Our first month - English edition

The first month is over. And so are the first difficulties - at least most of them.

We had to deal with power cuts, crashed mosquito nets, a very close prime minister and really big spiders. But we also went to our first away game of our small, very chaotic football team, to a nun's anniversary party, to a graduation party and did a lot of dancing, laughing and working.

But one thing at a time: After our tetunclass, we had our first day of work on 18.09. We started directly with the lessons without much hesitation, had to create presentations and work on grammar lessons. The lessons are a lot of fun, the "children" are great - and between 18-24 years old, so hardly really children any more - and we are also very lucky with our colleagues. Unfortunately, the students really don't take punctuality too seriously, sometimes they just turn up an hour late. I put up with that for exactly two days before I said that in my country there is nothing ruder than being an hour late and then making a racket. Since then they have only been half an hour late. I want to count that as a win!

The last two weeks, the semester has come to an end (there are "packs" here that always go for three months and are then awarded a certificate. After that, you can enrol further and get to the next level or, if the certificate is enough, drop out). This meant we had to correct an incredible amount, prepare and give speaking exams and assign grades. I felt sorry for all the teachers in between, but especially for myself ;). Last week I corrected 200 exams and examined 50 speaking exams. In my second week of work... Even if this sounds like a lot of work, it is always a lot of fun, the students like talking to me - at least it seems that way. - and they are not half as shy as they were at the beginning. It gives us the feeling that our presence is slowly but surely making a real difference.

Apart from all the work, we also experience a lot of fun things; for example, we went to a nun's 50th religious life celebration and had dinner together and, above all, danced a lot. It is a great pleasure to dance with the nuns and they are always very happy when they can teach us their Timorese dances, even if we are still very stupid. At this celebration, a very funny linguistic misunderstanding happened to us - once again. Maria and I just wanted to tell the sisters that we were going to the toilets, so we said: Ami fase bikan. It was just stupid that "Ami fase bikan" doesn't mean that we're going around the corner, but that we want to wash the dishes. Of all 70 guests. Everyone was very shocked and vehemently refused, almost as if we had now completely lost our minds. When we cleared up the misunderstanding, we could only laugh about it.

In general, there is a lot of celebrating here; for example, we went to a graduation party of our host sister's cousin. He must have studied something like law and has finally finished. The party took place near Christo Rei, a mountain on top of which there is a statue of Jesus - very similar to the one in Rio de Janeiro - and which we have already climbed (see pictures). We celebrated, danced and had a barbecue. Barbecuing here doesn't necessarily have much to do with our German barbecue. A fire is built, very big and very smoky, and a grill is placed over it in the flames, on which chicken is then placed. A true vegetarian's delight! The men have to guard the fire while the women distribute the rice and vegetables. At such celebrations, the clear division of roles is more extreme than ever; for example, only the men drink alcohol because it is "good for their health", but "it is too strong for us women".

Another very clear example of this patriarchal society is our encounter with the current Timorese Prime Minister. We saw him at a street party in our neighbourhood and were introduced to him directly. He was definitely not dressed as I would expect a German head of state to be; very casually in a T-shirt and jeans, at first he seemed more like a very relaxed grandfather than a politician. When we were introduced to him, he kissed our hands - more intensively than would have been necessary - and even when we took a photo with him, we were closer to him than we would have wanted to be, and I personally wouldn't have needed the kiss on the cheek. At first we were terribly angry, at the situation, at the people around us who took photos, but especially at our host sister for letting us run into this situation without warning us that the prime minister likes to behave like this. We also slipped into a bit of disbelief because just everything about this situation was unimaginable. Imagine if Olaf Scholz treated two young Timorese women like that. That would be nothing less than an international state scandal.

So, when we got back home, we contacted MISEREOR, who answered us immediately and wanted to talk to us on the phone the next day.

During the phone call, after listening very sensitively to our story, they told us more about the said Prime Minister; it turns out that Xanana Gusmão was one of THE resistance fighters against Indonesia's occupation, supporting both fighter troops and organising the resistance. Today he is one of Timor-Leste's most famous and popular guerrilla fighters. And even though this is no compensation for his more than comical behaviour, it has made us understand why no one has said anything against him. You cannot stop the absolute national hero and Prime Minister of Timor-Leste.

Apart from that little incident, we had a great time at the Night Market; there were really cool things to try; dumplings, crisps, ice shakes and burger sandwiches, especially the fact that we didn't have to spend hours in the toilet made us very very happy - as did the fact that there was no rice for once.

One thing that really makes everything easier for us here are the children. Every day when we come to school, they run up to us, say "hello" and shake our hands or "high 5". They trick us into selling sweets - very successfully - and play German clapping games with us.

On our second day at work, Sister Sonia appointed me football coach and gave me a jersey and whistle and told me that the first away game was coming up on Thursday - barely two days later. So I did my best and tried to turn the 50 or so children in the football team into an actual team.

On Thursday afternoon, we all drove to another school a bit outside and sat with the boys' team in the open space of a truck. This was a blast for both us and the kids!!!

Unfortunately, we didn't win any of the three games, but this could be due to our work ethic, for example - after a few minutes of the first game, the first boys were already sitting in the middle of the pitch, completely exhausted. However, our defeats couldn't stop us from celebrating and so we celebrated our good time with pizza and very sweet lemonade.

Unfortunately, Sister Sonia broke her arm one day later while playing football and has stayed at home ever since, which puts our further football path on hold for the time being.

The importance of the role of the children in Timor-Leste can be seen very well, especially after the masses. At the end of each mass, all the children present are asked to come forward and blessed with holy water. Both the priest and the children seem to want to distribute as much water as possible or get as wet as possible. But who can blame them in this heat?

A very common everyday problem of ours is the intermittent electricity and the accompanying fragile water. However, power cuts are so common here that people just shrug their shoulders and wait for electricity again, even classes just go on despite no air conditioning or no projector.

The lack of water hurts a bit more, especially when you're in the shower. But you can put up with that too :)

Unfortunately, what I can't come to terms with at all are the spiders. Last week I went to the toilet without much thought. Then I took a quick look around and saw - to tell the truth - a HUGE spider. It was easily 15cm tall and looked at me very intensely. So I did the only sensible thing; I ran out screaming and got Nadia, our host sister. She was scared of the spider herself, though, just like our host father, who eventually destroyed it. Unfortunately, there are always moments of terror like that - the day before yesterday in my room and it makes it a bit harder for us to feel comfortable here.

Finally, I would like to tell you about the certificate ceremony that took place on Saturday - 30 September.

First we sang the national anthem, then we prayed and afterwards we handed over the certificates. Afterwards we danced and sang - first Timorese dances, later also waltzes and disco fox. Everyone had a lot of fun. As of today, we are preparing the new pack; this means a lot of office work, but it is also a lot of fun.

Conclusion: A lot of things are still not going well and even though I try not to flinch with every animal, I rarely succeed. But on the other hand, I notice that I'm getting there more and more. I'm gradually arranging my room so that it slowly feels like "my room", and at work I notice how we're becoming more and more routine and confident. That is a very nice feeling.