My New House

My old house was awesome!  Hexagon shape...natangura roof...door facing the path towards the village center...good size for one person.  BUT the roof leaked.  A leaky roof means mould, mildew, and Chinese torture drip drip drip into bowls and buckets around the house.  My counterpart felt sorry for me and built me a new house!  Drum roll please....

 This house is an L shape.  There are 3 rooms (kitchen, sitting room, and bedroom).  They plan to build a veranda (porch) in the coming months.  The walls are made of meshanite and covered with a concret wash on the outside.  The roof is made from natangura leaves and keeps a cool breeze passing through at all times.

Here's the kitchen!

I have my 2 burner propane stove, a place to wash dishes, a big drum for holding water, a food safe, and shelves hidden by turtle calico!

 My sitting room has a table for eating and working as well as my comfy reading chair.  Does this make me sound old?  My Papa built me some bookshelves since I spend lots of free time reading.  In the corner of the room I have hung all of the beautiful cards sent from friends and family since I have arrived.  I get lots of snail mail!!  Thanks everyone :)

My bedroom is a bit dark but perfect for sleeping in past 5 AM.  I have my mosquito net covered bed which does wonders to block giant spiders, cockroaches, hornets, ants, millepedes and any other crawling or flying thing!  I have a clothing wardrobe and table for storage.  

 

Hung over my door I have a traditional red mat made on the east side of Ambae.  This was given to me as a gift after I was a bridesmaid for my sister Losa.  Her name was carved into the banana tree with the pattern for this special occasion!