Finally a few days of slackness. Phew. I’ve been waiting for it. But let’s first look back at New Year’s eve and the stuff that lead to it.The other day, The Man got himself a new telephone. It’s a nifty little Motorola Razor v3, which i was asked to introduce to him. The phone first only talked chinese (i suppose), and it took some persuasion to get it to communicate in a language common to the both of us. Soon the phone and i were acquainted and i was able to give The Man a proper presentation of the phone. Evidently, he was pleased enough, because he invited me to his party on 31.12.2004. Whoa.

The party was a nice little get-togeher. Off duty, The Man is a formidable chap (although i’ve heard that you shouldn’t piss him off at work). He even joined our little group towards the end of the celebration and talked about this and that. I told our little congregation of the near future that awaits me. The original plan was that i was to get some visitors down here: my wife and daughter would come down in the beginning of February, accompanied by my mother. My girls would stay here for some six weeks and return, accompanied by my parents in law. Well now, it seems like my girls are going to stay at home (it is very hot for small critters the size of a fire extinguisher, and there is always the risk of malaria) but my mother, and possibly my parents in law, still plan to get over here. While i welcome visitors, this wasn’t exactly what i had in mind, and my listeners were amused.

What follows was surreal. What does my mother do, i was asked. She is a landscape architect i replies, whereupon The Man said that he was hoping to get the park in from of his office, and indeed many other parts of Dili, landscaped. He even thought he might have the money to allocate for this. Maybe she could be involved? I was baffled. I do not know how serious The Man was, but it all made a very bewildering set of thoughts spinning the inside of my head at high velocity.

Leaving the ceilidh at one-thirty or so, some of us headed for “The Boat”, a floating hotel better known as the Central Maritime Hotel. There, a much louder party was in action. Lots of people, lots of drinking, dancing and gay disco music. The bacchanal went on for a good hour or so, until apparently somebody started behaving badly and the whistle was blown, ending this gathering.

I walked home, this time finding my way almost without extra detours through merely lit sidestreets. Yes, i do not possess the best sense of direction and more often than not, i’ve spent the first few days iterating my way home rather than calmly heading spot-on to my destination. But so far so good, and now i should be able to find my way to my current residence in mist, rain, darkness or snow. (knock knock on wood)

Today i visited the “Christo Rei beach”. Twice.Without greater ambition, i set out afoot with the general direction of Christo Rei. If i made it all the way, excellent. If not, no worries. And i could always take the taxi home if the venture would become too hard.

Half way, i bought myself brunch, and i ate my one dollar pinapple under a shady tree by the waterfront. Excellent.

A little rest later, i continued my journey towards the the smaller like of The Great Bungee Jumper in Brazil. At this stage, i was both hot and tired, but decided to take the climb anyway. Finnish sisu. Mad ideas. Insane malai. What the heck. It’s there. That’s why people climb mountains anyway, and after all, this mountain had stairs.

I was felt like a moist Wettex™ when finally up there, but the view was spectacular. I felt the sense of accomplishment and took a bunch of pictures, but my water bottle was running dry. It was time to head down.

I stood watching all the people (and no taxis) at the beach for some time and was just about to buy myself a new bottle of acqua when a driver asks me if i’m looking for transportation. The driver firmly stays as his opening bid of three dollars, regardeless of my attempts to negotiate the price. OK. By getting my water from the hotel, i save a buck, which otherwise would have gone to the water trader.It’s a game. But on the other hand, i do not want to pay more than i have to. So maybe i’m cheap too.

The taxi ride home is wonderful and the wind flows through the windows of the car.

When i am back home, i am exhausted, which proably is the reason why i leave my phone in the taxi cab. Usually, i always check all my belongings before i exit a cab. Not this time, and before i can run back over the courtyard to fetch my valuable cell, the taxi has beamed away back to the beach. I curse, in swedish.

With the help of another inhabitant of this mansion and a local staff member, we manage to call my phone and the driver who finally answers it. He’s out at the beach with his family and frankly he doesn’t give a toss whether i have my phone or not at this time. He can come over with it later today (”after five”, when it already is a quarter to…). I get a taxi to the beach and meet my previous driver, who is joyed by receiving a reward from me and returns me my phone. All is well and i head back home.

I take a shower, watch Reality Bites on Star Movies and head out to my usual watering hole for dinner. Lasagne. Good. Lasagne is g-o-o-d. And so is (are) the Melbourne Bitter.

At the restaurant, there is an unnerving rumour. A tidal wave, or a tsunami, is supposed to be on the way. Or has already hit. Nobody knows, but there are stories around that it has (or will) hit a neighbouring region. People are said to be leaving Dili en masse, carrying their vital belongings, lining up around the Barracks. The gsm network is overloaded so i cannot call my boss or the security centre. But a tsunami or tidal wave does not hit just the neigbouring region, but all of the coastline. And according to some versions of the tale, the wave has already hit. So i don’t worry too much, finnish my dinner and head home, ears sharpened to the sounds of the ocean.

No wave hits, except for a lot of radio waves between UN staff members and the security centre. Sitation normal. It is just a rumour. All is okay. Maintain standby on hailing frequency. No problems.

I feel better. And the stars are out tonight, for the first time this year.