Halai 5km

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Last weekend was a 5km race in Dili put on by Timor Telecom, the communications monopoly here. It was a lot of fun and had a good turn out which inlcuded predominately Timorese. If you can believe it my huge posterior actually joined in all the fun too. Here is a picture of me running into the finish. I still don't believe I finished the race in the 4pm heat with my steady regiment of beer drinking and pasta consumption but somehow I managed to stay in the middle of the pack. Also running was my roommate Sarah, shown in the next photo, and another friend Nelson. Sarah did quite well, infact she came in second for the women. The top five finishers for men and women received prizes. Sarah won something which they kept calling a "wifi," we can only assume it was some kind of stero thingy. As the good humanitarian though after trying to give it the next girl in line ended up giving it to the sixth place girl. We waited all the way unitl last night and the race was finally on TV. We all huddled around the home owners TV and caught the amazing 90sec broadcast. Surprisingly or not we all made it on. Nelson and I were only flashes as we ran across the screen or where in the back ground you could see my hair but Sarah got the hard time. They aired her 20second section of the prize ceremony. Funny she was the only one to later give it away. Para benz.

Bball Finals

Here is a picture of the Ministry Natrual Resources, Minerals, and Energy (MRNMEP) basketball team. I am the one in the center. No way! Amazingly we have made it into the finals which will be played later this month. So far we have lost only one game, which was by only one point and against the team we will now have to play again in the Final. We are but humble water or electricity workers whereas their team has three of the East Timor national squad.

Timorese are quite small and the uniform doesn't quite fit so well as you can tell. I had to use another pair of shorts. Unfortunelately our team receives a technical foul every game for this. Normally I would feel bad as I am the only foreigner in the entire tournament but I don't. One reason is I am not much better than most the players anyway. Also I do actually work in the Ministry and should be able to play, which is more than I can say for other teams which have clearly recruited outside their sections.

Anyway wish us luck in the Final and if you happen to be in Timor on October 18th, 3:25pm at the UNAMET(?) courts in Comoro give us a cheer.