e.brown

Some Linguistics Fun

2012-02-08T13:09:00.000-08:00

ESL Compassion

Dearest creature in creation,

Study English pronunciation.

I will teach you in my verse

Sounds like corpse, corps, horse, and worse.

I will keep you, Suzy, busy,

Make your head with heat grow dizzy.

Tear in eye, your dress will tear.

So shall I! Oh hear my prayer.

Just compare heart, beard, and heard,

Dies and diet, lord and word,

Sword and sward, retain and Britain.

(Mind the latter, how it’s written.)

Now I surely will not plague you

With such words as plaque and ague.

But be careful how you speak:

Say break and steak, but bleak and streak;

Cloven, oven, how and low,

Script, receipt, show, poem, and toe.

Hear me say, devoid of trickery,

Daughter, laughter, and Terpsichore,

Typhoid, measles, topsails, aisles,

Exiles, similes, and reviles;

Scholar, vicar, and cigar,

Solar, mica, war and far;

One, anemone, Balmoral,

Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel;

Gertrude, German, wind and mind,

Scene, Melpomene, mankind.

Billet does not rhyme with ballet,

Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet.

Blood and flood are not like food,

Nor is mould like should and would.

Viscous, viscount, load and broad,

Toward, to forward, to reward.

And your pronunciation’s OK

When you correctly say croquet,

Rounded, wounded, grieve and sleeve,

Friend and fiend, alive and live.

Ivy, privy, famous; clamour

And enamour rhyme with hammer.

River, rival, tomb, bomb, comb,

Doll and roll and some and home.

Stranger does not rhyme with anger,

Neither does devour with clangour.

Souls but foul, haunt but aunt,

Font, front, wont, want, grand, and grant,

Shoes, goes, does. Now first say finger,

And then singer, ginger, linger,

Real, zeal, mauve, gauze, gouge and gauge,

Marriage, foliage, mirage, and age.

Query does not rhyme with very,

Nor does fury sound like bury.

Dost, lost, post and doth, cloth, loth.

Job, nob, bosom, transom, oath.

Though the differences seem little,

We say actual but victual.

Refer does not rhyme with deafer.

Foeffer does, and zephyr, heifer.

Mint, pint, senate and sedate;

Dull, bull, and George ate late.

Scenic, Arabic, Pacific,

Science, conscience, scientific.

Liberty, library, heave and heaven,

Rachel, ache, moustache, eleven.

We say hallowed, but allowed,

People, leopard, towed, but vowed.

Mark the differences, moreover,

Between mover, cover, clover;

Leeches, breeches, wise, precise,

Chalice, but police and lice;

Camel, constable, unstable,

Principle, disciple, label.

Petal, panel, and canal,

Wait, surprise, plait, promise, pal.

Worm and storm, chaise, chaos, chair,

Senator, spectator, mayor.

Tour, but our and succour, four.

Gas, alas, and Arkansas.

Sea, idea, Korea, area,

Psalm, Maria, but malaria.

Youth, south, southern, cleanse and clean,

Doctrine, turpentine, marine.

Compare alien with Italian,

Dandelion and battalion.

Sally with ally, yea, ye,

Eye, I, ay, aye, whey, and key.

Say aver, but ever, fever,

Neither, leisure, skein, deceiver.

Heron, granary, canary.

Crevice and device and aerie.

Face, but preface, not efface.

Phlegm, phlegmatic, ass, glass, bass.

Large, but target, gin, give, verging,

Ought, out, joust and scour, scourging.

Ear, but earn and wear and tear

Do not rhyme with here but ere.

Seven is right, but so is even,

Hyphen, roughen, nephew Stephen,

Monkey, donkey, Turk and jerk,

Ask, grasp, wasp, and cork and work.

Pronunciation -- think of Psyche!

Is a paling stout and spikey?

Won’t it make you lose your wits,

Writing groats and saying grits?

It’s a dark abyss or tunnel:

Strewn with stones, stowed, solace, gunwale,

Islington and Isle of Wight,

Housewife, verdict and indict.

Finally, which rhymes with enough--

Though, through, plough, or dough, or cough?

Hiccough has the sound of cup.

My advice is to give up!!!

Some advice from Henri Nouwen

2011-12-02T15:55:00.000-08:00

"There is a twilight zone in our hearts that {we ourselves cannot see.} Even when we know quite a lot about ourselves - our gifts and weaknesses, our ambitions and aspirations, our motives and our drives - large parts of ourselves remain in the shadow of consciousness. This is a very good thing.

We will always remain partially hidden to ourselves. Other people, especially those who love us, can often see our twilight zones {better than we ourselves can.} The way we are seen and understood by others is different from the way we see and understand ourselves. We will never fully know the significance of our presence in the lives of our friends. That’s a grace, a grace that calls us not only to humility, but to a deep trust in those who love us.

It is the twilight zones of our hearts where true friendships are born."

-Henri Nouwen

a hawaiian parable

2011-09-28T17:58:00.000-07:00

A man goes out on the beach and sees that it is covered with starfish that have washed up with the tide. A little boy is walking along, picking them up and throwing them back into the water.

"What are you doing, son?" the man asked. "You see how many starfish there are? You'll never make a difference."

The boy paused thoughtfully, and picked up another starfish and threw it into the ocean.

"It sure made a difference to that one," he said.

[untitled]

2011-05-02T00:23:00.000-07:00

"As I live, declares the Lord God,

I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked,

but that the wicked turn from his way and live."

Ezekiel 33:11

barefoot

2011-04-05T17:36:00.000-07:00

Today, I went {barefoot}.

(along with a significant portion of the students at SPU.)

and people all over the world...

My friends and I participated in the TOMS shoes: "One Day Without Shoes" Movement.

If you haven't heard of TOMS shoes before, they are a clothing business that for each pair of shoes that you purchase from them, they will give a pair to a child in need.

Today, we got a glimpse into what its like to go everyday without shoes.

a word about travel

2011-03-07T14:33:00.001-08:00

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.”

- Mark Twain, Innocents Abroad

exciting!

2011-02-25T14:26:00.000-08:00

Hiiiii.

So, yes. I've been super busy. And it would be tricky for me to catch you all up on everything, so I will summarize with this:

school is great
friends are great
SPRINT is great
God is great
life is great

And life just got a little bit greater because I got the camp counselor position for this summer! So, I will be a camp counselor at a Christian camp in Washington for 6 - 11 weeks (still up in the air) this summer, ministering to upper elementary and middle school kids.

I very excited (and nervous) for this. It's something I've never done before, but I'm looking forward to the challenge, and to the growth that will come from it.

ANyways, sorry but that's as much of an update as you get!

Now, I'm off to SPRINT Retreat (where all this summer's SPRINTers come together for some training, some bonding, and some fun), where I'll be singing as part of the worship band (another new thing for me!), helping to lead this choreographed dance to 75+ people, yelling at people in Russian (as part of a "mock" customs scenario), and bonding with the TWO Russia teams that will be in the place that is so dear to me in just over 4 months!

Blessings,

A Reflection, by Emily Brown

2011-01-16T19:06:00.000-08:00

Below is a reflection that I wrote which will be included in the SPRINT Manual that our soon-to-be SPRINTers (we're in the process of interviewing applicants and forming teams right now!) will be reading before they head out on their trips this summer. I thought I'd share it will you all:

SPRINT Core Reflection: Emily Brown

I spent the evening before we left Russia, the last night of one of the greatest and most challenging months of my life, trying to figure out how I could stay in “the Motherland." Included in my list of possible options was a plot to sneak onto the island center of St. Petersburg just before all of the bridges went up. This little stunt would prevent me from making my 5:30 am flight, and I’d be “trapped” in Russia – a dream come true. Unfortunately, in the midst of my plan, just as I was stealthily traversing the rafters beneath the bridge, the police, having received word of my soon-to-expire visa, surrounded me, dragged me to the airport, strapped me into the plane, and shouted “Do svidaniya!”

Okay, so maybe it didn’t happen exactly like that, but in all seriousness, leaving was hard – one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. It’s amazing how attached you can get to a place and its people – especially its children – in just four short weeks. Re-entry can be rough, friends. One of the hardest aspects of being back in the U.S. was being away from my team. Yes, I had my family, but they didn’t really fully understand. They couldn’t. Only my team could. I found it difficult to make simple conversation, to talk about movies and the weather; all I wanted to talk about was Russia. Yet, I didn’t really know how to talk to people about it. Most of that first couple of weeks back I spent sitting around, looking at pictures, talking to members of my team on Skype, and eating packets of Russian instant oatmeal I’d brought back.

I found it really hard to fully embrace my life back in the U.S. – at least my old life. I’d grown and changed so much in Russia, and even though I couldn’t figure out or give a name to some of the changes that had occurred, I felt like a different person from my experience - a stronger person. Processing your trip – deciding what you took from it and how it’s going to impact you now – takes time. Sometimes lots of it. Even though I’ve been back for nearly six months now, I’m still working through the process of figuring out just how Russia has impacted me – my values, my goals, my take on the world, and most of all my relationship with God. Some of the things that have helped me the most have been giving myself quiet times to reflect, telling just a select few friends and family members the “whole” story, and keeping in contact with members of my team. Together, we have been able to hold each other accountable in applying what we learned on our trip to our lives now, and not letting each other just forget our experiences.

It can be a bit of a roller coaster ride, friends, but I can tell you that it will all be worth it. Even if I still can’t pin down all the ways that my trip has impacted me or how I am supposed to apply those changes to my life now, I can confidentially say that through it all, God has stretched and grown me in more ways than I’ve ever been before, and I feel that I’m coming away from this experience as a much better person – a humbler daughter of Christ.

alive

2010-12-13T13:24:00.000-08:00

hello there :)

So, despite my lack of blogging, i am still alive.

here's an update from the last few months (in bullet point style):

I still love SPU. a lot. It's great, and the {perfect} fit for me.

Autumn quarter went great! I took Beginning Russian, Christian Scriptures, and Anatomy & Physiology. Christian Scriptures was my favorite class, by far. I learned more than I ever could have imagined I'd learn in just 10 weeks. Anatomy & Physiology was my hardest class.

Next quarter, I will be continuing the beginning Russian sequence, and completing the A & P sequence. Additionally, I will be taking Community Bible Study (with the same amazing professor of my Christian Scriptures class in Autumn quarter) and Intro to Global Development.

I love being on SPRINT Core. For those of you who don't know, SPRINT (Seattle Pacific Reachout INTernational) is the organization that I went to Russia with last summer. Now, I get to be on the other side and help organize and send the 2011 teams out! We are sending 12 teams to 11 different countries: Rwanda, Uganda, Egypt, India, Haiti, Indonesia, Brazil, Guatemala, China, Vietnam, and Russia (2 teams are going here! yay!). We've had {110} students apply, which is more than double the number that applied last year.

I've been working about 11 hrs a week in the {Office of Student Life} at SPU. It's a great job. My boss is the sweetest woman ever. I love my job.

I don't really know what I'm going to do with my life. I wish that I could major in Jesus, but sadly, that isn't offered (I guess I could do a self-designed major. . . haha). Here's my plan right now: I'm considering Global Development Studies as a major, Biology as a minor (because I'm very close to achieving a minor in it already). Sadly, because I started considering nursing as a potential career so late, I would have to do another full year at SPU in order to complete their nursing program. So, I am getting my nursing pre-requisites done at SPU anyways, and am thinking about graduating SPU with a GDS degree, and then going somewhere else, like Seattle University or Portland State University, to get my nursing degree and my Masters in Public Health. Long term plan? Work for a non-profit, and help people.

I still miss Russia and the kids a lot. Not a day goes by when I don't think about them.

Sadly, I will likely not be returning to Russia this summer, as I had wanted. After talking with the SPRINT Adviser, and praying about it, I've decided to stay state-side, at least this summer. I do definitely want to go back, hopefully as an intern, but this summer is not my season.

Because I'm staying state-side, I applied to be a camp counselor at a Christian summer camp in Yelm, Washington. Being a camp counselor is something that I've always wanted to do, and after talking with a friend of mine who worked as a counselor at this camp last summer, I decided to apply. If you all could be praying, that would be great!

And now, for more pictures than you've ever seen in your life:

A before shot of our room, on moving-in day

the after shot, taken the last day of fall quarter!

We kicked off the year with the annual "Ashton Rootbeer Kegger"

then took a ferry boat to the Ashton Retreat at Camp Casey

it was so much fun

this is us using sea kelp as a jump rope

some of the lovely ladies of 6th East Ashton

next was "Fusion", an SPU event where each floor on campus performs a skit of some sort. My floor performed the YouTube video "Kittens, inspired by Kittens", which if you haven't seen it, WATCH IT NOW by clicking here. I was the voice of the little girl, haha.

all dressed up as kittens

Because we were so tired, Bri and I had a coffee chugging contest.

not the brightest idea.

there's been 2 am runs with friends to Beth's Cafe

and many general good times

we drove to Vancouver, B.C. and went to the Passion Vancouver concert, with performances by Matt Redman, Chris Tomlin, and the David Crowder Band, and featured speaker Louie Giglio. There were 11,000 people in the stadium.

Then our dorm floor had "Roomies", an event where your roommate sets you up on a blind date, and vice versa. Everyone carved pumpkins and went out for ice cream.

Meet SPRINT Core!

I love these people :)

and, of course, there's been many a basketball game.

and a spontaneous trip to Voodoo Donuts in Portland, Oregon. We left Seattle at 10:40 pm. . .

. . . arrived at Voodoo at 1:30 am. . .

. . . and got back to school at 5:30 am :)

we had 2.5 snow days!

and sledded down Ashton hill on a deflated raft

and another basketball game, only this time we traded our orange for ugly Christmas sweaters in preparation for "Tradition", an all SPU Christmas Party.

complete with an awkward nativity photo

and all types of pictures with Santa:

1) a friends pictures with Santa

2) a roommate picture with Santa

3) a 6th East picture with Santa!

Each year, the sophomores of 6th East get assigned a freshman to be a "big sister" to.
This is my "little sister" on the floor. Her name is Nicole, and she is simply precious :)

and these are my crazy friends

Welp, there you have it. That is the entire {Autumn Quarter} in pictures :)

I can't promise that I'm going to start being better about blogging, sorry. Once Winter Quarter starts up in 2.5 weeks, I'll likely be just as busy as I was Autumn Quarter. But, I shall try my best!

Love and Blessings,

(sms) shine - d.crowder

2010-11-09T17:46:00.000-08:00

click here for music video

Send me a sign
A hint, O whisper
Fill me with life
'Cause I am listening

Come break the quiet
Breathe your awakening
Bring me the light
'Cause I am fading

Surround me with the rush of angels' wings

Shine Your light so I can see You
Pull me up, I need to be near You
Hold me, I need to feel loved
Can You overcome this heart that's overcome?

You sent a sign
The hint, O whisper
Human, divine
Everyone is listening

Death laid low
Quiet in the night is stirring

All around the rush of angels

O the wonder of the greatest love has come

Shine Your light so all can see it
Lifted up, 'cause the whole world needs it
Love has come, what joy to hear it
He has overcome, He has overcome

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8cAU475dQo&ob=av2e

a video about Russia

2010-11-03T19:32:00.000-07:00

Hey all!

Sorry, it's been forever. I've just been really busy.

but, look what I have?! A 5 minute video showing some of what my team and I experienced in Russia :)

My team and I made it.

So, here ya go! enjoy :)

Click here to see the video

these faces

2010-09-22T12:27:00.000-07:00

i miss them.

pictures from Russia

2010-09-09T19:21:00.000-07:00

I posted about 2/3 of my pictures to facebook, and added captions to some. Please feel free to click on the links below to view them!

Album 1

Album 2

Album 3

Album 4 (The kids)

Enjoy :)

home. . .

2010-09-02T17:30:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm back in the states,

at least physically.

but, I seem to have left { my mind } and { my heart } in

Russia.

Россия.

Rossiya.

Leaving was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do.

Russia was life-changing, to say the least.

I really don't even know where to begin,

(so it could be a little while before I start blogging about it.
I'm still trying to process it all)

BUT, I will share one picture with you right now:

Настя, я люблю тебя.
Nastia, yah lueblue tibyeh.

Nastia, I love you.

this little girl has been on my mind more than anything about Russia.

[Saying goodbye to her was the hardest goodbye I've ever had to say.]

Soon, I will tell you more about this girl, and about ALL of the amazing children of God that I was so privileged to have gotten to meet.

I learned more than I could have ever imagined from these kids,

from this trip,

from Russia itself.

To those of you who supported me in my Russia mission,

no words can express how grateful I am to you.

[my life and the lives of these kids are forever changed because of you.]

Russia Update 2

2010-08-18T08:21:00.000-07:00

Hiiiiii :)

Welp, we're in Novgorod, Russia now. We've been here since Sunday, and we have really enjoyed it so far. It was really hard to say goodbye to the kiddos at the baby orphanage, but we know that God has them in His hands.

We started working with the kids at the TB Children's Center on Monday. We're with the kids for 5 hours every day. They are SO much fun. At first, the language barrier seemed like it was going to be a really big problem, but already it's getting much easier, as we are finding new ways to communicate. A lot of gesturing, haha. BUT, I am proud to say that I led a whole craft without the aid of a translator! woot woot!

The kids are SO sweet. There are about 30 of them, and the average age is probably about 8. Over the past few days, I've grown particularly close to a group of five 8, 9, and 10 year old girls, especially a little girl named Nastia. She is a soft spoken sweet heart, and I love her to bits. I'm trying really hard not to think about how difficult it is going to be to say goodbye in just under two weeks.

Well, it was a short update, and a little scatterbrained, but I hope you enjoyed it. Sorry I can't write more. We're limited in time. Also, this is only the second time we (as a team; Tanya's the one who takes the updates that you've been recieving from us in writing, and sends them out) have had internet access.

Okay, out of time. But, I love you all!!!! Please keep us in your prayers. Prayer that we can all be healthy. We've had some weird health issues kind of circulating throughout the team, so please please please pray that we can all be healthy, so that we can all work with the amazing kids at the Children's Center!

Slava Bogu!! ("God Bless". . . I think)

UPDATE!!!!!

2010-08-10T06:23:00.001-07:00

Zdrasvyote from Russia!!!

I'm in an internet cafe (in the Hermitage!!!!), so I'll keep this brief.

Wow. I can't even begin to describe all of the amazing experiences I've had so far!

I LOVE RUSSIA. the end.

Haha, just kidding, but seriously, those three words sum it up. It is absolutely amazing here. I love it. Everything about it! {well, I think we all could do with a little cooler weather, but that's it.)

Favorite sight so far seen: Church on Spilled Blood. Krasiva ("beautiful"). google it.

Best memory so far: Playing with the kids at the HIV baby orphanage, specifically an adorable little boy named Dima. I love him so much, and I've only spent 2 days with him so far! I want to take him home :)

Strangest food so far: for breakfast, a mixture of cottage cheese, sour cream, sugar (lots of sugar) and honey. Sounds gross, but it is VERY tasty! (Granted, the cottage cheese and the sour cream are very different here)

Random blurts:

Russians like mayonaise, cucumbers, standing very close to you, and mullets (yes, the hairstyle). They are also some of the sweetest and most compassionate people in the world!
Some of youhave probably heard about the fires in Russia that have been ongoing (and some new ones that started as a result of a storm Saturday night) and I just wanted to assure you all that we are quite safe :)
GOD IS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!

Okay, I need to wrap things up. Sorry. But, I do have some prayer requests:

Pray for our teams continuing good health (pray that Natalie's allergies get better) and pray for the health of the HIV kids we're working with. Their immune systems are so supressed that a cold caught from us can be a death sentence to them.
Pray for continuing team unity.
Pray for our preparations for the VBS camp that starts next week.

Thank you so much for all of your prayers!!!! I love you all! Paka (bye bye!)

Soulful Sunday

2010-08-08T09:00:00.000-07:00

{thank you, LORD}

{for getting me through 20 years of life.}

Россия {Russia}

2010-08-03T20:54:00.000-07:00

Well friends,

looks like I'm off to Russia :)

I'm kind of in a hurry, so this will be brief!!

If you'd like to read updates from my team while we are in Russia, go to these websites (not sure which one, or if both, with be providing updates)

http://sunergosorphans.wordpress.com/

http://www.spu.edu/depts/perkins/students/sprint/sprintrussia2010.asp

I love you all! Thank you for all of your prayers and support!!

See ya in a month!

Soulful Sunday

2010-08-01T09:00:00.000-07:00

четырe ( four )

2010-07-31T08:21:00.000-07:00

четыре. дней.

[four. days.]

~~ten.~~

~~nine.~~

~~eight.~~

~~seven.~~

~~six.~~

~~five.~~

and now four.

it seems like yesterday when it was four [ months ] away.

am i ready?

[for the most part.]

but can you ever really be totally ready?

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

my prayers recently have been simple [in thought]

but difficult [in action] . . .

1) LORD,

help me to be fully present,

{wherever i am}

and focused on what i can do
in the right here
and right now.

{focusing on each moment}

because. . .

if you did not have a Will for me
{to do something}

right here,
right now,

i wouldn't be here.

2) may the hearts of the children that we are going to serve be soft,

as well as the hearts of my team.

use us
as instruments
to Your Will.

use them
{these broken children}
as instruments
to Your Will.

help them to learn from us. . .

. . . and us to learn from them.

3) help me to live my life {only} for the applause of those nail-pierced hands.

and no one else.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

four.

more.
days.

wordless. wednesday.

2010-07-28T06:00:00.000-07:00

cupcake fun

2010-07-27T11:10:00.000-07:00

green, through and through.

recognize these little guys. . . ?

from a certain children's movie. . . ?

they're the aliens from Toy Story.

:)

when we ran out of "eyes", we just decided to decorate the rest.

fun fun fun.

Soulful Sunday

2010-07-25T09:00:00.000-07:00

what we've been up to

2010-07-23T10:16:00.001-07:00

well, we've been. . .

making playdough, and playing with it. . .

playdough animals. . .

playdough pizzas. . .

playdough people. . .
[my creation]

even playdough snowmen. . .

and writing names with playdough. . .

[alex had a little help, but william did his all on his own.]

taking naps on brothers. . .

taking walks through foggy bottom. . .

playing at the park. . .

[even though, with humidity, it was about 95 degrees when we were there at 9:30 am. . . you can kind of see how sweaty we are, especially if you look at william's hair]

and letting little boys bury feet in the sand. . .

yep. that's about it.

On a different note, 12 days until I leave for Russia :)

Soulful Sunday

2010-07-18T09:00:00.001-07:00

{Thank you, Lord. . . }