White Christmas & greetings from the visitors

Hi all,

I have probably overrun the window for blog posts, but I thought you might like to see some photos I took of the snow over Christmas. Temperatures of -16 deg C were recorded (Google tells me thats 3 deg F), which is uncharacteristically cold for Ireland (we usually get, at most, a week or two of frost per year). These photos were taken on Christmas morning. I live in the country so there were plenty of photographic opportunities. Hopefully they give you some idea of how beautiful it was (well, for short periods. It didn't take too much walking around in the cold for the fireplace to look very beautiful!).

Finally, just before everyone left Berkeley for the Christmas break, the visiting students went for a meal at a Chinese Restaurant. Photographs were obligatory of course, some of which involved creative use of the revolving table. The video below will explain what I mean!

I hope everyone is keeping well.

Wedding toast

So our good friends got married last weekend here in the Philippines. I gave the toast in a mixture of tagalog and english, which was entertaining to the guests. More interestingly, we drank lambanog, which is best described as local moonshine that was soaked in jackfruit and raisins for 6 months before drinking. My outfit in the photo is a customary shirt that is called barong. It is commonly worn here at weddings. It is made of fibers from pineapple leaf.

Russia Photos

Hi all! I just got back to Berkeley after spending the New Year holidays with friends in Russia. The first photo is near the train station in Moscow. Kazan is about a 14 hour train ride eastwards. The weather was not too cold, about -10 C (15 F), with plenty of fresh snow. On New Years' night, my friend and I went to the city center to take pictures.
It is not a Christmas tree, but a New Year's tree in the background. Across the former Soviet Union on December 31, families decorate trees and prepare special salads to celebrate the Communist-approved New Year holiday, while Grandfather Frost, dressed suspiciously similar to Santa Claus, brings presents for the children.

The days are short in winter, so the holiday lights are especially welcome.
In Kazan, the Kul Sharif mosque is also lit up brightly at night.
Later in the week, we invited some of their relatives for dinner and homemade bread and steamed meat dumplings.

Brazilians at the beach

The first post about what I didn't do during the break. The next one is coming later today.

Brazilian dudes dont wear speedos and girls dont have belly buttons

Manuel

Suministros por la casa del pueblo

Hi guys!
Back to Cali, I managed to smuggle some good things from Brazil! The caipirinhas for the spring semester inauguration are guaranteed!




















Cheers!

a few holiday pics

Hey dudes-

Hope everybody is having a good break! Here are a couple of photos from a little road/climbing trip I took with the old lady through Joshua Tree and Death Valley. You Euros might have stuff that looks like Yosemite, but I guarantee you don't have crap as weird as Death Valley and Joshua Tree.

See everybody soon,

Marshall