It has been a week and I figured a weekly update might do a better job of what takes place on a typical week. Hereʼs the neighborhood that I live in - Bairro Pitte. (Bai-ro Pit-teh) and that is Li Shan in the picture. Yes, it is kampong lifestyle with loads of dust, slippers, walking and chicken, pigs and dogs strolling around. We wear a cap around if you donʼt intend to get a tanned mark of your spectacles on your face, for vanityʼs sake.

This week has been observation week for me, of what takes place on a typical week at Cocoon as a teacher (Iʼm more of a teacher aide right now lah). Getting from home to our workplace is a short walk away, about the distance of walking from Little India MRT to church:) We donʼt really get around out of the area quite often unless there are some errands to be made and we will take a short taxi ride out, each at about USD$1-1.50 per ride, which runs by distance and not by the meter.

Thanks to the weather and lifestyle here, I usually am awake by 7.45am and by 8, I am sitting on a chair, chilling out with Li Shan (who is my house mate) and eating our cereal breakfast and a hot drink together. This new habit that I have cultivated, really took a couple of days to sink in, but once you got it, it actually isnʼt such a bad idea to start of your day, unhurriedly.

The day begins at 9, apart from staff devotion on Monday mornings, staff training on Saturday mornings and church on Sunday mornings, I will have my 1.5 hours of private Tetun lessons with Zeze every Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday mornings. Lunch will be at nearby Warungs with every of the Cocoon teachers, at 11.30am and by 12.15am, everyone goes off for their time of Siesta. Unknown to us Singaporeans, it is the entire nationʼs culture here, that from 12-2pm, it is an official time of rest. Everyone heads back to their homes and literally, head home to rest,shower or take a nap and life begins at 2pm again. SL, LS and me usually ends up heading home, feeding Blackie with our lunch leftovers and eating some oranges and chilling around before heading back to the library again.

Classes starts at 3pm but the kids usually are in the library before that. Kids club falls on every Monday and Thursday. Tuesdays are when the kids just comes in to play some educational games on the computer. The pre-teens takes up the Wednesdays and Friday afternoons.

Kids club was fun being around, as the library will take a theme/ story for the entire month and for this month, it is the story of the lion and the mouse. A big book gets read in Tetun to all the kids seated on the floor and activities will be carried out thereafter. We made lion masks on Monday and I lent a hand in helping them cut out the lion masks, putting on the rubber bands and poking the eyes of the lion.
I love the games they have to teach the children on the numbers and words of the week. It is called hop scotch and the teachers will call out the words on the floor for the kids to identify where to hop next - explains why you see sheep, 10, 19, written on the floor, old school huh? :)


The 5-6.30pm slots will be taken up by the adults and it is done at a nearby primary school. For many who do not realize what lovely classrooms we have back at home, the chairs might fall away! That is Francs teaching the Module 1 lessons. They are a bunch of young adults that SL and LS has groomed, from being their students, to graduating to now, becoming on board as paid staff, teaching English to the community. Wednesday night was awesome as we had our Singaporean team devotion, where SL shared her thoughts and we worshipped. I havenʼt touched the guitar since I reached till that night where we sat together and just sang “This is My Desire” and “Jesus Lover of My Soul”. Somehow, in a foreign place and when I start singing something in a familiar language and something that has Jesus in it, always brings a refreshing take. LS went on to sing for me some worship songs in Bahasa Indonesia and Tetun that led on to us singing Kit Chanʼs “Home” in a foreign land, that had such a nice feel to it. We had our team prayer nights on Saturday. It is quite cool seeing how these Cocoon leads this entire project with such a holistic and wholesome feel to things.

Adjusting here hasnʼt been at all that bad apart from feeling sickly on Thursday as I took a day off to rest, but the first few nights were rough, not because I was thinking of home, but because of how the time before sleep is spent in your room, and since it is relatively quieter and darker on this side of earth, you actually make a choice of what to focus your thoughts on. I have started developing my favorite habit of digging into the word and journaling and that easily takes up at least 2 hours of my time before I head to bed. Journaling used to be out of a need to clear my thoughts but over here, it has been more than a need but a want and an enjoyment of writing.

Dinners are home cooked daily, which alternates between SL and LS. I added my touch on Friday and that is fried chye-sim (vegetables are extra fresh here, they whither by the end of the day) and black sauce-sesame oil with diced chicken and rice, so you get to see my face. It has made the mark and I brought a taste of Chwee-Chian down to Dili (with all the years of feeding on my momʼs cooked food).



Signing off with a picture taken with Pastor Dong and Susantha! Pastor Dong touched down yesterday and is doing his typical runs and called to meet us out for coffee. I thought I took a picture to commemorate just how one year ago, I was merely contemplating doing some missions here and now, here I am :)

Keep the prayers coming, for sustained good health and His love and joy to keep flowing, as I meet the kids/youths, learn the language and spend my own time being with Him. Maromak forbenza ita hotu hotu. (God Bless You All)! Loves, Joyce.