The Adventures of Takako the Danger Librarian 25 October 2001: "Men, Moving and Mosquitoes" Last Friday, Hiro took me to see the apartment where he lives to see whether I liked it or not. The first time we went, the landlady wasn't in, and he didn't have his key, so we resolved to come back later in the afternoon. He explained to me that the landlady had been giving him "discounts" (so to speak) because he was a long-term resident. When we went back, though, the rate the landlady quoted me was not as low as he had been charged, and she still termed it a "discount." It wasn't much of a discount at all, but the location was good, and his room was in the rear building away from traffic, so I told her that I would like to move into his room after he leaves at the end of October. It was agreed, and we left to go back to the office. I had 'plans' for Friday night. Adonai, a Colombian from the Travel Section, had told me that the bar on the Amos was going to have Latin music playing, and that I might enjoy it. There isn't much else to do in Dili within walking distance, so I thought, sure, I'm game. I had a leisurely dinner, then lounged about in my room until about 10:30 pm, when I headed upstairs to the bar, wearing a T-shirt, shorts, and my Bali flipflops. It was still early, but my friend was there, he introduced me to a few other friends, and he tried teaching me a bit of salsa and merengue. The actual steps aren't difficult -- for me, the challenge lay in letting my partner lead. I kept bumping into him, as well as my next partner, and so I sat out for a while, watching some better- skilled dancers stepping across the dance floor. Eventually, though, the music got to me, and so I started to wade through the growing crowd of dancers, just moving to the beat in my own free-form way. Around midnight I noticed a large group of Brazilian peacekeepers (I found that out later) having a lot of fun being silly. One of them decided he was going to dance with me, and I played along. He seemed nice enough, and so we danced together most of the evening, with breaks in between to drink (Coke for me, beer for him). When 2am rolled around, I finally said that I was tired and sleepy, and that I would be bidding him good night. He asked in a rather concerned way whether I would be fine on my way back to my room, and if I would see him again tomorrow night. I reassured him that I would be fine, and that I would probably be there again tomorrow, since there isn't much else to do around town. He kissed my hand and I walked away, down the stairs to my room. I thought that was the end of that. I was in fact quite tired, and the cigarette smoke that was around me incessantly on the dance floor had made it very uncomfortable for me. I got into my room and, after locking the door, started to take off my clothes... when there was a knock on my door. As only Yasmeen knew my room number, and it was unlikely it was her, I thought it was someone mistaking my room for someone else's. Besides, it was past 2am! I just yelled back at the door saying so, but the knocking continued. After a few more exchanges, I was suddenly very suspicious.... And it turned out it was the boy that I had been dancing with. He had managed to follow me down to my floor, and must have seen me enter my room. I put my clothes back on and reluctantly opened the door, and it was indeed him. While I tried to be friendly, inside I was rolling my eyes -- and a bit frightened about dealing with a slightly drunk Brazilian soldier who was being very persistent about not being able to go to sleep without a little kiss. I was finally able to get rid of him after about 20 minutes, having patiently explained to him that I had no desire to be unfaithful to my sweetheart back home, and that I would see him the next evening. He told me a couple of sob stories, but if he thought I could be convinced by the "I need a place to crash because I missed my army's curfew" line, he had another thing coming. I closed the door with a sigh, and started changing into my pajamas again. Just as I was doing my last minute puttering, he came knocking on the door again. He kept insisting I open the door, but I'd already made that mistake; I wouldn't repeat it. I was also starting to get really angry. I wanted to sleep, damn it! When that didn't work, I threatened to call UNTAET's security (to ask them to summon CIVPOL, the Cilivian Police), and he finally gave up. (I didn't see him again. The Saturday night, I was so tired, I lay down to take a little nap in the early evening, thinking I would get up later to go up to the bar again. When I opened my eyes, it was 3am -- too late for even that. I was sorta bummed I didn't get to go dancing again, but a bit relieved as well, knowing I wouldn't have felt comfortable if the guy had been there, too.) On Saturday, I went into work to do email-y things, and spoke at some length with Mireya, a District Legal Officer. Among the many things we talked about, she mentioned a hotel across from the "Hello Mister" supermarket, run by a New Zealand couple. Even the daily rate she knew about were lower than that on the Amos, about which I was surprised (I thought it would be higher), and she said they give discounts for longer stays. There were rooms in the main building, as well as rooms in the 'cabins,' a euphemistic term for shipping containers converted into living space. I resolved to look into it later that day. I wandered over to the other end of the Kobe house, where a couple lawyers and the administrative assistant, all women, and a translator, a man, were chatting about dating in Dili. (Yes, it happens.) They were very sympathetic about my 'boy problem' the night before. It was an entertaining and educational afternoon. A bit into suppertime, I walked over to this hotel, the Loro'Sae Dili Hotel, popularly referred to as the Resende (that's actually the name of the restaurant attached to it). The man at the front desk directed me to find Kaye and Alan outside on the patio, and when I found them, Kaye took me back in and explained the various options I had about rates. She showed me a room in the main building (they are all basically identical), which were quite large and had two beds with roomy closet space. It also came with a small fridge and an electric kettle (BIG bonus points) and a TV with 5 satellite channels (seems like that's the maximum around here). The bathroom had hot water, heated by a small machine on the wall, not unlike what my grandparents had in their house in Tokyo. The "cabins," though... they were tiny! Each container was split into two rooms, with a shared bathroom in between. The room barely fit the single bed, small fridge, and TV (no satellite). It had the advantage of being way cheap, but it felt small, even for me. So, I decided to move to one of the rooms in the main building on Monday the 22nd, when I hoped I could 'volunteer' a couple of co-workers into helping me move. I wanted a room on the north side, away from the street, but there was none available until the first full week of November. So, we decided that I would take one of the rooms on the south side until one opens up, then I would move a north side room. Kaye explained to me the rate discount system, and now I have a room there until at least the end of November at $34 per day, including the tax and daily laundry service. She even knocked off a few dollars for the rest of October, charging me for only a week's worth of laundry service although there were ten days left in the month. I spent most of Sunday afternoon packing up my suitcases. I was done so early I had to go back into them to get things like my Discman and speakers to while the time away. I finally went to bed, resolving to wake up earlier than usual the next morning. Monday morning, I got up and had breakfast, then came back to my room for last minute things. I checked out, then headed to work. Xavier was in, so I asked him whether he would be able to help me move after work, and he agreed. He even volunteered Hiro in absentia. When Hiro came into the office, I told him about my change of plans, and he was quite agreeable, both about the apartment I wasn't going to take, and to helping me move my things. At lunch time, I went to the bank to collect the exact amount of money I was to pay the hotel (there was a discount for paying ahead), then to the hotel itself. The room wasn't ready quite yet, though, so I told the front desk man I would check in later. I was busy with boxes and books in the afternoon, so much so that I didn't realize it was 5:30 until Xavier came into my office and reminded me. He held up the keys to the UN car and said, "I have the car today!" which totally reminded me of the stereotypical American scene with a teenage boy getting access to his father's car for the evening. I went to the hotel, picked up the keys, then headed for the Amos, where Xavier said he and Hiro would be waiting. I met up with them there, and we got our suitcases out of my room. I gave the girl at the reception a box of cookies, for the staff, then bid her good day. Xavier had taken one suitcase, and Hiro the other two -- and he wouldnn't let me take one of them. I meekly followed the two of them across the bridge onto shore, and over to the car, and loaded it up. We drove around for a bit -- none of us were in a hurry -- before pulling up to the hotel. We got the suitcases out of the car, then through the lobby and corridor into the room. They thought the room was quite nice, especially for the rate offered. Xavier gave both of us lifts back to the office, as I had left in a hurry with the intention of going back for some things. I hung about there until past 7pm, then walked back to my room. Then I discovered one disadvantage in my new accomodations -- the much feared and (rightly) maligned mosquitoes. The hotel was pleasantly surrounded by trees and other vegetation, which meant that it was also unpleasantly likely that there were more mosquitoes around. I immediately took the mosquito coils that my mother had packed for me, lighting one, then a few other anti- mosquito items, including a room spray. I had to spray the bath- room, too, as well as the room, around the doorway to the private patio as well as the door to the hallway. I went to sleep smelling the fumes. Ick. I finally got the hang of the tactics the next day, spraying the room before I left in the morning, then again during lunch time, so that I wouldn't have to remain there while the spray worked its magic. Claudio also told me that I should keep the room cool, as mosquitoes didn't like cool temperatures, so I made sure the AC was on constantly. That last is still a bit of a challenge, as the power occasionally cuts off for a few minutes a few times a day. Normally, that wouldn't be bad, as things would simply be powered back up again when the generator was switched over. The problem was that the AC wouldn't come back on after the power went out; it had to be turned back on manually. I was also continuing my mosquito-repellent regimen, although I tried not to do too many reapplications for the sake of my skin. Wednesday evening, I was invited to Yasmeen's place for dinner; we were celebrating her sister's birthday. Her sister was in Islamabad, but she was going to make dinner and get cake in her honour. I thought that was a fun idea, and of course I accepted. After work on Wednesday, I stayed for a while, talking to Hiro about different things. All of a sudden, I had to get home and jump into the shower and get dressed for dinner so Tahir could come collect me at my hotel. I hurried home and got myself cleaned up, and decided that I was going to try out this other anti-mosquito thing that came in spray form. I sprayed it on my feet, legs, arms, then put some on my face by putting it on my hands first then spreading it around. T-shirt, jeans, and flipflops, and I was ready to go. I sprayed the room again for good measure, then waited in the hotel's lobby area for Tahir. It was taking a long time for him to come, though, and it was quite hot. I could also see mosquitoes flying around, which I kept shooing away. After exchanging phone calls with Yasmeen, Tahir finally came and collected me. Dinner was a series of delicious Pakistani dishes. I sat next to Muttaqi, a Pakistani army major and a Japanese language specialist. It was quite fun speaking to him in Japanese; it was obvious he had learned quite well, including the use of the politeness forms, which even native speakers have problems with occasionally. He wasn't compeltely fluent, but he had no problems communicating with me. Dinner ended with chocolate cake (yum!), and Muttaqi dropped me off at the hotel a little before 11pm. I puttered around, getting ready for bed, with BBC World on. I sat on the bed, about to climb under the sheet, when I noticed them. On my feet. There were two very specific itchy spots marked by bumps, one on each foot. There was a tiny red dot in the center of each one. They HAD to be bites of some kind. My brain was at first blank with shock, then awash with panicked thoughts. Dengue? No, it couldn't have been during the daytime that I was bitten. Which meant it could be malaria mosquito bites. I couldn't fall asleep. I read and reread the parts on malaria and dengue and mosquitoes from the CDC and WHO as well as Lonely Planet Guide for Indonesia. I reapplied more mosquito repellent, hoping that I wouldn't be bitten more, and glad that my body tolerates the anti-malarial tablets well enough. The prophylactic use of mefloquine (one 250 mg tablet once a week, FYI) was effective for fighting off the worst cases of malaria, though it would not be able to prevent it totally. I finally fell asleep around 2am with those thoughts of little comfort. I went to the office the next morning, and waited for Yasmeen to arrive. She was not feeling well. However, she took me to the UNTAET clinic, and I got an appointment for 11am. When Tahir called later in the morning, he tried to reassure me that the chances of my contracting malaria were small: first, the mosquito had to be infected itself, and second, it had to be a female mosquito, as males do not carry the parasite. After the twice-weekly staff meeting, I turned to Mireya, who had sat next to me, and told her of my mosquito dilemma as well. She basically told me the same thing as Tahir did, adding that if one spends enough time here, it was inevitable that one would be bitten eventually, and that I shouldn't worry too much, especially since I am able to take the anti-malarial tablets. I went to see the doctor at the clinic anyway; I had a question about my Hepatits B booster shot in any event, as the weekend I was to get it was the weekend I was to spend in Darwin with Yasmeen and her friends. I went over a bit late, and I was told to wait. (Doctor's offices seem to be the same everywhere.) I eventually saw a female doctor, who directed me to put on repellent every four hours on exposed areas -- I had only been reapplying after my twice daily showers. She also prescribed me some cream for the itching, with the customary warning that I should come in immediately if I should feel feverish -- a sign that could indicate malaria or dengue. At least I had noticed I'd been bitten, so have been warned of the potential. She also gave me some multi-vitamins for my sniffling. My regular eating habits aren't exactly regular, which might be fine in the U.S. but probably not very good here, so I welcomed that prescription; I normally avoid taking vitamin pills, preferring to get my Vitamin C, for example, from drinking, orange juice. As for the HepB shot, she said it would be better for me to get it after I returned from Darwin; at least, there was one good news out of the whole visit. I admit I'm still a bit uneasy. I hate the idea of getting sick, even though I knew it was a risk I was taking coming here, even though I know I would be MedEvac'ed to Darwin if things got bad, and that my parents would come to be with me if it got worse (probably before then). But neither of those insect-borne diseases are things that I ever dreamed of contracting. Now, I can only take things one day at a time, hoping that the luck that has stayed with me throughout my life would still stand by me now. To be continued....