Yesterday I ate a banana and tomorrow I will eat a banana
There is a lot of bananas for sale in the markets here and I reckon I am about to turn into a monkey given how many of them I have eaten and there are many more to go. There are monkeys in TL and quite often see one in the street harnessed because somebody owns them. Trust me, they are only cute from a distance and they have the potential to steal your lunch.
Just like home, the food choices have turned into a certain level
of monotony, I wonder if this only a developed country phenomenon. It is funny when I go out for something to
eat, the local choice of chicken and rice is about 2-3 dollars, depending where
you go, and sometimes it is a pleasant surprise to find one that sells a
variation on the theme, an omelette perhaps.
Just watch out for the chilli sauce, it is hot! The malae (a term of respect for westerners)
choices are varied, however the prices tend to be about 6-9 dollars and pretty
well anything is available, burger and chips (and variations), pizzas, Japanese,
Thai etc.
I have developed a routine of sorts that aids in making this
journey a little more comfortable. One aspect
that is getting worse as the dry continues is the dust. Everything is acquiring a certain dirt colour
about at the moment as it has not rained for several months. The locals overcome this by spraying their
patch of dirt with water and in some of the poorer areas water from the open
drains, which is effectively septic tank effluent (raw sewage). I have been here long enough to not even
worry about that anymore, just slow down on my Azúl Azmátiku (blue asthmatic).
It is hard to believe that I have been in TL for a month on
the 23rd, it feels much longer than that. What better way to celebrate the milestone
than to finally be learning Tetun. Tetun
and Portuguese are the official languages of the country, while English and
Bahasa Indonesian are widely spoken. It
is certainly a hassle when at the markets where the numbers are given in a
variety of languages, Tetun for dollars, Bahasa/Portuguese for the cent(avos). It is interesting to note, that the older
generations speak Portuguese and Tetun, middle generation mainly speak Tetun
and Bahasa, while the younger seem to be able to speak well in all four
languages.
I have another week of learning Tetun and hopefully by the
end of week I can at least string a sentence together, rather than just key
words such as hira nee (how much) and obrigado barak (thanks very much). I hope that over time I will be able to join
in the conversation and be able to relate more stories about miscommunication
and mispronunciation that invariably happen.
Both Tetun and Bahasa have borrowed a number of words from
the Portuguese and now English, given the large aid presence in the
country. Cement is a very common material
throughout the world and they certainly sell it here, but it is known by
another name. When we first saw the
signs, we thought there was a serious artificial insemination program for farm
animals given the price for a kilo…
Adeus Rob
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