The One With The Homestay

What an eventful week, oh my. It all started in my milkhostel: on Monday I got up and went for a dive. The end.

No, for real now, on Monday we did actually go for a dive. It was Election Day in Timor-Leste so we were a little understaffed, hence the one dive. With a total of 8 dives, and lots of science lectures, it was a very fishy week. We had a few fish-lectures about fish families: what they look like, what they eat, what their behavior is, …. By Thursday of this week we had to make a choice of specialty: Benthic Organisms or Fish ID. We make this choice so we can focus on one thing during the data collection we’ll be doing later in the expedition. Being a DM (Divemonster), I wanted to go for fish. I thought it would be a good idea, so if I ever decide to work in the dive industry, I could point out pretty fish and actually know what I’d be talking about. So, logically, I chose Benthic. The pressure hit me and I got super confused. And, Benthic comes with awesome buoyancy skills, which convinced me more than the thought of being a know-it-all-DM. Focusing on Benthic, we’ve been doing more specific dives so we can practice our knowledge. What it comes down to, is that the diveleader points at a piece of coral, and we have to name it. I’ve been doing pretty good, if I do say so myself. It’s a lot of fun, and I do really feel like I’m learning a lot!

As you can see in the last picture, it says “I want to see sharks” on the slate. This was at the divesite where Laura saw a Hammerhead  Shark last week. To our regret, no Hammerheads that day. BUT the week wasn’t totally wasted: we did see a Black-Tip-Reef-Shark AND a turtle on the same dive! It was amazing! We don’t get to see too many sharks around here, so it was a real privilege to have spotted one. On the downside, I didn’t get a chance to take any pictures, I was just living in the moment. It’s nice, you should try it sometime.

The most fun dive of the week was on Thursday. I got to assist on a DSD (Discover Scuba Diving) workshop for the people who are in  DM-training. This means that I got to
play an idiot for a full 45 minutes and that the DM’s in training had to solve my “problems”. The problems are mostly things that can happen on a DSD-dive, but I – as always – went a little overboard and enjoyed it too. I threw around sand and pretended it was snow. I spat out my regulator and forgot how to put it back in. I picked up a piece of coral and pretended it was a wand, thinking the words: “it’s LeviOsa, not LeviosA” (Don’t pick up coral though. My piece was dead and it was a once in a lifetime thing to help my friends, I swear to the Coral Gods). So yeah, in summary: I nearly pissed myself of laughter. Which is okay, because:

We did another beachclean this week. I won’t tell you every week, because we will be doing it a few more times. But I did want to share some pictures about it. This week we had 5 bags and 2 wheelbarrows full of rubbish. So next time, please, just throw your trash in the bin. I’m really sick of cleaning up after everybody.

Next to diving, beachcleans and boatscrubbing, the week was really exciting: we moved in with our new families in the homestays. On Tuesdays the families picked us up and brought us “home”. Moises and Priska are our mom and dad for the next two weeks, and we have 3 sisters and a babbybrother: Kalistru, who is just the cutest little guy. Upon arriving at the house, they gave us short tour and showed us to our room. Simone and I share a lovely room. Simone sleeps in a Lilo and Stitch themed bed and I sleep in a Winnie The Pooh themed bed. Just to give you an idea: these people do the homestay program to earn some extra money. They themselves don’t sleep on a mattress, have four chairs, a table and a TV. That’s the only furniture in the house. There’s no sitting area: we just sit on the floor and we don’t all eat together because there’s not enough chairs, plates or glasses.

It’s definitely different from home, which was to be expected, but we’ve been having an amazing time. The kids are super nice and they love to play games, so Simone and I created a board-game and a memory-game for them. We’ve played volleyball and Priska’s cooking is amazing, so we have absolutely nothing to complain about. We’ve been trying to help out in the kitchen, but Priska’s very persistent on us not doing anything, so it’s going uituan uituan (little by little in Tetun). Of course, they don’t speak English, se we have to make do with the little Tetun we know. The words “baby”, “sleep”, “good”, “dog” and “happy” are used A LOT. But as the days progress, we learn more and more Tetun and the family becomes more and more used to us living with them. Last night, the girls did our hair. I’ve never looked so pretty.

Apart from the amazing family, I do have to say one thing. I’m not sure how I’m going to survive the next week. You see, the thing is, they have a puppy. Yes, a puppy, not a full-grown dog I just call “puppy”. It’s an actual baby dog, about 5 weeks old, who is just so adorable I could squash her. Her name is Boy, which means “hammock” in Tetun, so it makes no sense at all. The family already knows I’m in love with her, because they keep bringer her to me whenever I walk through the door. My heart’s gonna break when I have to leave this eeniemeenie squashlyface behind. JUST LOOK AT THAT FACE!!!!

On a more formal note: someone in the family just passed away. This morning we joined our family to the wake and in an hour we’re joining them to the funeral. Of course we don’t have to, but these people have been taking care of like we’re queens, so the least we can do is show our respect towards them. Just, if you can, think of our family for a moment :).

Write you soon

Lots of love

Fi