Approaching the Pointy End

Now that Joe and Alaine are married, and housing for next year is sorted out (more on those below) in my field of view, at the moment, is little other than Hebrew. The exam is at the end of the week.

I enjoy Hebrew, but it's definitely tough. There's almost nothing from English to help you, as there is in Greek. And some letters sound basically identical... like coughing up something unpleasant. My memory-hook for the word 'to take' is that the word sounds like someone 'taking' some unpleasant medicine - that gagging, throat-clearing sound. Delightful.

On Joe and Alaine's Wedding. Heaps of you know Joe, of course; others might remember him as my school-mate, who became a Christian years ago and was at Crossroads (Hobart) for a while. The wedding was a great time. All the Tassies were accommodated on a cool 'Farmstay' property just near the reception venue. That was fantastic. The whole thing was really fun, well organised, riddled with great personal touches (like oysters), just excellent. And, of course, they're now married - which is just wonderful. (I preached at the ceremony; it went pretty well, I think).

(No photos yet, I'm afraid. Kate stayed home with Noah and the camera.)

On our home next year. Praise the Lord, we have been offered (and have now accepted) college housing for next year. We had been hoping for something in Newtown, but in the end we were offered a place in one of the other centres: Croydon. Three cool things about the Croydon college-housing-metropolis:

1. It's really family friendly. Heaps of space on the lawns. A bunch of other families live there.
2. Some of my mates live there already (guys from Queensland and Germany, for instance).
3. It may be pioneering a new path for the Taswegians up here, but it's in a cool area and we're looking forward to it heaps.

Oh yeah - and it means we won't have to compete with (quite literally) 50+ people per over-priced Newtown dive. That alone is an enormous point for thanksgiving.

Yum Cha

Thankfully, I've only been sick a couple of times so far this year. Unfortunately, today is one of those times: I'm in the clutches of some mild flu right now.

I was afraid I'd be too crook to make it to Yum Cha with the Hansard's (Unca, Auntie, Luke, Jan, and the boys). It all worked out. I guess the battered chicken feet gave me the strength to pull through :)

It was really fun (even though I felt like death): heaps of waiters bearing all manner of little dumplings in their trolleys, bottomless jamine tea, the place was really humming at 11am - that's Yum Cha! I think the craziest thing was sugar-cake. It can't have been more than sugar and gelatine - wild.

In other news bites:

• The new Radiohead album, In Rainbows, is really good. It's no The Bends or Ok, but there's lots to like about it. Worth however much you choose to pay for it.
  
• Language exams are bearing down on me. This Friday is Greek. Then two weeks later is Hebrew - that's the frightening one.
• Our good mates, Pete and Pamela, have just welcomed their firstborn, Simon, into the world. (For the interested, most of the people in the most recent post on Simon's site are my classmates - spot the Tasmanians!)