Got the moon

Mendy suggested I look up on the internet how to take a picture of the moon. So, even though I'm not one for following directions, I am one for looking things up on the internet. The websites said to use ASA 100, f/16, 200mm lens, a remote release on the shutter, and a 1/100 exposure. I did exactly that, and here's what I got.

Harvest Moon by Mt Yasur

I wish I could get a picture of the "rabbit" in the moon, which some myths in Vanuatu call "dirty handprints on the moon." Even though I couldn't get the craters of a yellow harvest moon, this 30 sec. exposure shows the moonrise next to Mt. Yasur on the day of the year when the moon is the largest. Yanemilen's church light is on, so the church is visible in the foreground.

Rivers, slingshots, and new words

We hiked and scrambled for an hour up a river near us, with all the kids, to an abandoned village, with Killion as our guide-- Mendy said the river gorge was like paradise. On the way back, I got a new word for "cry for attention" and "give a piggy back ride" since Kate was asking for both attention and a piggy back ride. I also got the word for "to cut the end of a stick so it's sharp" and the corollary "to cut...so it's dull" because Hannah wanted a wild cane spear. I also learned some more about local magic. If you chew wild cane and spit it on someone's hair, it will grow like the remaining wild cane grows. If someone has poisoned you with sorcery, you tear a certain leaf into 10 parts, and drink them-- it will cause you throw up; and will rid you of the sorcery. I didn't know that their magical knowledge involved counting portions of leafs. Additionally, Killion told me about stone where you put a leaf before going hunting, and the devils in the hills will give you nohia-- a successful hunt.

On the way back in the village, I saw Stanley (in the picture) aiming his slingshot at a large green bird 50 feet up in a banyan (I couldn't even see the bird). He shot it and hollered "I got it!" About 40 people from the village rushed to see what he got. I hear it's tasty.

I chewed a Kava, and I liked it

Well, okay, I didn't LOVE it! I'd tasted it before, but had never masticated and spit it out on a leaf to be drunk by someone else. So, I asked for a hunk at the nakamal, and got started chewing. The chief said, "Okay, spit that out for me, I'll drink it." Sorry, no picture of me with a mouthful of kava- they still don't want pictures of kava in our nakamal. The strange thing is, my chewed kava was light green, almost white, but all the other men had olive or dark green wads of kava spit. Mine didn't look right; but I guess it was okay, because all the men crowded around my wad and spoke their approval.

new videos on youtube

We uploaded two more videos on our youtube channel www.youtube.com/knehrbass. Here's the link to the one about the bat (flying fox). And Here's the one with Abby washing the truck.

"School Closing"

Schools throughout Vanuatu have "school closings" in December-- all day feasts and graduation ceremonies. (Like Australia, the school year is from Jan to December). Here's Translator Jenri leading a dance at the school closing in Isaka.

On a different note-- we finally have a water pump on the South side of our house, running to the toilet and bath-- after all these years! What a change! Our gravity tank took 45 minutes to fill the toilet. Now it takes less than one minute.

Mt Yasur

We went to the volcano last night. I think it was my 21st time. Every time is interesting. This time, an eruption shot a stone over the heads of the friends I was with. They got it on video, and I'm sure it'll be on youtube.

Yasur's four vent holes

Here's a pic of all four vents blowing up at once. This was done with a 1/13 sec exposure (3.5 aperture) and a 19mm lens.

via 2 satellites from Yanemilen, Tanna, Vanuatu

This message is our first from Yanemilen, Tanna. As I write, I'm watching the volcano explode and listening to a radio station in Ohio. The new truck! The suspension is beautiful. You barely notice the bumps in the roads! No noises except the reassuring hum of the engine. I didn't need a/c, because it's a bit cooler on Tanna. We have better tires than on the last truck, bigger ones, and the engine is 10% larger, plus we have the full use of it-- so I've made it up the two big hills every time, whereas I'm sure, because of the mud, I wouldn't ever have made it up those before in these conditions.
Getting the house ready: we have the water running, power on, septic tank in place, no rat problem, apparently.

ship is going

They actually got 13 trucks on the ship. Can you see ours?

Revelation, and comps

I just finished two of my four comprehensive exams. That went smoothly. Actually, translating Revelation has been a bigger challenge. We had difficulty with "I hold the keys to death and Hades." (Rev. 1:18). For now, we have it as, "I am in charge of death. And I can open up the room/space of the dead." We also found Rev. 3:2 to be too complex to fit into one congruent thought. The phrase that says "Strengthen what remains and is about to die because I have not found your deeds to be complete in the sight of my God" must have the idea of completion/perfection, and both Jesus and God need to be examining the deeds. For now, it says: "but you must work hard to lift up again the deeds you did at first, because I haven't found a deed that you started and carried out until completion that is straight in my God's eyes." But, I want to break the sentence up so it flows better.

Caleb's art

I don't know how Caleb did this; I know he did it with Picasa software. Now his sisters know how to do this too.

Mele Cascades

Mendy and Hannah at the highest pool at Mele Cascades.

Inside a fall in Mele

You have to swim underwater the falls to get here; it's one of the lower falls in Mele-- our kids' favorite place in Vanuatu. It's like Christmas getting to go to Mele! Note that we have an online photo album with many more pictures at picasaweb.google.com/nehrbassken

Caleb doing a flip

While we're stuck in Vila waiting for the ship, we're swimming after work and school.

Look, a Poodle!

Kate said: Look, a poodle!

4 Seatbelts

Caleb is very safe in the back seat.

Hannah's Birthday

One of our birthday gifts to the kids this year is building memories with their friends. Hannah took Renee to the "Fun Factory." Here, they're shooting an air powered canon. Mendy made her "dirt" for her birthday cake. For my birthday, we went and had a steak at Flaming Bull.

Dinh 1 to Tanna

This is the beautiful, dependable ship that we have been waiting on since Sept 1 to take our truck to Tanna. There are eleven trucks waiting for it to be repaired. Supposedly, it can hold 16 trucks. After it goes to Tanna, sometimes it picks up native pine from Aneityum on the return trip. Then our friends on Aneityum get a cargo ship.

New truck- Ambulance for Tanna

Here's our new Mitsubishi 4x4-- I wonder how many lives will be saved because of this truck. We'll be taking pregnant women and trauma victims to the hospital 1 and a half hours away, in Lenakel.

Decided to blog

Since we now have reliable broadband, I've decided to post pictures and updates about our lives and work regularly on a blog.

Here's a picture of the satellite dish that supplies our broadband. We'll need to take it down and put it on the ship as soon as it leaves-- when will that be?

With our broadband, we'll also be able to post videos on a channel on youtube.com. Our channel is here.