Dili Days Decrease

Only a week after I left, we are receiving alarming news about situation in Dili, Timor-Leste. I did know about the demonstrations planned for this week, which were motivated by the frustration of some 600 soldiers who were earlier dismissed from service, but Saturday last week was still perfectly calm and normal. The dismissal itself was due to the said soldiers absent from duty for several months because they were not happy with the conditions of service – or something else; the whole situation and especially the real reasons were somewhat unclear all the time. UNOTIL media monitoring is a good source for more detailed information, as always.

Now the international media has reported at least two deaths. I truly hope that the situation calms down and no further casualties will occur. According to my private sources, unlike the international media even in Finnish news today have reported, the aforementioned dismissed soldiers are not part of the violence, but some other groups have taken advantage of the demonstrations to spread instability. This sounds very much like the 4^th December 2002, when the peaceful student demonstrations escalated to widespread destruction. The picture here is from 2002.

Posted by Janne at 17:17 | Permalink | Comments

Greetings from Bangkok airport! I really feel as in a transitional space in many ways right now.

The morning went surprisingly smoothly. I woke up at 7:00 without alarm clock (very unusual), packed the few remaining items, and was all done by 10 o'clock. As the flight -- I was counting the Indonesian visas required for unavoidable overnight stay in Bali on way to Timor-Leste in my passport and adding up the time before 2004 when the visa was not needed, and concluded that I must have taken the flight MZ8490 from Dili to Denpasar (and the MZ8480 from Denpasar to Dili) at least 18 times during past 3.5 years. Pity that Merpati doesn't have a frequent flyer programme (or actually I think they have one, but only for Indonesian residents). Well, I was about to write that as the flight was at 13:40, I had an idle hour or two, and couldn't figure out what to do and how to be.

Thanks for you all wonderful people who came to my farewell yesterday and/or to see me off at airport today! More on those occassions a bit later.

Posted by Janne at 17:31 | Permalink | Comments

In principle, I'm on leave since Wednesday afternoon, but the only time off that I have managed to take was a quick swim right after lunch then. Otherwise I've been trying to wrap up (though I have to admit I haven't come to office before 10 o'clock).

I managed to arrange the piano to its new home, but I forgot to give them the chair. Have to figure out a solution for that... Now I have to go for my farewell party.

Posted by Janne at 12:36 | Permalink | Comments

I didn't quite manage to take the time off today (is somebody surprised), and I still have a plethora of thigs to do. I met the Bishop last week and promised to donate my piano to the local music school that is about to start, but I still haven't asked them to pick up the instrument from my house. I think this means I have to wake up really early tomorrow morning.

Posted by Janne at 09:36 | Permalink | Comments

I am now officially using my remaining annual leave balance until the end of the month. I did go to beach after lunch, but I think I am going to spend quite some time at the office still. I also have managed to arrange my farewell party for Friday.

I also have now my one-way ticket from Dili to Denpasar on beloved Merpati Nusantara Airlines in my pocket. Flying out on Saturday.

Posted by Janne at 09:31 | Permalink | Comments

I should only have one working day left, meaning that I should be finishing tomorrow noon. This doesn't seem a very feasible scenario right now - so many things to do still. I'm also beginning to feel overly nostalgic.

Posted by Janne at 07:29 | Permalink | Comments

It did rain yesterday again, but we went diving anyway. The visibilty was surprisingly good despite the rain. We first did a place called Pinnacle just a short boat ride from Dili, a reef in the middle of the open sea. We saw an absolutely huge ray; probably it was an owergrown sting ray, I think it was about 3 meters wide, and it came just a couple of metres from us before it turned away.

The other dive we did just behind Jesus (i.e. at the beach behind the statue of Christo Rei at the Eastern end of Dili's coast. And I finally managed to see a turtle there, so I'm quite happy now.

Posted by Janne at 16:20 | Permalink | Comments

Dili is still quiet, apart from the churches where the Easter mass is being celebrated. And it rained again, just 15 minutes a go a little shower. I hope it didn't blur the water too much, since I'm going diving in an hour.

All in all, it has been a good, long week-end. Lot of good food (and some drinks), a little bit outdoors activity when it wasn't raining too much, and I even managed to complete a couple of school assignments.

Happy Easter to everyone!

Posted by Janne at 06:43 | Permalink | Comments

I had planned to go to beach after lunch today, but it started raining. It seems that the climate change is true, as the weather everywhere is something it is not supposed to be at this time of year.

Posted by Janne at 12:54 | Permalink | Comments

With this few days left, I thought it might be appropriate to start a count down. Good Friday is very quiet here. Apart from updating the blog, I try to deal with some of my backlog of school assignments. Tomorrow, I shall definitely opt for beach and/or diving. By the way, the number of working days left is only two and a half, so from Wednesday lunchtime I shall be out of office.

Posted by Janne at 08:35 | Permalink | Comments

I was notified that commenting this blog is complicated, and I discovered that I had indeed forgot to enable anonymous comments. I have now adjusted the settings, so please feel free to comment whatever you want :)

Posted by Janne at 08:23 | Permalink | Comments

Counting the decreasing Dili days, there are 8 working days left, so I am now on my way to complete what remains to be done (and enjoy the weather). I have a bit awkward itinerary with overnight stops both in Bangkok and in Bali.

Yesterday, I spent a whole afternoon shopping, so that now my legs hurt. Actually, I didn't buy much anything, but there is a new shopping centre 'Siam Paragon' next to Siam Centre, and just wandering around there filled my exercise quota for the week. And there was some 'midnight shopping fever' (or whatever it was called), so I had plenty of time for pointless wandering and wondering. Funny, now that I think about it, a same kind of midnight shopping thing was going on last time I was in Bangkok more than two years ago; maybe that's on all the time.

This is probably my last night in Bali, at least in the near future. I must admit I used to think that this place is over-advertised, and never thought much of it as a holiday destination, just an unavoidable stopover (and I have indeed stopped here overnight at least 15 times during past three and a half years). But now, I think I'm really beginning to like this place. The weather is simply marvelously pleasant, atmosphere very friendly, and the hotel so unbelievably comfortable... Well, I think this is some kind of grass-is-greener-on-the-other side syndrome.

Posted by Janne at 15:59 | Permalink | Comments

My shipment arrived in Helsinki today, which is even a bit earlier than anticipated. Unfortunately, It won't be out of port before next week, and then I'll be in Dili again. But at least I shall have furniture in my flat when I come back.

A more remarkable arrival today is that of a healthy baby girl to my sister. I guess I should begin to adapt myself to the role of uncle... Anyway, congratulations to the family!

Posted by Janne at 16:52 | Permalink | Comments

A common belief in Finland is that Autumn is a season gray, chilly and depressing. I am not sure what this typology is based on, but all the criteria are certainly matched now, yet it is Spring, according to the calendar. Confusing.

I am quite happy to have another two weeks in Dili soon and enjoy the climate that is so obviously more suited for human beings. The only problem is that I have already developed quite a backlog with my course assignments - I hope they have installed wireless internet on beaches while a have been away...

Posted by Janne at 07:40 | Permalink | Comments