PAD Part 21

Sandrine and Tari, two kids in town I enjoy quite a lot. I was walking home from work and Sandrine (on the right) came up to me and asked me to take a picture of her, so of course I obliged!

The first and only time I've been able to see Ambrym from Ambae. For reference, it's about 60 miles away.

Making Christmas cookies with Kathleen and Evan! Gotta bring some kind of US Christmas tradition to Vanuatu.

Where I spent most of Christmas day: the kitchen

Sunset, looking up towards Public Works from the road outside the Guest House where I live

I took a picture of this mostly because I thought it illustrated really well one of the big differences between the US and Vanuatu, namely how pervasive religion is. This sign says: "Holiday notice / The Bank will be closed on December 25, 2015 because of Christmas Day, and will open on December 28, 2015 / The Bank would like to wish all of our customers a Very Merry and Blessed Christmas and that the Heavenly Father protects us all (in the New Year is implied). There's definitely not much separation of Church and State.

The switch at my office (kind of like a power strip, but for internet) was dead when I came in to the office, so I set up shop in the Public Works conference room for a day

Pauline and Cliff Tari's wedding (sorry for the picture quality). The both work in the Finance Office here in town.

Rewiring the new switch! Looks like fun, right?

Spent New Years Eve hanging out with this crew (or as they call it here, squad), and others. We drank some beer/wine, listened to music, and mostly just hung out and talked. It was a nice relaxed evening.

Barry (pictured) and Heguy came over to drink kava and borrow my guitar, so I snapped this pic

I'm sure all of you remember when my dad cut down the tree growing next to my balcony...(Just in case you don't, and are interested, it's here. But let's be honest, you all remember one obscure picture out of the hundreds I've taken. I know it. You can admit it.) But it's growing back, and in force!

My new endeavor: churros! These I made and brought to the nakamal to share with friends for wasemaot (pronounced wash-em-out; a small something to eat after drinking kava to get rid of the taste)