PIctures of Casa Vida Singing to us

Casa Vida singing 

That's Cafe Aroma's Chef dressed as Santa

Group Shot! :) 

Casa Vida and their beautiful surprise.

Casa Vida is a very generous project. It keeps, takes care and gives a future to sexually abused young girls in Timor-Leste. I think now it has over 40 girls and around 10 of them are pregnant or already had their baby, Casa Vida also takes care of the babies. Casa Vida's money comes partly from it's owner Simone Assis but most of it comes from their restaurant Cafe Aroma and of course from the donations. Cafe Aroma serves delicious food and also traditional Brazilian food. The restaurant's profits are in benefit of Casa Vida. Cafe Aroma is also a place to coach the Casa Vida girls and to guarantee them a future with jobs. At the start, Cafe Aroma was in a very small place with a very little kitchen. But after some months of serving their delicious food and some very kind donations from other people, Simone was able to buy a much bigger place that could bring more customers in. The old Cafe Aroma is now the house of the Casa Vida girls. My mum and my friends have been working really hard to keep Cafe Aroma running smooth. It has been really good helping them and definitely hope to keep it going. 

But on Tuesday 14th December, my parents and i decided to visit our  friends in their houses at Lecidere. When we got there at around 8:30pm we were just having a chat with some coffee. But then we hear the sound a of a little bell outside. My friend thought it was her nephew pulling a prank so she opened the door quickly so she could scare him. Then we saw something that caught us completely of guard, it was Cafe Aroma's chef, dressed in a Santa costume, then when we look into the parking lot, we see all the 40 Casa Vida girls in lines all dresses up with little Santa hats singing Christmas songs in Portuguese, English and Tetun. They sang over 15 minutes, while my mum and my friend were were so happy the were crying non stop. After all the beautiful singing, one of the Casa Vida girls gave a very kind speech thanking us for all our help. They gave my mum and my friend a very beautiful necklace and a thank you card. Then Simone came and explained how all of the girls got there. They were originally going to my friend's house first then go to my house (which is about 30 minutes away from Casa Vida!) which was going to be a disaster because one of the cars taking them there broke down and they had to walk. So if we weren't there we would have missed that beautiful performance. I was in shock after the presentation. It was all just so beautiful and breath-taking! I don't think that ever happened in Timor before. And that's why we are so lucky to have that privilege. 

Now that's what Christmas is all about, Giving Thanking and Sharing! Thank You Casa Vida for the performance. Truly a day i'll never forget. :)  

Sunday's Memories

So, It has been nearly a month since i haven't wrote in here... well i've been really busy lately..  I've already had like 2 tests, i have this English task i had to do, and of course i've been going to my new house nearly twice a day. My family has spend 4 years in this very small house in Timor. It has only 2 small rooms, a living room / kitchen and 2 bathrooms... It has no garden, which makes my wanting a dog task even harder.. So we thought it was about time to move into a bigger house with a garden and a swimming pool... So as i said i didn't have much time to write. 


So back to the real subject and purpose of this post, today is sunday. Sundays are always very pleasant... I remember my sundays in 2006. We didn't have much to do, so we always went to the One dollar Beach (remember when i told u about it??). The one dollar beach is a very nice and clean beach. When i came to Timor the movie Finding Nemo had just come to Brazil, so i was amazed by the clown fish. When we went to the beach i remember i would see millions of them when the water was only up to my knees. I thought it was magical! I've saw 2 whales in the one dollar beach already. The first time i remember it was very funny. Me, my dad and  some of my adult friends were in the sand having a taste of my dad's delicious BBQ, while my mum was coming out of the water and coming to join us. She had her back to the water, so then me and my friends saw the whale's tail splashing in the water and then we yelled out "Look! it's a whale!" My mum started swearing and saying "You guys are not going to eat my dessert anymore!" that's when i said "Mum! turn around!" she did and we all rolled of laughter! It was amazing, i never thought i would see a whale so close like that. 


There was also the day that i saw 2 hurricanes in the water at the same time. One was kinda close it was about 200 meters from us and the other one was really far about 300 meters away from us. It was amazing and also frightening. We got it all in tape which was really cool. 


So there are much more stories to tell about th one dollar beach, but i'll get back to that latter.... :) 

My School in Timor

So as i said before, i study in Dili International School (D.I.S). I'm in the 7th grade. So i just came back to school from 2 weeks of holidays and i'm in this new much bigger classroom. My class has 3 teachers. One for Maths, Science and French. One for English and Arts and one for Social Studies, PE and Health. So in English me and my class are focussing on Shakespeare, his plays and his very well-known poems. I absolutely love English and Poetry, so i'm having quite a lot of fun. Everybody really likes our Math teacher, but it's just so hard seeing his good side while he is teaching such terrible subjects! Oh well i guess we all have to live with it..   :)  Our PE teacher is ok.. I mean she teaches one of everybody's favorite subject, PE! but we don't quite think the same thing when she is trying to teach us Social Studies. 

Timor's Opportunities.

My coming to Timor has opened many doors for me. When i came to Timor i had the great opportunity to explore Asia! I went to so many different and exotic places. Never in my life i would have dreamed of coming to China, Indonesia, Australia and even Timor. It was amazing! In Brasil i had like  nearly no holidays and when i had it, i would spend it at home. In here i spend my holidays in Indonesia and Australia. And coming to Timor also thought me many lessons, different cultures, different languages and many different religions. It was very over-welming. In ONLY my class there are over 11 nationalities (and there is only 15 students).  

More Stories...

As i've mentioned before, having your teenage years in timor isn't easy...  Me and my friends usually go to this new restaurant called 'Street Burger King'  (omg, the chinese copy everything!) hehehe.. ^_^ We also go swimming a lot since Timor's weather is like 40 degrees!   Me and my Brasilian friends were trying to start a little band.. (Not sure how that's working out since we have only one guitar and a piano...) 


So getting back to my story from when i came to Timor... And this is actually way way way back. I was about to go to 1st grade in this like GIANT school! before 1st grade i used to go to a very small sister school.. So it was my first time going to a big school. I went to visit the school, then 1 week later my parents decided to put me in it, so one day before school, my parents told me the news that i was going to Timor. I was really upset. I mean like i didn't even  know Timor existed.  So far i thought Timor was in Australia.  So i asked my mum to show it to in the map. When she did i was like "ok where is it?.. Oh! it's that little spot over there!" 

                                  Of course no school is fun without a little PHOTO SHOOT!  

Smiles! :)

Friend! :)



School is a very big part of everyone's life.. And i'm very lucky that part of my life is absolutely awesome!

My Adaptation in Timor

So continuing my story.. 
When i came to school i was 8 and didn't speak A WORD in English. Luckily there was a Brazilian girl who helped me in everything. It was tough staying in an environment where you can't communicate with anyone. But the days went on and after around 4 months i was able to speak an connect with other people. I was very happy and over-welmmed. I had 2 brazilian friends.. well... i wouldn't really call them friends, but they were my only option. (i'll get back to that latter) 


Me, my parents and some really cool adult friends would EVERY sunday go to the 1 dollar Beach (they call it that because it is a very clean and beautiful beach, and people use to charge $1 for anyone who wanted to go there) and have tons of fun! So because i didn't have any close friends with the same age as me, i became more mature quicker. 


So as i said before Timor has it's magic.. I absolutely love my life in Timor. In Timor no day is an ordinary day. You will always have at least one story to tell about your day. And that's what i love. Since Timor isn't a very big country, everything that happens only takes seconds for everybody to know.  

Being a Teenager in Timor

Ok, going through your teenager years in Timor isn't easy. 
First: Timor doesn't have malls, cinemas, giant schools, clean parks, ect. 
So you have to live with what you have. Me and my friends usually love having a horror movie night with popcorn and lot's of screaming! :) But we all get used to it. 


But of course Timor has it's magic. 
I came to Timor when i just turned 7. Im practically half Timorese.. (Since i have nearly spend half of my life in Timor)  hehe 
I have tons of stories to tell about my childhood in Timor, and that's what this blog is for. 


I remember my first day in Timor.. It was in the afternoon, i was a little hungry from the jet lag, so i suggested for us to go to McDonald's. But my parents said that there were no fast food places. So i said "how come? So u mean there's no fast food in Malls in here?" Little did i know there were no malls in here as well... So it was a weird start for me.


The next day me and my parents had lunch with my dad's boss in a near by restaurant. So the days went on and i eventually went to D.I.S (Dili International School) an Australian school. It's a very small school.. I had around 15 classmates and a very nice teacher.