I am going to watch some one fall to their death

That is seriously what I thought as I sat at our front gate yesterday. As I mentioned before the power has been going out a lot here in Dili, Timor Leste (East Timor). Apparently the city decided to do something about it and sent around crews to work on the power lines. I had to run to a friends house to borrow a few cooking items to work on dinner and all the kids were asleep so I thought ohhh this will be super fast. Well the gate was blocked by the huge truck that decided to park in the middle of our driveway. I hoped out and our guard was kind enough to ask them how long they were going to be. They said five minutes so I jumped back in the car. It started to get interesting when this tiny guy shimmied his way up this huge pole. Once up top he perched himself on this TINY little ledge and started working on the lines. About five minutes into it he looses his balance and I watch as one of his flip flops (he was wearing flip flops!!!) drops to the ground.

I thought aw man I am totally going to have to watch this guy fall to his death. He regained his balance and another guy who looked more official in his orange jumpsuit brought a ladder over, apparently he couldn't shimmy up like the first guy.

They worked out what ever was going on with the lines and started to retract the huge crane thing. It got tangled in all the wires though and there was a lot of shouting and running and luckily the driver stopped the crane before it took out all of Dili's power and phone lines. At this point our Guard and gardner came over to offer their advice.

Another ten minutes later and the crane is retracted and everyone is safely on the ground. I thought oh good I am glad that is over. On my way back home though they were about 100 yards down the street working on the next one. I thought man I hope that guy makes it through the day :) I am sure he is a "professional" it was just totally nerve wracking to watch.
When I got home Liam was up from his nap and apparently trying to help Che Che

He really wants to help all the time these days. It is usually fun and cute but makes me nervous when I am cooking because we have gas stoves thus open flames... I think I am going to order one of those guards you can clip on. ANYWAY this morning we had the fun chance to get together with some friends at Miss Nicolas house (AKA Briggs house-- the place Sam is always begging to go to) and celebrate the birth of three new expat babies and have afternoon tea. The kids had so much fun getting all dressed up in Addies princess outfits.

She had lots of great heels and wands

Liam came running out of her room and said "Mom I'm a cute bug!"

Sam had fun building a huge track with Brigg's trains

Abby chilled with the other babies swapping diaper changing stories I am sure

(I made that tunic for her yesterday. I think I am going to put a tutorial up because it is sooo ridiculously easy, no pattern or anything.)

We had yummy fruit and muffins and Meredith made an apple crumble that was sooooo yummy!

Liam liked being able to sit up to the counter and pick out his snacks.

As I mentioned before Nicola house is a work of art. It is owned by USAID but I think she has added some great touches. I love the yellow in the kitchen. I am so bummed that none of our walls can be painted (you know being metal and all)

But it is the master bath that is really amazing
The ceiling is actually open to the outside. When she moved in she had them put screens because it was literally wide open.

The floor is mainly rocks with little pads for you to stand on

and the mirror hangs down from the ceiling by cables.

These were taken on the other side of the wall of glass that separates the bathroom from their bedroom. Isn't that crazy awesome! There is a huge wall that water slides down in the back of the house and a large atrium with plants and their pet turtle in the middle. Along one edge there is a stripe of rocks. Nicola again had them put a cover on it because you know 2 year olds and loose rocks equals broken flat screens haa! It is one of those houses with floor to cieling windows and so much gorgeous natural light that you just want to kick back and relax! It is a far car from the majority of homes around here. I decided that if I post something about the awesome parts of Timor I will combine it with a reality check. While we live in gorgeous homes most Timorese live in homes that look like this:

What Chris and i have talked about several times though is how clean the locals are. They may live in poverty but they are always wearing clean clothes and generally look very nice. And you can't beat the view from many of the homes: