Ice cream and 2 notes for future ET PCVs

We just finished off two chocolate ice cream cones. That's a real, real bonus here in Dili. At least once, you got to go to the store around the corner and buy an ice cream cone, one scoop, for 50 cents. It's a must-do. Today we even bought sweetcorn flavored ice cream for a felow PCV. I know.

So, the deal is now, I'm heading back to Same alone to clean up a house real good for Bekah's arrival a few days later. That's the doc's opinion. I'll clean up a house with bleach, Bek will come in by PC vehicle and the driver will spend the night, and we'll all wait and watch Bekah's skin to see if little red bumps once again make their unwanted appearance.

If they rise again, we'll be moving to another site, it seems. As you can imagine, we're excited and bummed at the possibility. If we have to move we have to move, it's her health, but that means we'll have to do the meeting people and getting to know the community and finding projects all over again. The staff is very supportive here, which makes it a whole lot easier.

2 notes for future East Timor volunteers, should they read this:

Do not pack white clothes*

Do not pack black clothes**

*White clothes, as I learned the hard way, will turn an ugly dirty color fast. There's no escaping this. I wanted to tell you to save yourself the trouble.

**You don't want to pack black clothes because it is a cultural faux pas. When the Timorese wear black clothing it means they are mourning the death of a family member. It's not like in America, though, where we wear black to the funeral and that's it. If a family member dies, the adults in the family wear only black clothing for an entire year. Black shirts and pants or skirts. Maybe even a black bandana. And they aren't allowed to dance for a year, either. At the end of the year they have a party called a kori metan, which means, "take off the black." At this party they burn all of their black clothing. So, if you're wearing black around it either means the above or that you're a malae, a foreigner, and don't know any better. I'm just giving you fair warning.