annoy You). Lately there’s been quite a few reports of violence/groping/weirdness in various parts of Dili, some of it targeted at malaes (foreigners). It makes you put your guard up when you’re walking around, which is a shame because the most violence I’ve personally encountered to date is an over-eagerness to pellet you with ‘Botardi’s and ‘Diak ka lae?’s.

Apart from that, my glamorous life continues unabated. On my way home from work last week, I actually had to remove my shoes, roll up my pants and wade through our driveway to get inside. Which would be okay except for the fact that since living here I have discovered what pigs love to do when they’re standing in water (hint: it’s not aqua aerobics).

Wading pool

Our neighbours continue to experiment with landscape gardening and water features. The local Jamie Durie (an old guy missing teeth) recently moved some piles of rocks and dirt around to create the ‘dual reflecting pools’ you see below, which you can imagine has contributed boundlessly to my personal serenity.

The dual reflecting pools

 Ah, Dili. Even as you wind me up you make me laugh.