perspective

I just opened a link sent to me courtesy of my parents. It was an amazing display of video poetry, on a topic that is near to my heart:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiNBmNl88Pk

As I am now embarking on my first full-time placement with a humanitarian aid organisation, I saw myself so much in this video. A good reminder of why I'm here. And yet, I sit under an airconditioner on a comfy bed with a soft comforter, looking out past the swimming pool of my temporary residence to the sea beyond. I just ate a lovely Portuguese seafood meal with fresh-squeezed orange juice served in one of those hourglass-shaped cocktail glasses. Out front is parked a big white SUV, next to a dozen other big-and-buff vehicles, which is mine to use however I choose - as long as I pay for the diesel.

And I have to keep reminding myself not to feel guilty about living it up, and in fact to demand more if I feel more is in order, for two main reasons: First, common wisdom is that there is a direct correlation between my lifestyle and my longevity out "in the field." and Second, it is very hard to figure out high-impact ways of spending money that has been donated, so it might as well go to paying for my lifestyle, right?

I am one of the few who has truly been sent out to where the needs are great, but do I really think that I am here for them, or for me?

Portrait #92: First hotel receptionist

The first thing that I noticed about her was her enormous smile - it occupied a good 2/3 of her face. But then again, that may be a function of the size of her face than the size of her smile. Because the second thing I noticed about her was her tinyness. She may weigh all of ninety pounds, or forty kilos? That's half the total weight of my luggage coming over here. You know when we joke about putting someone in our bags and taking them with us when we leave a place? Well, she may actually have fit. Her knee-length straight lined skirt and black short heels only accentuated the slim person they contained.

Her English was limited, but she used every nugget of linguistic knowledge that she could dig up, all in order to communicate with me. But then she found out I speak Portuguese and eagerly switched.

(editorial interlude: Even though Portuguese is an official language in Timor Leste, it's not at all commonly spoken. It's most likely found in government documents, or else spoken in the bars where Portuguese military-police types chill. That being said, I'm also finding more and more people who can by in Portuguese if they must, for one reason or another - it's like their secret code weapon, and I'm lucky enough to be in the know.)

Since there are a lot of Portuguese and Brazilian expats in Timor Leste, this resourceful receptionist decided to attend Portuguese lessons, along with the obligatory English lessons (English is the international language, after all, and there are many internationals here). And she told me that Portuguese was a lot easier to learn, because her teacher was so good. And of course it doesn't hurt that it shares a lot of vocabulary with her native Tetun.

So, all in all, I had the impression that hers was an impressively entrepreneurial spirit. Except for the moments when she would just stare at me. These moments generally happened when I did anything out of the ordinary: asked her how the Internet service worked without thinking to ask how much it would cost me; confessed that she'd undercharged me for my meals in the hotel; asked about leaving my bags in the reception area instead of lugging them around when I changed rooms for a night. She didn't have a ready answer for these queries. Instead, she'd break out half of that smile and gaze at me, then down at her pad of paper, then say nothing for a bit more, then wordlessly resolve the problem with no explanation to me.

Another link

Just to say I'm still alive and the blog will be returning shortly... I'd like to share with you my favourite Internet find of the week:

http://thereifixedit.com/2009/08/15/epic-kludge-photo-rube-goldbergs-ac/

(The whole blog is classic, but I linked you to the one that made me laugh the loudest.)

Swine Flu Mania

Apologies for blog silence. I have several blogs drafted from a few weeks ago that I may or may not post, but it didn't happen before I left for holiday/vacation! Which was great but of course did set me back on some things...

Anyway, though, as I have been catching up on some things, I found this photo in my inbox. Titled: "fear of the swine flu"