missionaries work

last night i had the opportunity to go with some missionaries in our ward to an investigators home. i never served a mission and really had no idea what it would be like to be on one, so last night was a real learning moment. i certainly have a testimony of the truth of the book of mormon, but i dont think i have ever been asked to share it quite like i was called to last night. what an amazingly brave thing these dedicated boys and girls do each day in spreading the message of the gospel. not only that, but the missionaries here spend lots of time helping immigrants from all over the world with learning english. the service they give daily to often complete strangers is a testament to how we should all live our lives. a free, genuine compassion and helpful hand to anyone who stands in need. what a example to me.

dictionary cont.

• sat-nav- satellite navigator, a tomtom or
• cuppa- as in a cup of tea. they dont need to finish their thoughts because everyone knows what they mean.
• breaki- (pronounced breky) means breakfast. justin says everyone here sounds like they are talking to 4 yr olds. everything is shortened and usually added a "y" on the end.
• good on ya- "way to go" its used both sarcastically and literally
• cheeky-
• ranger- (pronounced rang-er as in "the phone rang") a red head. comes from orangutan because they think they are the same color
• mum- mom. but it sounds so much cuter when the little kids say it.
• nappies- diapers
• fair dinkum- genuine. usually talking about someone.
• bumbag- fanny pack
• bogan- their equivalent of white-trash or a red-neck
• binny- someone who dumpster dives.
• the boot- the trunk of a car. so weird.
• full on- serious! can be good or bad.

Also here's a few famous ausies who we didnt know about, aside from the Keith Urban, Nicole Kidman, and Portia de'Rossi:

Eric Bana- his big role include the other boleyn girl, munich, troy, finding nemo and black hawk down. He is an ausie actor who started out actually as a comedian. its interesting though because all his roles are so serious that we know him for, it was weird watching him be a jokester. likewise for the ausies, they think its weird seeing him in all these serious roles.

AC/DC- you know, the band that brought us the smash hits of "back in black," "you shook me all night long," and more recently "rock n' roll train." they have been rocking since the 70's all the way from oz!! who knew!

Kylie Minogue- pop singer since the 80's, apparently she was big then, but we really only remember her for "can't get you out of my head" in 2001 when she wore the all white jumper with the hood. apparently they really love her over here.

Cate Blanchett- her famous roles in indianna jones and the kingdom of the crystal skull, elizabeth, babel, lord of the rings, and so many more. she is fabulous and i always figured she was from england but in fact she is a product of melbourne.

Russell Crowe- IS NOT AUSTRALIAN!!!! he is actually from New Zealand! and moved over to have a better go at acting! now save that for your trivia night.

Cadbury- was originally started in Tasmania. you know the makers of those yummy cream eggs that come out around easter time with the real looking cream in them. so good!

a day of footy

justin played in his first footy match this past weekend. he has been dying to try it out ever since we got here. the men of our ward arranged a ysa vs. the marrieds game he had a great time but was a bit sore the next day. heres a few pics of the game.

i was pretty scared when this match up came about.

buggin'

so we have been having quite a few bugs show up in our humble abode recently. i knew coming here it was inevitable because oz has the most bugs of anywhere, and turns out that most of them are deadly. apparently they like warm weather, good beaches and sunshine too! first we have these things called carpet beetles. they arent supposed to bite or anything, they are just very annoying! i have no idea where they come from, so i cant stop them at the source like ants. but they are everywhere and they fly! i have found them in our room, the living room, the bathroom, kitchen, everything. so we keep our eye out, vaccuum frequently (which is only the tube of a vaccuum so it takes forever on my hands and knees) and kill everyone we find.

then, last night as we go to our room for bed we find this GIANT spider on our wall. i was hoping to never even see a spider here, but on the wall above our bed made for a sleepless night. i took a picture as evidence of the big bug, mostly just for bragging rights. but let me go back to this weekend when we were talking about 2 of the worst spiders in oz with some of our friends. the ones they mentioned were the red back and a white-tip, or white-tail. I thought i would google these two spiders when i got up this morning just so i know what to look for, and to hopefully disregard the big spider as one that could eat my flesh. lucky for us, thats exactly what it was!! a huge white tailed spider probably chasing after the stupid beetles. not to mention that our bed sits on the floor and now any hope of a good nights sleep is out the window!

and how did these bugs get in you ask? well the front and back doors dont go all the way down to the ground. there is easily a good 1/2 inch at the bottom of every door in our house. so talk about free range!

olympian welcome

all the olympians have been on a country wide "welcome home" tour to all the major cities. Adelaide turned out to be today, so i hoped on the tram and met justin in down town. they did a parade through the city center and ended at Victoria Sq, which is only 2 blocks from justin's work. after they had their little talking and stuff, all the olympians came down to sign autographs and stuff. being the big sucker that i am for anyone "famous", had to join in with all the little school kids, who should have been in class, to get some pics. I felt a bit awkward standing 2 feet above everyone else in the mob, and being pushed by these little munchkins, of which im pretty sure i could have taken out had i moved at all. not to mention the little brat who was yelling at me for pushing!! i mean where is the respect for your elders son. aside all the mayhem, i was able to snag a few pics with our fav athletes from the games that made it out.

this is steven hooker. he won the gold medal in the pole vault. it turned out to be a huge thing because oz has not won a gold medal in anything track and field in 40 years! he was a rockstar amongst the ausies, so we had to get a pic. this next one is justin and Linda MacKenzie. she was on the olympic gold medal for the womens 4x200m freestyle relay team in swimming, and they were truely the underdog. they pulled out an amazing win at the last second to defeat the americans and snagged a world record. this guys is Brenton Rickard, also on the swim team, he came away with 2 silvers. one in the 4x100 medley relay and one in mens 200m breaststroke.

ditcher!!

put this down in the record books! last night, justin ditched his law school class! ok, so nothing to crazy for most people, but for him this is big. I am prettty sure that since I have known him, almost 5 1/2 years, that he has never missed a class and certainly never one while in law school! he must really be catching the Ausie spirit.

weekend getaway

This past weekend we flew out to Brisbane (pronounced bris-bin), which is on the east side of the country about half way up, and headed north to the sunshine coast. its an area about an hour north and stretches for about an hour of beaches north of that. we stayed the first night in Noosa Heads, the north part of the sunshine coast, which is alot like the Carmel of Oz. Very nice, expensive and beautiful. We stayed in a cheap, excentric backpaker for the first night and then the rest in a condo traded down in Caloundra, which is at the very south of the Sunshine Coast. We had a blast enjoying the warm weather, sunshine, surf, beaches and all the cool stuff that part of Oz has to offer. We hiked around the Noosa Head, took a tour to Fraser Island, hiked around the Glasshouse Mountains, Justin surfed, and generally just soaked up the sun! What can I say, it was fabulous. Heres a few picks from the trip.

Noosa Heads

Dickey Beach-

named after the S.S. Dickey that ran ashore in 1893

Glasshouse Mountains

Fraser Island-

is the biggest sand island in the world. all the plants growing on it grow in sand, which is amazing considering its a rain forest and the creeks make no sound because there are no rocks. all the water on the island is fresh and crystal clear.

The Colored Sands

AFL Finals

its the footy finals here and our local team made it into the first round. justins newest addiction is watching these games, so we had to go. it turned out to be a blast! what a fun game! its the best of soccer, football, and rugby all in one. to score, you have to kick the ball between the middle 2 posts for 6 points, or throught the outside goals for 1 point, and you can either kick the ball ahead, or pass it backwards. all while trying to dodge the giant guy running at you full speed who wants nothing m ore than to throw you to the ground. fabulous!

train of thought

Since justin is all responsible and got himself a job, i am now at home getting lots of time to myself. my mind tends to wander too much when i have long periods of undisturbed thought, and this was what today held. it started off as what i wanted for breakfast, and ended on the things i love and dont love about daily life. ill spare you the middle. but thought i would share non the less.

things i love:

• sees candy- a wonderful mom of one of our missionaries lives in LA and sent us a box of see's candies. oh so divine! justin made fun of me that i didnt even wait till we got home (or even out of the church parking lot)before diving into the box. apparently i take after my mother who once bought us a box and ate them before we got there and had to go buy another box.
• mail/comments- email, blog comments, you name it, i love it. i usually feel so isolated here especially while justin is at work. i love knowing how everyone is doing, and what the heck is going on back home! thank you those who send me something weekly (to C and chix) it totally makes my day!
• fresh fruit and veggie stands- i go to this great local grower stand in town and stock up on wonderful produce. i dont think i have ever eaten so many great veg's ever!
• running on the beach- i love after a run, just sitting on one of the many benches overlooking the ocean. and if i have to work out alone (im a social worker-outer, i like to go with someone else) this is the way to go. best part of my day.

things i dont really like:

• expensive groceries- WinCo spoiled me! i get so revolted by $7 for cereal that essentially only gives you 4 bowls! wheres my big bag of krispie rice when i need it.
• expensive nuts- a little snack size bag is $7. you can buy 2 lbs. at costco for like $14. i really miss my snack of walnuts, pecans, almonds, you name it.
• lack of sweet cereal- i have such a soft spot for sugar cereals. give me a good bowl of lucky charms, fruit loops, captin crunch, honeycomb, cocoa crispies, ect. and i am a happy girl. those dont exist here. which is really great for my back end but still leaves me missing an occasional pick me up.