The first sms I received on my phone the next day was a reminder from my mom, 'find a church there and attend mass, it's your first day in Timor'. Even without the reminder, I already made a plan to go to church. My boss picked me from the hotel and we went together for prayers.
The 'English mass' was at 10:30, and I only realized now, I did not even bother to find out the name of the church. Anyways, the church was a mix of foreigners including police from the UNMIT which I found a bit surprising because they even received communion. Like any other countries, there were so many Filipinos in the church, although it was a bit tricky to know because of the same features, colors and built of Timorese and Filipinos.
After church, we went to the 'pinoy carenderia' where 'dinuguan' was available but the container was almost empty when we arrived, so I was not able to have a serving. Nonetheless, the 'nilagang baboy' and 'halo-halo' were already a treat for me. I learned that this carenderia which is open from 11Am to 2PM was a converging place for Filipinos who wanted to eat pinoy foods after church.
In the afternoon, Fi (a colleague way back Bangladesh-time) picked me from the hotel and we went to a Vietnamese restaurant by the sea and introduced me to her circle of friends. I am really grateful to Fi for helping me settle in and introducing me to her friends. One of them is a Filipino, the other one is from Peru while the rest I still have to meet. All of them are in different sectors of development work which makes it all the more interesting. From the vietnamese restaurant, we went to the 5-star hotel in Dili for cake and coffee.
We checked 2 houses which are potential for renting, and finished the day in a Chinese restaurant for dinner.
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