The Dinner Wars

The dinner wars.... featuring Little Sam and Jade....

So, Little Sam is the cutest kid going around but, like all kids, he loves to take part in the dinner wars. He has got all of the strategies down - distraction, pretense, absolute denial and chewing the same mouthful for 15 mins. Femmy, quite rightly, does get a little over it at times, as I am sure any mum would. Enter - Jade. He'll convince him to eat, right? After all, he's only a little boy, how hard can it be?

S: I'm chewing! and that aeroplane move, it's so old. Ha, ha, this guy is a newbie. I'll teach him a lesson or two :)

 J: I know, I'll try the aeroplane!

S: This is just too easy. Anyway, I'm eating my watermelon.

J: Ok, I'll opt for the regular spoonful to mouth.

S: I wonder how long he'll hold that spoon there. Still eating my watermelon.

J: I've got plenty of time here, Sam, no problem!

S: I'll look away, maybe that'll distract him. Yep, he's backed off.

J: Still here buddy.

S: Drats, it didn't work. But I'm cute, right. Oh, there's a camera. Better smile!

J: Take your time, little guy, I've got allllllllllllllll night.

S: Okay then. I'll let you feed me. Just this once. I'm ready!

J: I won't look at him at I bet he'll want attention so he'll cooperate. 

S: Not my first choice for dinner, but I guess I better eat it. Mum is looking.

J: Ha! It worked!! Kids are so easy to trick.

S: This is hilarious! Look how happy he is. It's only a mouthful of food, mate. No big deal!

J: Yes! Look at me go! I've got skills. 

S: Uurrgghh. Now I have to chew it...

J: Keep chewing, Sam! If you swallow it I'll let you smell the super muscle stuff I bought in Bali. 

S: Okay then. Chew, chew, chew. Done! Mmmm, smells good! It's put me off the rest of my dinner though.....

J: Smells good, don't you reckon?!

S: Wahoo! I'm done! Man, I'm such a legend.  Smashed that dinner! and check it out, everyone is looking at me. I'm so awesome. 

J: Good job, little guy! I knew you could do it.

S: Way to ruin my night, Jade. What is in that Bali stuff? It's hurts my eyes!

J: Oooh, you right, mate?

J: Maybe a game will fix things?

S: Sounds good, games fix everything!

It's safe to say, many team members did try to feed Sam over the time we were in Timor, This episode shows one of the true success stories. Thank you, Jade, Sam will grow another day. 

Let The Competition Begin!

We wouldn't be in Timor unless we played soccer - so many people live and breathe it here! Last time I played a soccer game in Timor it was against the National Team so I did not have high hopes for how competitive we would be this time :) Maybe one of the the conditions for coming to Timor should be super soccer skills??? After work on Monday afternoon - when it had cooled down a little bit we had a game against the youth of the church. I was blown away with how intense the game was - we sure had some high quality players in the Aussie team so the game was very competitive. Sam kicked a bunch of impressive goals, Jess played with more intensity than I've ever seen anyone else play and Felicity was supreme in the goals along with Martin. Then between Bunky, Jade and Leon there was a lot of skill and Tori, Marriel and I rotated through. My soccer skills are somewhat sketchy but I got in there and gave it the a good crack. Was a fun game and I think the local team was a bit surprised that a bunch of Aussies managed to play so well :) The game lasted 1.5 hours so it was very nice that it was a cloudy afternoon. We still sweated buckets though! In the end team Aussie was victorious. WOO!

Unfortunately the photos uploaded in backwards order.... 

The spectator crowd - which slowly grew as the game went on. Keen to see if those bulle can actually kick a ball :)

Marriel giving the boys a run for their money.

The littler kids gave up on playing with the big boys so they started their own game in on the other space  - which is where the futsal court was being built.

Even Ed joined the game for a bit. He said he wouldn't play long coz the local boys would take it easy on him - can't hurt the pastor now, can you?!

On Tuesday we played another game - this time against the high school kids. Was an intense game in the hot sun and plenty of back and forth in the scoring but we managed to beat them in the end.  

At one point there were far more Timorese on the field than Aussies.... but you gotta give them a go! Was hilarious to watch Jess playing because she would go in and tackle the boys and they'd back off because she was a girl. Worked out to our advantage :)

Dever having a crack.

Soccer is a hands-off game right?!

Sam sure hasn't lost his superb skills over the years.

When you play soccer you gotta have your name on your shirt, right? Fictor taking the game very seriously. 

The girls with Zipporah. Was great to see her again - I'd met her on previous trips. I love catching up and finding out what the local people are doing now. Zipporah is working in a government office in Kupang. 

Can't have a concrete mixer in the way of the soccer goals... so removing it was the first thing to be done.

And there were plenty of chiefs!

Hi, ho, hi, ho..... It's Off To Work We Go!

Monday morning arrived, as it always does, and we were up bright and early to head down to the building site. The boys were as keen as ever to get started on the project - building a futsal court at the school. Up until this point the students were playing on the uneven gravel - no complaints from them. They're a much tougher bunch than us wimpy Aussies. When the students were told what all the building was about they were ecstatic to say the least! A futsal court? BEST THING EVER!!!! So much cheering and whooping - you could barely contain the excitement :) Was so cool to see the kids that pumped about having their own court. It will be used for futsal and other sports but the best part is, it'll be so much more than that. The school will use is for assemblies, graduations and other ceremonies and there's a possibility that the local community members can hire it for weddings, parties and anything else they have a desire to use it for (eventually it will be undercover). The school also holds the Elpida Cup Soccer Tournament every year where teams from the community as well as Kupang itself come and play against each other. Last year there was over 30 teams so it's a very popular event. It's so incredible to think that one court can make such a huge difference to a school and it's community. Just awesome!

A copy of the front of the school (again) to remind you of what it looked like BEFORE the work started :)

The boys hard at work - shovelling and levelling the ground in preparation for concrete - this job took a few days! Could have something to do with the standing around?!?!?!

Some of the New Hope kids hard at work - loving the shovels!

Meanwhile.... we were in the classrooms teaching English. There was no observation period, no prepping or guidance from the local teachers, just - you do it! Okay then, we will :)

Tori - getting into her first day ever of teaching - was a baptism of fire!

  

The students thought we had a rather unconventional way of teaching and weren't at all sure how to take us at first... these white girls, they're just gila!!! (crazy) They warmed up pretty quickly though. Please note: their real teacher is at the back... playing on his phone! I commented a few days in that he was having a pretty cruisy week - being paid to play on his phone all day - maybe his pay should go to us??!! To that he very promptly said, "What's that wings to work shirt you're wearing about then?" Shut down :)

Gestures sure go a long way. Here we were introducing ourselves one on one to the students and finding out their age, hobbies and about their families. One of the students told me he loved taking photos and he wanted so be a photographer, so I gave him my camera to click away on. Biggest smile I saw from him all week!

Our (VERY dodgy and very out of scale) map explaining where we were all from.

Laughing at our questionable Indonesian skills.

We spent time in two classrooms. This was the younger group - who were a whole lot more boisterous and energetic. Fun times :)

Felicity and Jess looking like they teach every day in Australia - they did an amazing job!

A photo of THE most intense game of duck, duck, goose I've ever played in my life. It was more like hit, hit, bash!

So we opted for a quieter game - heads down, thumbs up. But you can still twist people's thumbs off, right?

The older bunch working hard to find the translation for a bunch of English words... and their teacher is checking out the progress in the front yard :)

Dictionaries - best educational tool ever for us that week!

Deep in concentration and discussion.

Some of the gorgeous kiddies - love their enthusiasm and joy for life!

At the end of a hot work day we were treated to a delicious meal prepared by some women from the church. Such amazing food! I could live on this stuff :)

Sunday Sessions

Our first full day in West Timor - Sunday. We were up bright and early because church starts at 7:30am. It's just so hot later on in the day that to start later would mean that everyone absolutely roasts! We left our homestay at about 7:15 am - much later than I am used to! You Launceston people would know how late I like to come to church so this was a little bit of a stretch!! But it's light very early and the roosters, animals and bells that call to prayer certainly prevent you from sleeping in. With the heat added to that the only thing stopping you from getting up is feeling a bit tired. So it's 'get over it and get up!' The first service is held - Pastor Ed preached. Quite the mission since he only found out at 11:00pm the night before that he was preaching as the other Pastor was sick. After first service there's a little break for chatting, having a drink and sharing a snack pack. Everyone in church receives a pack with rice and a few other things - you'd be too hungry to concentrate on the second service otherwise! Once break is over, it's second service straight after - it would be waaaaay too hot to come back in the afternoon for a second service! Then it's a short chat in the church yard before heading home for a much needed coffee!!

 I love going to church in Timor - the singing is just so beautiful and I love hearing God's Word preached in another language. I was surprised how much I understood. Those years of Indonesian at uni must be filed in my brain somewhere! Here you see the team enjoying their snack pack. A few people were punished by the heat of the sambal! Quite humourous for me as I don't mind the heat. 

The church from the back - where we all sat. The consistory room is behind the pink curtain.

The view straight out the church door. All windows and doors are open to promote as much air flow as possible! 

Side view of the church building. We helped concrete the floor way back in 2005. It's pretty cool to see all of the changes that have happened since then. I wouldn't have recognised the place!

Olym- our trusty driver! He took us everywhere :) It took us about a week to figure out his name - we had Olin, Olive, Olen before we found out all of these were wrong!

Sunday games - learning mancala.

Later in the afternoon, when the intensity of the sun had gone away, we walked with all of the New Hope family through the rice fields down to the beach for a swim and some games. 

Along the edges of the rice paddies.

Stunning rice fields. The green is just so beautiful!

Some people working in the paddies. I love the hat! Sure would have been a hot job!

Sunset at the beach. Divine!

God's stunning creation. Ever changing. Always new things to discover!

Last glimpses of sun. 

The boys playing a game of soccer! Sure became very competitive.

Leon in action.

Antonio. He loved the camera and seeing his photo on my camera screen. 

With Antonio, Ferdi and Ronaldo (I think it's Ronaldo....!)

Ferdi - the cutest little boy which such a gorgeous smile! They loved posing with my sunnies :)

Bento. A hilarious kid!! Here he is eating tamarind which he'd collected off the tree at New Hope. He's bound to be an entrepreneur - he sold his (broken) shoes to the man at the store so he could buy some lollies!! He sure was the winner in that deal :)