Halfway mark

So, I am more or less at the halfway point of my trip here. Twelve weeks down, thirteen to go. It’s gone pretty quickly, as time tends to when you’re busy. It has felt like a very intense period of time for me, particularly the last two months when I began traveling to the districts and doing interviews. I’ve completed 22 individual interviews with representatives of political parties, with at least a couple more lined up. I’ve also conducted a bunch of further interviews with other relevant individuals. Must be close to thirty for sure.

I really don’t know how many I need. I think I may have mentioned in an earlier blog how I was planning to do as many as I could. Well, for various reasons (financial, time, and energy levels) I won’t be doing any further trips to the districts for interviews. I really feel I’ve already got enough but I think I can spare two more weeks in November and early December to chase up some Members of Parliament and a few other stragglers I’ve been unable to meet so far.

The task now is to transcribe and translate the interviews. I deliberately wanted to get the interviews done relatively early so I would have time to do this. I’d prefer to have everything sorted by the time I return home so I can hit the ground running.

Dad returned home last week. It was a really nice time with him; coincided with a flattening of my energy levels. I was able to enjoy the time with him. We did a bit of traveling, including visit to the school he was supporting in Ossuhuna. Photos from that trip are on this blog.

I completed my district work earlier this week in Ermera, town of Gleno. It was so cool there, loved it. I even slept with a blanket one night. Was a very productive trip and it was so nice to get away from Dili. It really is very warm here. And humid. This is what people in the NT would call the build up. Where oh where is the rain? Can’t come soon enough for me. Though I may come to regret these words, careful what you wish for right?

Attached some photos of me from this trip here.

Heading to Darwin for about five days before returning. You can only extend your visa here for three months. I kinda feel like I could come home. But I know there are still people I want to interview here. Once I hit December, I’ll start working on Chapter three, which I hope to complete a draft of by the end of January.

I think I’ll sign off now. Don’t have anything really planned this week. Want to deliberately slow down and catch up on some odds and ends. Oh yeah, really enjoying my gym sessions. Found a new gym here and it is SO MUCH BETTER than the last one. This one has a squat rack! Feeling motivated to get there as often as I can manage it.

Take care, adious, Evan