You may have heard about the changes to federal taxes passed several weeks ago. As a result, there have been changes made to Tax Withholding Notice 1036. Withholding has changed, so you may see a difference in your take home pay. In talking about home economics, our legislative branch was working on setting a budget for the country. You may have heard about a looming government shut down where federal offices would be closed and nonessential staff and contract workers do not report to work. A two year budget was passed so offices will continue as usual on Monday.
The Olympic competitions started on Thursday with opening ceremonies on Friday. NBC is televising the games and human interest stories. That's the best thing about the Olympics: the backstories. You can livestream or just watch the highlights on line at nbcolympics. Do you think they have an app for that?
International Bible Study: Tuesdays, 9:30-10:30, room 100.
Discussing philosophy, religion, politics, history, etc. is not always an easy thing for people who are learning English to do. It's not always easy for native speakers of English to do either! As
we continued our study of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, we found ourselves having some wonderful discussions about some very basic and extremely important questions, like:
What exactly is "sin" anyway?
Does following God's law make you a Goody Two Shoes?
Do you believe in heaven and hell?
Do you worry about where you will spend eternity?
It's always interesting to hear from the members of our study group, who come from various countries, as they explain their views about these topics. The passages we read from Matthew once again show that Jesus' teachings about the laws of God show a deeper understanding than ours. When He talked about justice, He quoted the Old Testament concept of "an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth," but His explanation of how to treat someone who has treated you badly was almost the opposite! He urged His followers to go the extra mile, to give more than expected to people who make demands of you. No matter how hard we try to be good, we cannot earn our way to heaven. Jesus did that for us. We love God because He first loved us, and if we try to follow His laws, it's because we love Him and want to live in a way that glorifies Him.
February 13: Please join us on Tuesday for more wonderful discussions!
International Friends: Tuesdays, 10:30-12:00, room 100.
We had a wonderful time celebrating Raina's 10th birthday. We played classic party games: Gossip (also known as telephone), Fruit Basket (a Japanese favorite), and Feed the Apple to the Donkey (a spin on the old favorite Pin the Tail on the Donkey). Raina's favorite cake is chocolate with strawberry icing! I called her mom and she pointed me to this great recipe. It's easy to make.
February 13: Let's celebrate Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday with a field trip to the delicious Mudbugs Cajun Cafe, 20 West Main Street, Carmel. Meet at the church to carpool/caravan at 1030 or meet us at Mudbugs. The restaurant opens at 11:00.
Conversation: Wednesdays, 4:30-6:00, room 209.
Of course, we went off program with our conversations. Instead of talking about the newspapers and 101 Characteristics of Americans, we ended up having a comparative linguistics talk. We discovered that Arabic in Venezuela borrowed Spanish words to make them their own. These words are unknown in Jordan! This is a common occurrence throughout the world when cultures and languages meet. In order to communicate, vocabularies are exchanged and a new dialect is born. We worked on fixing pronunciation and grammar and listening:
- We go home. We go to work, to the store, to the doctor, etc. But, we simply go home.
- I was gone for a week.
- You lose or gain weight. Unfortunately, you don't find weight. I lost weight. I need to lose weight. You gained weight. You need to gain weight. You are gaining weight. (Gained rhymes with "rain")
- Wedding sounds a lot like wetting.
- You can be right or left handed or if you use both hands equally, you are ambidextrous
- Not all languages have "vowels." Some languages have symbols that indicate pronunciation, others have the sounds incorporated in the written symbols.
English Classes: Thursdays, 9:30-12:00, upstairs classrooms.
federal: pertaining to national
as a result: because
tax withholding: a deduction from pay for taxes; you may receive a refund of a portion at the end of the year
take home pay: the amount of money on your paycheck
home economics: hahah! Get my pun? Home economics is the name for studying managing the money and resources of a household! In this case, I am using it in a broader sense to include our home in the United States.
legislative branch: the arm of the United States government that is responsible for making laws
looming: threatening (a storm is looming in the west)
nonessential staff: people whose jobs aren't critically important
contract workers: people hired to perform a specific job for a limited time; not an employee
passed: approved
continue as usual:
The Olympic: yes, The is an important title for these important and popular games.
opening ceremonies: formal and grand public procedures to begin an event
human interest stories: a close look at the history and personality of the athletes, their families or people in general that tug at the hearts of and allow us to feel emotionally connected to our athletic heros
app: pronounced a-puh like apple without the "pple".
Goody Two Shoes: a phrase that came from a children's story published by John Newbery in London in 1765. It's used to describe an extremely virtuous person, a do-gooder.
An eye for an eye: the principle that a person who has injured another person should be punished or penalized to a similar degree. These days people will say "that's Karma" when people have an unfortunate event following committing an offence against someone.
to go the extra mile: to put forth more effort than required to accomplish something
to glorify: to praise, honor, or worship
An eye for an eye: the principle that a person who has injured another person should be punished or penalized to a similar degree. These days people will say "that's Karma" when people have an unfortunate event following committing an offence against someone.
to go the extra mile: to put forth more effort than required to accomplish something
to glorify: to praise, honor, or worship
icing: frosting
off program: not according to plan
comparative linguistics: originally known as philology or "comparing languages to establish their historical relatedness"
dialect: a specific form of language that develops in a specific region or social group of people (idioms fall under dialect rather than a new language).
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