One Story

An opportunity presented itself on campus to attend a workshop called One Story (http://www.onestory.org/). The workshop was for a full weekend and was hands-on, super practical, and interesting. We learned how to tell a Bible story in an engaging, interesting way that can be remembered for the listeners to then be able to retell the story to their friends and family. We also learned how to lead a Bible study with Bible storytelling techniques. During the weekend we worked with partners to learn two stories. At the end of the weekend, we told our stories to an audience on campus. It was so fun to see how everyone in the course (including my teammate Tania and her daughter, Grace), grew over the course of just a weekend in confidence, in ability to learn in an oral way, and in storytelling skill. I hope to continue to practice what we learned and especially make use of it in the oral culture in Vanuatu.

Aussie-American English Dictionary

Language learning isn't what I expected to be doing in Australia but it turns out that there are loads of words that are different between here and the States, not to mention all the different pronunciations and getting used to a different accent! Here are the main differences I've learned over the last several months.

Australian English - American English

4WD	SUV
"That's $5, thank you" (salesperson in a store)	"That's $5 please"
Afternoon tea	Coffee/tea break
Aluminium	Aluminum
Arvo	Afternoon
Bacon	More like ham
Barbie	Barbeque
Bin	Trash can
Biscuit (bikkies)	Cracker or cookie
Bitumen (pronounced bitchumen)	Tar/asphalt
Bloke	Guy
Bludger (pronounced blujuh)	Lazy person
Bonnet	Hood
Boot	Trunk
Bottle shop	Liquor store
Brekkie	Breakfast
Bring a plate	Potluck
Bush	Out in the country, the woods
Bush fire	Forest fire
Bush walking	Hiking
Capsicum	Green/red/yellow pepper
Caravan	Motor home
Chips	French fries
Chemist	Pharmacist
Chooks	Chickens
Chuck a left/right/u-turn	Turn left…
Chuck a wobbly	Throw a fit
Clucky	Wanting your own kids
College	Tech school
Creche	Nursery
Crook	Sick or below standard
Cuppa	Cup of tea
Dacking	Depantsing
Diagonally	Kitty corner
Dobber	Tattletale
Dodgy	Shady or below standard
Dressing gown	Bathrobe
Doona	Bedspread
Dunny	Outhouse
Esky	Cooler
Fair dinkum	For real, true
Fair go	Give someone a chance
Flat out	Going as fast as possible
Footpath	Sidewalk
Footy	Aussie rules football
Fortnight	2 weeks
Full on	Super busy, overwhelming, intense
Gaol	Jail
G'day	Hey
Get sacked	Get fired
Give way	Yield
Good as! (can be used with most any adjective)	As good as (fill in the blank)
Good on ya	Good for you, way to go
Year 1	1st grade
Hand in	Turn in
Heaps (can say things like 'heaps good)	Lots (exp. Like "super good")
High school	7th -12th grade
Holiday	Vacation
How ya goin'?	How's it going?
Ice block	Popsicle
Jumper (pronounced jumpuh)	Sweater
Kindy	Kindergarten or pre-school
Lollies	Candy
Lolly	Sucker
Loo	Bathroom
Maccas	McDonalds
Mark	Grade (on an assignment)
Mate	Friend
Milk bar	General or corner store
Milkshake	Actual milk with syrup or flavoring in it
Mince	Ground beef/hamburger
Mobile	Cell phone
Morning tea	Coffee/tea break
Mozzie	Mosquito
Muesli	Granola
Mum	Mom
Nappy	Diaper
No worries	No problem, it's alright
Ocker (pronounced ockuh)	Aussie version of a redneck
Oval	Sports field
Over (used as a verb) the page	Turn the page
Parcel (pronounced pawsull)	Package
Partner (pronounced pawtnuh)	Husband/wife
Petrol	Gas
Pinch	Steal
Plaits	Braids
Poo	Manure or poop
Pram	Stroller
Primary School	Elementary School
Rock up/turn up	Show up
Rockmelon	Cantaloupe
Rubbish	Trash
Sanger (pronounced sanguh)	Sandwich
Schmozle	Mess, chaotic situation
School	Up to age 18 Only
Semi trailer (pronounced semee trailuh)	Semi
Serviette	Napkin
Servo	Gas station
She'll be right	It's all good
Shop	Store
Shout	Treat someone (pay for their meal)
Sickie	Sick day
Singlet	Tank top
Skivvy	Turtleneck
Smoko	Smoke break or tea break
Stone	Pit (as in a fruit)
Sneakers/runners/joggers	Tennis shoes
Spider (pronounced spida)	Coke (or any other pop/soda) float
Stonefruit	Any fruit with a pit in it
Sultanas	Raisons
Supper (pronounced supuh)	Post-dinner snack
Swimmers/bathers/swimming costume/togs	Swimsuit
Ta (pronounced taw)	Thanks
Tea	Evening meal
That's all right	Sure, you're welcome
The toilet	Bathroom
Thongs	Flip flops
Tick	Checkmark
Tin	Can
Tinny	Can of beer
Tip	Dump/landfill
Tomato sauce (pronounced tomawto sowce)	Ketchup
Track	Trail
Tracky daks	Sweat pants
Trolley	Cart
Trousers (pronounced trousas)	Pants
Truck	Delivery truck, semi
Tyre	Tire
Uni (university)	College
Ute	Pickup Truck
White tea/white coffee	Tea/coffee with milk
Windscreen	Windshield
Zed	Z
Pronunciations
Ah mund	Almond
Ashfelt	Asphalt
Core dee ull	Cordial
Fawstuh	Faster
Heytch (H)	Aytch (H)
Nyewspeypuh	Newspaper
Pasta (1st a like a in apple)	Pasta
Semee	Semi
Sixdeen	Sixteen
Chune	Tune
Whoa tuh	Water
All R's at the end of words dropped unless following word begins in a vowel Exp. "computa" for computer or "caw" for car
All R's in the middle of words dropped if in a consonant cluster. Exp. "Cala" for Carla or "ama" for armor
R's added to words ending in a vowel if the following word begins in a vowel. Exp. "Montana(r) is a great state"

Wow, pretty incredibly long list! Who would have thought!

July newsletter page 2

Newsletter page 2. For the life of me I couldn't get both of them to enlarge when in the same post. :)

July newsletter page 1

July's newsletter (click on image to enlarge). If you don't receive it and would like to, or if you get snail mail but are happy to switch to e-mail, let me know at psalm96three@gmail.com and I'll switch you over. Blessings!

Little Big Day Out

Our church in Melbourne, Grace Baptist Church, had a VBSish day today called Little Big Day Out. Lenna, the pastor's wife, is the mastermind. Here's some pictures and a (long) video from the day (don't bother watching all of it unless you're my mom - just there if you're REALLY bored). :) A (shorter) video of Gretchen teaching the kids our verse, John 14:6 follows. The included video is Gretchen and I doing our story. Gretch, Tania & I led the 1st and 2nd graders for the day. They were great fun. Pray for all the kids who came that the Lord would remind them of what they learned today and that they would have come to know Jesus more or for the 1st time. There's pictures here too of us having lunch at Lee and Janet's. They go to Grace and are a fantastic couple. Their girls are super sweet too. We enjoyed the fabulous food Lee crafted for us too. They are a blessing to us. Enjoy!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Another one bites the dust

Another term that is (bites the dust). Hooray, we made it through Semester 1 by God's grace and lots of chocolate. Here are some pictures of the fun things anyway. Who wants to see pictures of me sitting on my bed typing away on my computer for hours? :) So I didn't take pictures of that obviously.

Some of the pictures show one of the projects we had for our Phonology class. It is a tribute to Bruce, our instructor for that class, that we left the class with a ginormous packet, were told it would take us an average of 20-35 hours to finish it, and we were all excited to start. He gave us little "stress release" packets every week (with chocolate) and a certificate of completion when we were done. Plus, he was clear in his expectations, made it manageable, and fun. He's a great teacher. Here's those pictures!

Make a Smilebox photobook

Wish I could show you pictures of my friend who is responsible for the buns in the pictures, many of the monkey games, and the decorated white board! We had to see her off at the airport the end of June. She's off to start work in a country a long long way from here. Pray for her for safety and that she would be a witness where God leads her! The Dodgy D Dorm dames will look a bit different next semester without her. We miss you already, dear friend!

Proud to be an American

The longer I'm away from the States, the more I come to appreciate America. It's a beautiful country with fantastic opportunities, generous and encouraging people, great ideas, taken-for-granted freedoms, quality goods, smart progress, fair laws, great hygiene :), the best prices in the world, and great unity through diversity. I'm proud to be an American and to call that my home country. Other countries may want to tear America down, but God bless the USA!