Sonrei House

House



Sonrei House was built with two main purposes; 
A) To house our family and be a base for many of our projects, and  
B) To provide accommodation and assistance for visitors to East Timor.
Heres a little movie Serenity made 2 years ago - a tour through the house.
When we chose the name Sonrei, we combined English and Tetun to make a new word :) The most obvious meaning is sun ray!  However the word rei in Tetun can mean kiss, so we like to think of it as sun-kissed.  Rei also means king. On the Eastern side of Dili is a large statue of Jesus and the place is called Christo Rei (Christ the King).  So Son Rei over on the Western side of Dili can also mean son of God the King. 
And I recently discovered the word is actually Spanish for "I smile"!  I like it!

 



 On the beach side of the house we have a large open living area.  We have two tables and lots of seating.
  One of the tables is roughly suitable to be set up with a ping pong net which is lots of fun.

Downstairs also includes our office/school room, a laundry (with a washing machine!) and  a 3-way bathroom with a western style toilet and shower.

Up the stairs leads to the bedroom areas.  We have 1 large guestrooms, another 3-way bathroom, a small living area, 3 bedrooms for us, and a lovely verandah overlooking the ocean.  When we have lots of visitors we offer some mattresses on this verandah with the ocean lulling you to sleep....











Outside we have a fantastic beachfront yard surrounded by coconut trees (which do tend to drop bombs down quite regularly).  The ocean is lovely most of the time, although in August it gets a bit rough - nothing like NSW beaches though.

Unfortunately the downside of calmer seas means surfing doesn't really work, but skim boarding may be fun!  A few expats kite surf when the wind is up, and sometimes we see sea kayaks passing.  You can borrow a dug-out canoe if you like.
Or use our motor boat - Nautilus.

We also see large pods of dolphins, whales and jumping marlin and sailfish and other leaping fishy things.





We have a soccer ball, and plenty of bamboo to make other sport equipment such as the slippery cricket bat Israel was learning with :)

We also have pets at Sonrei house.  If you are allergic to cats or dogs we will try our best to minimise contact, however please be aware the pets are the kids special friends.
They are both well behaved and toilet trained.  Fudge (the dog) may try to get your attention when he first meets you, and Taffy(the cat) may leap onto your bed during the night.....



 
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