...cold these days...yeah...
I was talking to a Vietnamese friend today, we were both complaining about how cold its been. I told her I thought I better buy some warm clothes before it gets really cold.
"Will it get colder?!" she asked, sounding surprised.

Things feel a bit better now that we have realised there is a problem and done some things to cope with it. Before we just thought things would get easier as time went on, that we would catch up, that Soeun will feel better "tomorrow" etc etc. But now we've realised things are actually getting harder.

Went to see the doctor this week, waiting for test results.

Very thankful that we were happy with the doctor we saw, and very thankful for Medicare!!!!!!!

On Friday I sent an email to people to ask them to thank God that Soeun had good health during his class the other week. And last week he was feeling ok too, and almost reaching the one month mark. So we were both very frustrated when he got sick again on friday, he's still dizzy today. Adjusting to all the new things is so hard! If only we could start doing everything normally straight away. He hasn't been healthy long enough to get to know people very well yet, which makes settling in hard.

friday was like O week again for me. Meeting international students at work SO SO exciting, but then having a sick and frustrated husband is so so not exciting.

And although he's been back for a month its kind of like we haven't really caught up properly yet. In the month we were apart, so many big things happened with our family and friends in Cambodia, and I went through some changes here, so we have got lots to catch up on. But we haven't had much time, as I'm out basically all day for 6 days a week and he has been sick, so we haven't eaten many meals together. And if we do eat  together its often with 120 strangers! So not very relaxed or friendly.

I stayed home from church on yesterday- Saturday was just too short this week, need more time to sleep and hang out at home. I just couldn't bear to meet more new people and spend another day away from Soeun.

Modern day family life

Before I went to bed the other night I spent about an hour with my family (husband, 2 parents, 4 siblings, 1 bro  in law and a nephew). One sibling came a bit late as she was eating dinner, another siblings left early as she had to go and have lunch. Some family members talked about how their weather was getting warmer, others about how it was getting cooler.

http://www.karenvoice.net

small groups

Small group Bible studies are the fun part of the job for me at the moment. Today I met with a Chinese Christian and a Catholic from a Muslim country, we read some bits of a letter in the Bible. Very interesting conversation.

today

Some random things from today:
1. I can't access yahoo mail
2. I met a Karen person
3. I listened to a FOCUS talk that was meant to be the first one recorded with the (new?) recording thing taped to the speakers face. He made sure we knew (noo) this, and how exciting it was. Later, he realised the whole time he was doing his talk it was on pause. Oops!!!

new friends from asia

Spent some time with a new friend from Asia today. She knows a lot about the Bible and seems to understand quite a bit. A while ago she told me the Bible had had a good impact on her life, but she is not a Christian. Today I commented on the fact that she had a lot of knowledge about the Bible. She said "yes I have a lot of head knowledge but to be a Christian I'd have to believe Jesus from the bottom of my heart". And she's not not ready to do that yet, as there are still some things she's not sure about.

I have another new friend from Asia who does call herself a Christian, yet I think has less knowledge about the Bible and wears a wrist band to protect her.

It's exciting to be getting to know these people!

I'm in a small group with 3 others. One guy is not a Christian but he is coming along to learn more.

Another 2 things I've noticed

As well as a lot of name tags, 2 other new things around me now that I'm in Aust.

One is I've noticed people using the word "flag", I think meaning to bring attention to something. I don't remember hearing it so much before, my my team mates and people at church seem to use it a lot.

The other thing is keep cups. I saw these weird looking things around college and office, I finally worked out what they were. Conveniently they were on special last week, so we have some now.

Nametagmania

Ever since I got to Australia there have been name tags everywhere. At church they have sticky labels with names printed on them, and blank ones for guests to write their own. As you go into the room where the service is held you pass the name tag table so you can sticker yourself before going in.

At FOCUS public meetings with international students we have the same kind, as well as at the big public meetings with the whole AFES group.

And then at Bible college where I live, students are also required to wear name tags at this time of year. Its handy as I've met lots of people and can't remember all their names, and there are a few hundred at college, and mostly I meet them once and never see them again.

In Cambodia you don't need to know people's name so much (i think), you just need to know their age, so you can work out what to call them. If a woman is older than my mum, I would call her Om (old auntie), if she is younger than my mum I would call her Ming (young aunt). If she's around my age I would just call her Bong, like older sister, etc etc.

Oops

So the end of week 2, the first week of doing stuff similar to the week before (the first non first).


How was it? Well, I'm feeling heaps better than I was a few weeks ago, but I still made some of the same type of mistakes.


After introducing myself to a girl on Monday, I asked her "What do you study?". 


I've been meeting so many people at uni (where I work) and at Bible college (where I live) its what I always ask people after I've found out their name and where they are from.


"Umm, I'm a staff worker, not a student. I think we are all staffworkers here."


Then I realised I was at a staff training event...oops!


At our weekly FOCUS public meetings I've been writing down people's names as they come in the door, and numbering them 1,2,3 etc.


However, my teammate informed me this week my numbering was a little creative. 


"your numbering was 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 24, 25, 26 hehe"

Went for a walk with Soeun

Relief!

Soeun had his first day of his first intensive today. He has been in Australia for 2 weeks now and up til now it;s been hard. Mostly he has been tired and sick (his last few weeks in Cambodia were hectic), and then stressed about trying to get the pre attendance reading and writing done.

And actually I think he's still tired, but having the pre attendance essay out of the way makes things seem much better. As he came late and was sick it was frustrating as he didn't have as much time as he would have liked. He has written essay for a Bth before, but I guess the first time you do something for an MA its hard to know what the expectation is.

His family are going through some big changes at the moment. And some close friends in Cambodia are having some serious problems, so thats also been hard for him.

Circus?

I was sitting on the grass watching someone learn to skateboard. Someone else was practicing their unicycle skills. Another person was having a hair wrap done. Later someone attempted to juggle 4 green apples. A Bible college campus is an interesting place.

Week One!

So last week was a week of changes, and now this is the first week of new routines.

Last week was exciting as I met lots of new international students. Kimsoeun and I mostly ate dinner with just the 2 of us last week, as we hadn't seen each other for over a month, and after big days at uni talking to many people I didn't really feel like eating dinner with 100 and something people.

Tomorrow is our first FOCUS public meeting!