Life in Australia

The birds...so far we've seen parrots, kookoburra's ("laugh, kookaburra, laugh"), stork-looking birds, black birds with a long yellow beak, and this strange black bird that sounds like a child talking or calling out. It still startles us when we walk by one and hear it!

We have to remember to look left instead of right when crossing the street, since they drive on the opposite side of the road. And they drive fast here! We've realized that pedestrians are not respected in the same way they are back home, so we find ourselves hurrying across the street a lot!

Trains!!! We love the train system here. We wish Corvallis had a cool train system like they do here in Australia. After our two day team briefing in Sydney, we rode the train two hours north to Newcastle. The countryside we passed through was beautiful....lots of bays of water with sailboats and small ships, open countryside (surprisingly green), and various little towns. And now we take the train to campus every day, since it runs through the city. The only time I've gone running so far on this trip is several times running to try to catch the train at the platform!! Whew, made it each time. :)

Australia is very similar to the US, but we've been surprised that we and our team have experienced some culture shock. We had an extremely hard time setting up three cell phones to be able to use here. We have phones so our students can call Aussie students here to set up ministry appointments at the university. Nathan spent several days trying to figure it out and having it not work. Something that would take 2 hours back home can take two days here. But we are settling in well and it seems more like normal life now. There are just times where it requires more patience from us, I suppose that is a good thing the Lord is inviting us into.

Slang...we are picking up on Aussie slang and learning some interesting new words! "Aussie" means Australian. "How'd you go?" or "How you goin'?" does not mean what was your mode of transportation, it means how are you doing. "Heaps" means lots. "Juicy" means really (example, I'll pick you up juicy quick at the train station.) "No worries" means thank you, or no problem. "Cuddle" means hug (example, could I have a cuddle?) "Mozzi's" means mosquitos. "Brekkie" means breakfast (they use a LOT of abbreviated/shortened words like that). "The Uni" means the university. "Take Away" means to go (like at a restaurant).

It is fun hearing the accent every day and getting to know the Aussie way of life. In the next blog I'll update about the ministry we've been doing.