Travel Blog 7

5 January 2016

Our last full day in Timor and we had some plans. In our stupid head we thought we were flying out at 4 pm the next day and planed to do our remaining tasks over the two days. Consequently since our flight was actually at 10 am the next day not everything was accomplished but at this point we were rolling with the mayhem.

Alina wasn’t well enough for breakfast so just the five of us went. One thing we had found difficult and offensive when eating out is that when Alina dined with us she almost always got served last. The white people consistently got served first and were treated with an inordinate amount of honour, for what reason, I am not sure. So I wondered if breakfast In the hotel was not a great thrill for her. It would be fair to say this part of the culture was beginning to really annoy me.

Lucinda and I were determined to press on with our plans to find products and she had arranged a meeting with some Timorese friends who were learning Tais and had some contact with weavers. The women were happy to take our designs and see if they could get them made. We went to meet them in their home in Dili where they provided us with a lovely meal. The even better fit for us is that they run a home for girls who live in the villages but are getting educated in Dili. The women provide a wonderfull free service of accommodation and meals for the girls and are funded by church groups and donations. A safe home environment for these girls in Dili is the difference between getting educated and not getting educated. So for us if the women can take a few dollars from every scarf for their middle man service we would all be pleased.

By the time we talked business, had lunch and chatted that was most of the day gone. I had some business meetings to attend to and then we had dinner with Some of Lucinda’s Australian friends.  We were keen to get to sleep early so we could get a few things done before the plane left the next day, we should have known better.  It started with me putting on a little show in the breakfast room which provided some general entertainment.