Hearing Test and Iced Chocolate (and lots of Aussie slang)

Tuesday April 11th – This morning Helen, the Audiologist, joined us for further discussion on hearing loss. She gave us a tour of the hearing clinic at the GDV campus and then showed us the various tests she performs. We took turns being the ‘client’ and having our hearing tested. You’ll be happy to know that I have normal hearing! Sue had the pressure in her ears tested as she has been feeling sick and congested for the last couple of days. It was interesting that Helen was able to measure the change in pressure in her ears and to see the slight resulting loss of hearing when she tested Sue.

Remember when I showed Jhaneen, Laura, and Simone the Guide Dogs for the Blind DVD? Well, Jhaneen was so impressed that she arranged for us to present it during lunch for all interested GDV staff. We had a pretty good turnout of about 20 people. Again, it was very well received. Nice job, Joanne, Morry, and the communications and marketing department at GDB!! It’s definitely a video to be proud of. If anyone hasn’t seen it, I’m told it is available on our web site www.guidedogs.com it’s called “Soul Mates”

This afternoon we went out to practice some more road crossings. We attempted to use an intersection with audible signals but it was very windy and the signals weren’t very loud so that was kind of a bust. We did practice a few others though. The best part was my cultural experience for the day, iced chocolate (seen in this photo). Iced chocolate is like what we would call a milkshake but it also has a big scoop of ice cream floating in the shake! SO YUMMY! Unfortunately Sue missed it as she was sick enough to miss class this afternoon. Darn, I guess I’ll have to go back with her so she can partake of the cultural experience as well.

I’ll leave you with Ron’s Aussie of the Day. Today’s slang all falls into the rhyming category. The Aussies start with an expression, start using a word that rhymes with the key word then drop the original key word and just say the rhyming word. Let me give you an example; “I’ve got a kink in my neck” would turn into “I’ve got a kink in my Gregory Peck” then changes to “I’ve got a kink in my Gregory” People actually know what that means here! Here’s another one, first you have to imagine saying the word ‘sauce’ in an Australian accent which makes it rhyme with ‘horse’. Next you need to know that they don’t have Ketchup here, they have tomato sauce. The slang goes like this, “pass the tomato sauce” turns into “pass the dead horse”. Why the horse has to die I don’t know, but if you say that at the table they will know what you mean. Lastly I bring you a short political lesson. Harold Holt was the prime minister of Australia in 1967, until he was walking along a beach in Victoria and got swept out to sea by a wave and was never seen again. True story (look it up), but I digress. Anyway, if you say the word ‘salt’ with an Australian accent it rhymes with “Holt’. Hence the expression “pass the Harold Holt”. They even shorten it to “pass the Harold”. There is actually a cooking show where the chef says, “and now we will ad a little Harold in the pot”. I am NOT kidding! It’s no wonder I often don’t understand people here!