Sunday, August 16, 2009

Friends, Romans, Countrymen...

Company picnics are a time-honored tradition in America, and this weekend we learned that they are not solely an American phenomenon. 

Yap's Office of the Attorney General consists of Matt's office, the police department, and Yap's only fire station.  This weekend, the OAG hosted a barbeque to celebrate the appointment of the new police chief and the commissioning of a class of officers just graduated from cadet school. 

 

In a seemingly unrelated turn of events, Matt's boss left the island on Saturday to attend a two-week conference in Guam, leaving Matt as acting Attorney General in his absence.  Matt appreciates the vote of confidence, but was not expecting to have to make any public appearances on behalf of the office this time around.  Imagine our surprise when we found out that Matt was on the VIP guest list, and more importantly the list of speakers at the event.

 

Matt was honored and gratified to be asked to speak, and had two things going for him: A supportive wife and an audience too hungry to expect a lengthy declamation. 

Matt's address made the Gettysburg address seem lengthy by comparison, and soon after we all settled down to some Yapese vittles.

 

By vittles, we mean turtle, tapioca, sashimi, breadfruit, and turkey tail. 

After hearing about the evils of turkey tail at Law Day, KC made herself a promise that she would never try it.  The only problem with this was that she had no idea what it looked like until today.  As it turns out, fried turkey tail can be mistaken for a dumpling by an unaware buffet grazer.  This time – particularly after tasting it – KC fully intends to abide by her promise.

 

In addition to all of this fun it was a beautiful blue-sky day, and we took the opportunity to take a few pictures of a part of the island that we'd not yet had a chance to visit.

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1 comment:

  1. The colors in the third from the last photo are just unbelievable! So brilliant!

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