Malae, malae!
21/6/2004

A bare white foot, miskept nails still showing a dull glean of month-old varnish and the sole marbled with black dirt, rests deliberately in the open window frame of the bus. Front seat.

The music blares from the shoddy speakers - something unintelligible to her - Indonesian, she thinks. Her face is turned to the wind and eager blue eyes work to absorb the view as it transforms from long coastal stretches to thickly woven forest to flat red dirt and eucalypts.

The smile that first spread across her face as the green bus, loaded with people and produce, wound up and out of Dili has not faded for a good hour. A bead of sweat gathers at the nape of her neck and the backs of her knees are covered in a fine film. It’s nearing midday and the yellow sun is bearing down on the land with full ferocity, etching out in fine detail each rock, leaf and blade of grass.

As the bus pulls into a roadside marketplace children and adults openly gawk, laugh and point. “Malae, malae,” the kids cry. It’s a friendly word the Timorese use for foreigners. And it’s rare to see a foreigner - especially a white woman - on a public bus. The bus driver leans out the window and laughs with the locals. She’s not exactly sure what he’s saying, but it’s something along the lines of “check out this crazy malae I’ve got here”.

She smiles and waves - weird, she thinks. Like being a cross between a two-headed freak and royalty…

The East Timorese are friendly, interested in and slightly reverent towards foreigners. If you are white, they assume you speak English.

“Hello Missus” is a common cry as I ride my pushbike along the battered roads around Suai. If they address me in Tetun I’ll reply with “bondia” or “boatardi”, and if in English, I’ll use both - “hello, bondia”.

Sometimes people will ask how I am and I’ll reply and reciprocate. These exchanges might be in English, Tetun or both. And usually that’s the limit of our ability to communicate with eachother.

These sorts of encounters go on all the time. Everyone I pass waves and smiles. I think I provide great amusement. People openly point and laugh, but it is not in any way malicious. How do I know this? I dunno, you just know.