The toilet is a ceramic hole in the ground. We live among water buffalo, chickens, rats, dogs, pigs, goats, monkeys, snakes, lizards, scorpions, spiders, mosquitoes, and with fleas, tinea and diarrhoea being regular problems. Our clothes are washed in the irrigation ditch with the water buffalo. We perform normal taskings, including investigations into disturbances, assaults, thefts and the occasional unusual death. There is daily violence towards police in Dili, with riots commonplace.
Most local males carry machetes.
In smaller towns, this violence towards police is less frequent. We work a 12-hour day with six days off every 30 we work. This frequently extends to more than 30 days due to difficulties in maintaining manpower levels. The result of an unsettled dispute occasionally results in the killing of a person. Village meetings generally involve sitting for multiple days listening to an unfamiliar language and, if a solution is found, feasting afterwards on local cuisine.