White Houses

I am doing some retroactive blogging because I have already arrived in East Timor. The trip went well, despite the fact that my luggage stayed in LA as I flew on to Australia. Hopefully it will come in today.

The highlight of Washington was a walk to the White House before my flight. The NDI office disabused me of any interest in working as a Washington intern; each day I dressed up to go sit at one of the ten computers in the "Intern Room" and check email, read the newspaper and wait for meetings. The meetings, however, were generally helpful.

I flew non-stop from Dulles to LAX, and then to Sydney where I had a seven hours (after I spoke with United about the luggage) to stretch my legs and get some sleep. I walked from the hotel room in Chinatown to the Opera House, through the botanical gardens. All the birds were new, and I spent the afternoon hiding behind trees and stealthily sneaking up on the equivalent of city pigeons. Before heading back to the hotel, I joined 20 others resting on the steps in the triangular shadow of Opera House. It was one of the first hot spring days in Sydney and people were talking about how nice it was to be outside and, in the park, cooing at the ducklings.

My next stop was Darwin where I met up with Carlito, who works for NDI. We flew to Dili the next morning on a tiny plane that reminded me of flying in the Caribbean. Actually, East Timor has reminded me much more of St. Eustatius and Saba than of Indonesia. It is very dry, with steep hills rumbling down to the ocean. People have been wonderful, and I am excited about living here. I will post pictures ASAP.