Hanging Out in Brizzy

---

Goodbye PNG

I left PNG Monday morning. The traditional sendoff at Kudjip station starts at the circle. The circle is the main gathering point of the hospital and here many of the missionaries, NCON students, my Maintenance work crew, and some hospital staff gathered to say goodbye to me. There was a short time of prayer and a few last photos taken before I left for the airport. The other part of a traditional Kudjip sendoff is all the missionary kids gather flowers and throw them at you in the car as you drive off. My flight from Mt. Hagen to Port Moresby was almost an hour late in departing.

I got to Port Moresby and was the last person to check in for the flight to Brisbane. The 3 hour flight to Brisbane was uneventful. I cleared customs with all of my souveniers! I wasn't too sure that all of my goods would make it through; I have woven baskets, bamboo, hardwood, carvings, shells, and pig tusks, to name a few.

I was picked up at BNE airport by my friend Aaron Park, and then driven to his apartment on the campus of Nazarene Theological College outside of Brisbane. Between the four of us living in the apartment, there are two Americans and two Koreans, so things are pretty cultural here. Aaron and his cousin, Leon, made curry stirfry over rice with kimchi. I went on a late-night walkabout with Dan, an American student, and we saw wallabies hopping around in fields right next to horses. The next day we went shopping at Aldi (the "A" is pronounced as in "hat" instead of as in "swan", as we Americans say it), took a drive to some incredible whitesand beaches on the Gold Coast, and came back to see heaps of wallabies and make some good ol' American chili and cornbread.

When I was in PNG, I got to learn a whole nother language. I didn't realize that in coming to Australia I would also be learning another language. Among my new vocab are the following:
electrician - sparkie
sailor - boatie
surfer -surfie
lumberjack - choppie
mailman - postie
bell pepper - capsicum
truck - ute (short for "utility")
bedspread - duna (pronounced DOO-nuh)
cookies - bickies (from "biscuits")
afternoon - avo (a as is "swan")
avocado - avo (a as is "hat")
Other things are shortened significantly. They don't finish their similies here. Instead of saying, "It's as hot as a sauna" or "it's as dark as a dungeon" they will just say, "It's hot as" or "it's dark as."

Right now it's winter here. The temperature and the lighting remind me of October in Illinois.

Today is my last full day in Brisbane. I hope to go to Lone Pine Koala Refuge and hit up some shopping centers to buy all of my boomerangs and kangaroo steaks

---