News from the kids

There are many differences between living in Watsonville and living in Dili. For me, Z, the biggest difference is the weather – it is really, really HOT here!  And my favorite thing about Timor-Leste is playing with my friends that live next door and across the street and other friends also.

Making drawings and paper art at home in Dili

G and N live close by so they come a lot; we speak English together.

For me, P, the biggest difference is that it is harder to live here. It is hard for someone who has lived in the U.S. for most of his life to go to a country where you don’t know the language, the kids go crazy over you, and it is really hot, at least in Dili.  Back in the U.S., it has to be the perfect day in autumn to be the perfect weather, but here in Timor, you go up to the mountains in the districts and every day is just like that perfect day in autumn.  My favorite thing about living here is that they have different books here – ones from Australia and the U.K.  And Portuguese books (not that I can understand them yet).

Adorable puppy in Bukoli, District Baucau

Me and I playing at Hope Orphanage, Gleno, Ermera

We are living in a house down the road from the ocean. We have two dogs that always come to our house and one of them has even slept on one of the chairs left outside. We also have a whole pool full of fish and they came with the house. We have a verandah and many potted plants surrounding it. Instead of having a shower, most of the people in Timor use a dipper to dump water on themselves for a shower. It is perfect because almost no one has heating and the water is perfectly cold for the burning hot days of winter. Here it is the exact opposite in temperatures because in the summer months, it is cooler, but in the winter months, it is burning hot down in Dili.

Our decorated kalen (sheet metal) and neighbor friends who helped decorate it

HARRY POTTER MUMMIFIED!!!

In terms of schooling, I, P, am going to a Portuguese school. I don’t know Portuguese very well but luckily it’s similar to Spanish and I’ve made many new friends at the school.  They help me, and when I’m on my own, I can write it in Spanish and the teacher corrects it to Portuguese.  My teacher speaks very fast, fluent Portuguese so it is even harder to understand.  I have a friend in school whose name is Guilherme; he sits right next to me and he helps me when I don’t understand.  My school has a library but there are only about five books in English, so right now I’m reading comic books in Portuguese.  Unfortunately, the best library in Dili is under reconstruction.

P, G, and J at the Portuguese School in Balide, Dili

OK. I, Z, am doing homeschooling. I just do school at home, and my teachers are my Mom and Dad. I am studying geometry and we read a lot. I like doing and learning geometry.  I also love folding paper to do art. I miss Alianza because the schools here are not in Spanish or English. Next year, maybe I’ll go to school. We had a movie that we borrowed and we looked inside it but it was actually a different movie than the title. The movie inside it was Tom and Jerry and I LOVE watching it. I have a neighbor that just went to Cuba and she talks Spanish to me. Now, I am learning Tetum AND keeping my Spanish, and you already know I know English very well.

Haven’t you noticed that I’m eating heaven (mango)? -P

I rubbed kinur (turmeric) all over my hands and got them yellow  -Z

We have been almost 5 times to the mountain district Ermera – very, very cool, as in cold, and cool, as in awesome. We would like to live in Gleno because it is way cooler there and at night, it is so cold you need a sweater. We have many friends there. Sometimes we play soccer together or something like baseball or we gather sticks and leaves and rocks and flowers and have fun with them; they also have some legos.

But Dili is good too. Above, I am playing on a hammock at my friend’s house in Dili.  These are the things we like about Dili: many FRIENDS!!!, the ocean, great neighbors, school (P) and homeschooling (Z), Mana who helps us keep the house clean and babysits and Alu who is tutoring Z in Tetum, our house is on a cul-de-sac so we can usually play on the street in front, and the gum is very yummy.

Thanks Mom for typing!

Having fun in the priests’ residence in Baucau while Curt (Ba to us) is having a meeting

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