For those of you not fluent in Maori, that means ‘let us be staunch in speaking Maori’. It’s the first line of a song which I discovered MADCom will collectively be singing to their clients at their Christmas party – we have a lot of Maori relations through government clients. I’m definitely not staunch in that department… I can’t even pronounce the word ‘Maori’ correctly. I can’t roll my R’s, and you almost need a rolling sound. I have thought about taking a course in Te Reo Maori, and I’m thinking it even more now, since I believe it’ll support me in the workplace. Even if I just learn the different combination vowel/consonant sounds, at least I won’t sound like a complete ‘tard when I’m reading documents incorporating the Maori language.

Kiwi is Maori – pronounced ‘May-or-ree’ by me (this is laughable if you’re a New Zealander), or ‘Mawl-lri’ by people who can enunciate (kind of – I don’t know how to sound it out here) – but he doesn’t know the language really. His Nanny teaches Maori to kids in primary school, maybe I should start with some lessons from her. Even in a country where the main language is English, I feel foreign when I hear people say Kia Ora or Noho oro mai – I think if I was to say it I’d sound trite. But I also sound ignorant when I can’t say names/terms correctly so I owe it to myself and the clients I’ll be meeting to educate myself.

Just a thought for now…

It’s been another day at work with a lot to take in. And I started off the day by tipping a tin of tea on the kitchen floor (such a waste of lemongrass and ginger), and then realising I had forgotten my notebook – I’d left it at home. Inside my notebook was my To-Do List and a bunch of documents (briefs/survey summarys) which were important not only for me but for other people in the office. *Slaps forehead*. Luckily I have the bestest chauffeur Kiwi this side of Upper Hutt and he drove the hour round trip back into the city to bring it to me. He drove me into work and back to Upper Hutt, drove my notebook into work then back to Upper Hutt, then came in to pick me up and drove me back to Upper Hutt. I should get him a black cab.

The day wasn’t all bad – I sorted myself out once I had my notebook back in my hand. But I have a lot more to sort out tomorrow – I have emails flying about everywhere so it’s easy for important messages to get lost amongst the others (I need to organise them into folders) and I have even more bits of paper flying about my desk too. I need a filing system of some description. It really has been too long out of work when organisational skills are defying me…

Anyway, I have to be in the office bright and early tomorrow for singing practice (!). So, away to bed and another chapter of Harry Potter to lull me to sleep… These early mornings are a shock to the system after sleeping in til 9am and taking 2 – 3 hours to slowly get up and dressed (now I have to get ready in 1 hour and 20 minutes – this might sound a lot but my ridiculously thick hair takes 40 minutes of this!). Oh wow, now I’m beginning to appreciate the benefits of unemployment – I should go back in my blog and re-read the posts about inane boredom and feelings of worthlessness – for now I can only remember the ‘good’ stuff of unemployment now I’m reminded of what it’s like in the real world. Lie-ins, lie-ins and… lie-ins. Lie-ins are now only the thing of dreams (except on weekends). Nighty night x