Malae

Malae-( Ma-Lie) noun, foreigner, assumed to be very rich. A word Timorese call anyone not native to Timor-Leste. Used frequently.  "Oh look, a Malae!" "(honk honk) Malae, do you need a cab?" "Do you want to buy this wooden crocodile, Malae?" 

This week was full of Malae activities.

To my surprise, there was a St. Patricks's day celebration complete with Guiness Beer and Irish dancing! There was no green beer, but who needs green food coloring when you have a perfectly good beer, anyway? Tracey sang with her choir. And our new Japanese housemate, Tai learned how to celebrate Irish-style. 

Meredith and Tai

Tai, Me, Meredith, Photo Bomber,& Tracey

 At the going away party there were many French expats and some Timorese neighbors. The kids were so cute, running around and posing for pictures. The party felt very familiar, as it seemed like parties I've been to back home; People hanging out around the food in the kitchen and "lawn" games. Although here it should be called dirt games because I don't think I've seen a proper patch of grass since I've been here. I had no idea that the French have a game called Petanque , which is basically our Bocce ball. We played until it got too crowded to safely throw large metal objects in the dark. The only difference about parties in Dili is that I had to figure out a ride home long before I wanted to leave. After passing up some good opportunities early in the night, it left some slim pickings by the time I wanted to leave. There are not too many people here with cars and it's really not wise to get cabs late a night, so this just forced me to make friends! This was much easier since I was with my housemate, Meredith. We made friends with a girl who moved to Dili from Wisconsin. Strangely, she was the 2nd person I met this week from Wisconsin. She also happened to be my cousin's ballet teacher. Dili is a small town. 

Tai, Viv, Me, and Meredith at the going away party. 

Over the past week I've been to Castaway a few times. An extremely Malae activity. Castaway is a restaurant on the Beach Road that is pretty much the Dili "hot spot". It's filled with Malaes at breakfast, lunch and dinner every day of the week.  On Friday nights they even have a live band who is surprising pretty good.  Some of their best covers included songs from CCR, Sublime, and The Beatles.

Great week, but I'm hoping to get out to the other districts and hang out with some locals next week.