this week

i love the sound of: the crashing waves as they roll onto shore after a beautiful dayi love the sight of: an amazing sunset. as the colors fade through the cloudless sky, this simple pleasure of soaking the last days rays makes my day complete. i love the feel of: riding the tram with my hubby as we close our wonderful day in the city. seeing museums, eating at our favorite restaurant. taking an evening to attend the temple.

i love the taste of: a delicious meal for the missionaries. we have been honored to have them in our home weekly and love the company and spirit they bring.

i love the smell of: the earth after it rains

i love our newest activity of playing my sweet hubby in tennis, and occasionally winning

english to oz dictionary

we joked that we needed to get a translation dictionary before we headed here so we could understand what on earth the Ozies were saying. here are some of my favorites so far.

• dodgie = kind of like sketchy or questionable. mostly used in sentences like "the weather is looking a bit dodgie" or "that part of town is a bit dodgie"
• Kiwi = those from New Zealand.
• Footy = football, but not American. this refers to Ausie Rules Football (AFL). its like rugby, soccer and football all into one. this is the main pro sport in OZ
• Rugby league/ rugby union- these are two different leagues with different rules, but i cant remember which is which, but dont confuse them because to people here they are so different.
• Football= soccer. simple.
• Mate- yea, they really say this all the time. "thats my mate", "thanks mate", "no worries mate", seriously all the time.
• brilliant- no translation neccesary, but they say this all the time! its great!
• Booking= a reservation. they are so common here. we have been turned down a few times because we didnt have a bookings and this was at little cafe type places.
• Tomato Sauce- justins favorite = Ketchup. and they certainly dont use it like we do back home. justin feels jipped when he has to ask for packets and they give him one.
• "easy as"= very simple. they say this all the time and i always get stuck waiting for them to finish. im like "easy as WHAT? finish the thought people!" in NZ they say "sweet as" and for the longest time i could not figure out why they were saying sweet ass, what could it possibly mean? now i know.
• heaps= alot, but i giggle everytime someone says it. it sounds so funny to me.
• Chips = not Lays, but french fries.

im sure ill have more, but this is a good start

olympic recap... so far

after many long days and late nights of watching the olympics (for those who know my husband typically crashes for the night shortly after dinner, know this is a big deal), ive made a few observations on the games.

1. I am pretty sure micheal phelps is a fish guy like the one from waterworld. with the gills behind his ears, you know who im talking about. as the ausies say "to put it simply, hes a freak." aside from the pure talent that oozes out of him, i dont know if there is something in the water, or those new speed suits are as good as rocket packs. i dont think his 8 gold's and 7 world records will be beaten any time soon. truely one of the greatest athletes ever.

2. the ladys gymnastics events dont seem to be what they used to. I swear that the bars routines and floor events were soo much longer back in the day. as justin pointed out, i was smaller and everything seemed longer/bigger/faster then, but i am sticking by my claim. i thought they used to do more tricks on the uneven bars, and go back and forth between the 2 more. anyone else think im not crazy?

3. there are so many "sports" that quite frankly is a stretch of the word. ping pong, seriously! ive played, its fun. i dont think its up there with the likes of marathon running as far as athletic ability is concerned though. and dont get me started on the prancing horses.

4. i find it such a bummer that so many people lost money to scams selling tickets to the games, and yet so many of the seats at every event are not filled. i guess the scalpers outside are trying to make an extra buck but its leaving them empty. a couple of the funny people in oz wanted to see if people actually knew the events of the games, so they scalped tickets to fake events. they got 80 euros for the dominos final, fiji v. belarus. and $200 for the tetherball final. no joke.

5. we only get to see the stuff that australia is good at. ie, badminton, table tennis, most swimming events, rowing, and field hockey. usually the only time we catch up on how the US is doing is when they happen to be in an event with them. i never thought about that glitch when we came over here, so its a good thing the US is in just about everything. the big bummer is we dont get to see any of the dream team, water polo (they are favored to win), interviews, gymnastics, baseball, soccer, ect. major bummer!

6. it doesnt look that hard! I know these athletes work their whole lives to get ready for these games, but they make it look so easy. it makes me think i can go jump in the mix and soon enough ill be standing on that podium getting my big old medal.

awaiting

a brown cardboard box. packed tightly to perfection. closed securely and neatly. postmarked to australia. soon, my beloved breaking dawn will arive.

roos, koalas & wombats, OH MY!!

we went to cleland wildlife park this week to see some of the native animals here. we loved the kangaroos. they are just as cool as we thought. i also got to hold a koala (a secret life long dream of mine). it was amazing and they really do just cling on for dear life. their fur id so different than i thought it would be. its so fluffy and soft. we had so much fun hanging out with these animals. even justin had a blast feeding the kangaroo's, they were totally his favorite. also the pelicans are some of the coolest things we have ever seen. their beaks are so neat, and the ones here are HUGE!! they stand above justins waist.

glenelg

here a few pics of home: above- glenelg peir

outside our apartment

the tram justin takes to school

inside our apartment, complete with borrowed stuff
our favorite ice cream place in town (i applied here for a job... still havent heard anything)
when it rains, it pours!!!

one world, one dream

we love love love love love the Olympics!!! every 4 years the world comes together to compete for their home pride. what a wonderful time of year. as the athletes walk through the opening ceremonies, waving their countries flag, no matter how big or how small the team is, the coming together on the world stage is a beautiful thing. these amazing athletes, the worlds elite, put life, politics, religion, and everything else aside to stand shoulder to shoulder with their those whose also have earned a right to compete. oh, how i long to be there. to meet the wonderful people from all corners of the earth. what could i possibly make it in...

where do you pray from?

THIS POST (http://segullah.org/guest-post/the-prayer-i-havent-been-ready-to-pray/) was amazing. I got it from Jess Ericksons blog, and it really got me thinking. truely eye-opening.

life so far

life in oz is great. justin and i are spending so much time together. considering our lack of jobs, justins light school schedule, and our legs as our only transportation we hang out a ton. and i am loving it. we go play tennis whenever we want, walk to the beach, walk over to town with no hurry to get anywhere. we are so uused to life in the fast lane, its nice having it speed right past us as we watch together.

our little apartment is great. considering it wasnt originally furnished, we have been able to scrounge up lots of stuff to fill it. the wonderful lady we are renting from is letting us borrow all the major furniture we need. she also had some plates, bowls, cups, and a pot and pan. This wonderful family in our ward has let us borrow a tv and vcr. we have been so blessed by the people here. their generocity and pure love of helping others is a true example of love thy neighbor.

another great thing is that the food here is amazing. we have eaten out several times and never once had anything we didnt absolutely love. we have so many things on our list of places to try, and i fear we wont be able to get to them all. i have never been in a place where everything tasted good. its like heaven for my tastebuds.

in case you were wondering... yes opera and dr. phil have made it over to their tv. they also have an ER spin-off, deal or no deal, and the news/morning shows. and no i dont think the toilets rotate the other direction being this side of the equator.

overall, life is grand and we are loving the time we have here. we have been so blessed and know that our heavenly father has been watching out for us. we are so thankful to all the help he has given us, and daily see the impact in our lifes.

well let me start off by saying that i HATE job searching! it sucks. i am no good at talking about myself and trying to look interested on the spot. i really just want some money.

so today was spent taking our resumes all over our little town trying to convince someone that we would be employees worth having. most people said we are about 6 weeks early, that they wont be hiring till sept for the summer rush (so hard to remember). but others, in the nicest way possible because everyone is nice here, said no. i applyed everywhere from a cafe, sports journalist, dr.s office, and curves to a retail store, ice cream place and chocolate shop (i am secretly hoping that one of the last ones pulls through). justin went for a local legal office, sunglasses shops and i think a sushi place. the only one that we have any hope for is the cafe though. it is alot like the resturant i worked at back home, and its only 2 blocks away from our house. it would be nice to have work so close.

we also ventured into the ikea in town. it happened to be right next to the airport with a direct bus to our little town. can you say perfect!! justin had never been, so it was quite the fun. we had contests going to see who could find the cheapest product of what we were looking for. ie. silverware (16 piece set for $4.50), bath mat ($3.50) and the clentcher was a laundry basket ($2.00). considering we are probably going to leave most of this stuff here when we are done, it was nice to know that it doesnt add up to much. we did buy a frying pan from a thrift store that we are going to try and smuggle back into the US. its amazing!