Month 10 on the World Race landed me in Darwin, Australia with some of
the coolest girls on the planet! That’s right, it was Ladies Night every night
as the guys were off enjoying their ‘Manistry’ Month (probably just sitting
around belching and farting in peace with no girls to worry about, hehe). Team
Tandem teamed up with us Waka girls to make Team ‘Taka Mamas’, the name coined
by yours truly J. We were serving at a
place called Christian Outreach Center which is a church, farm, furniture shop,
and hostel for Aboriginals, where we were mostly working. This ministry really
has a heart for missions and they send millions out to the mission field every year.
They get so many donations from local businesses as well (we were told $50,000
a week… just in food) and man, did we eat! They eat FIVE (count ’em) FIVE meals a day there
and we didn’t know what to do with ourselves after spending the entire previous month living on pb&j and
crackers. [We had been staying in a hostel with no fridge,
stove, or kitchen so the meals were less than exciting]. Anyways, we did all
kinds of odd jobs around the ministry site…including cleaning rooms, mopping,
sweeping, changing sheets, doing dishes, laundry, yard work, and working in the
office. In between all this we spent our free time crocheting—talk about
stereotypical girl time. It was like a month of Home Ec! My favorite job was
when I filled in as the office receptionist for a week. It felt just like
starting a new job—I had to learn the database, transfer calls and deliver
messages, collate books, shred documents, run the canteen, and even check in
clients and bring them to their rooms. I can’t say this month was the Aussie
experience I’ve always dreamed of but it was still a lot of fun and Crikey, did
I learn a LOT! Just like a boomerang, I hope to return to Australia some day soon… J
- As a newbie Down Under you should be aware of the most basic Aussie slang to survive: Brekky=breakfast; Maccas=McDonalds; G’day=hi; Bloke=guy; Sheila=girl; True Blue=totally Australian; Ripper=fantastic; Yankee=American; Dunny=toilet; Heaps & Heaps= a lot; You’re Welcome=’no worries’ or ‘too easy!’
- When driving on the left side of the road for the first time
always remember its best to keep your eyes on the road and concentrate when
facing an approaching vehicle or entering a roundabout. Apparently squeezing
your eyelids shut and screaming is not the best method to survive. Who knew??? - When filling in as a receptionist, you may find
that the Aussie accents on the other end of the line are just too thick to
understand. Most of your messages may end up sounding like, “Uh, yeah…someone called for you about something from some organization with a phone number I
couldn’t quite catch but it sounded really urgent so you should probably call
them right back!” By the time you’re done they’ll be so glad to get the ‘yankee’ off the phone J - If you decide to take your malaria meds in the morning, be
sure to have plenty of food in your stomach first or you will find yourself
leaping from a van in the break down lane and tossing your cookies into a ditch
(especially if all you ate was cookies for breakfast). - As a missionary arriving in Australia for the first time you must brace yourself for the unbelievably high prices. The same travel toothpaste that was $.30 in Asia will be a whopping $3 in Australia (that’s 10 X the cost for you math majors). You will be so excited when you see a Target and run with open arms into the store only to find that t-shirts are $35. You will immediately run out the door just as quickly as you came. Down Under, you’re over the top!
- When you are stranded in the middle of the outback with no
cell phone service and your vehicle decides to not start simply follow this
procedure: 1). Find a local Aussie bloke to help 2). Get a group of sheilas to
push with all their might 3). Pray like you never prayed before!
