Congratulations to J!

The big news in our lives is that J has accepted a new job, about which he is very excited! Starting on the 11th of September (4 years to the day from our arrival in NZ) he will start in his new role as Senior Advisor in the Biosecurity Response team. It will be his job to organize things when the government needs to respond to a biosecurity threat. This will include things like foreign insects eating apple crops or a pneumonia in cattle that came over from somewhere. This is particularly vital in such an isolated country with such unique flora and fauna.

He is still working for the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI), the branch of the government for which he has worked, in various roles, since we moved here. He feels good about working in this organization, and is looking forward to getting to know his new team.

He says that he is very excited for this job because it is an opportunity for him to step up and take on more responsibility, to take risks, and to make a name for himself. He feels that it is a step in the right direction towards long-term goals of my management or leadership roles. He also thinks that he will find the work more rewarding, which is awesome.

Those are the things that J wanted to share about his new job. You'll notice that he is much more succinct than I ever manage to be. We all have our strengths.

I just want to add that I am so proud of him, and that being hired for this position shows that other people are recognizing how amazing and brilliant he is. J works hard every day, and really deserves to reap the benefits of that, and I'm so glad that it's happening.

New Discoveries at Zealandia

As you will recall, J and I are lucky enough to live close to Zealandia, an amazing wildlife sanctuary. I love spending time there, especially to show visitors around. I love helping others learn about the incredible creatures and plants in NZ, and I also discover new things myself each time I go.

I have posted about Zealandia before, so you can click here if you'd like to see my post from May 2017, and click here to see the one from back in July 2016. I am thinking that this one will not overlap much with either of those, as I've included mainly new things, but hopefully it will be interesting even if I end up with some repetition.

This time, I went with my friend Belinda, who had come to visit from Whanganui and had never been to Zealandia. We had a lovely walk when she was here, and then I used my ticket, which is good for two days, to have a solitary stroll the next day after she'd gone home. Both were wonderful.

This, apparently, is what happens when a frond gets broken off of a mamaku (black tree fern) right where it joins to the trunk. It looked like sap, and so I was expecting a hard, sticky, somewhat crystalline substance, but I was wrong. It was like jelly, and was amazing to touch, because my finger glided around the globules and came away slightly wet, but not sticky. J informs me that this is because it's made of cellulose, and I'll believe him. It is still sap, just a very different kind than other trees have.

Just to give you some context, this is what mamaku (black tree ferns) look like. 

I also learned about this plant, called Tutu (Coriaria arborea). The sign at Zealandia, which I uncharacteristically took the time to read in its entirety, read as follows:

"Surely one of the more infamous plants in NZ, tutu is a native shrub that can grow to 8m. Every part of this tree, except for the juice of the swollen purple petals, contains the poison tutin. Many cases of stock death were recorded by early farmers - even circus elephants have fallen victim to this fatal poison. Honey derived from bees gathering honeydew produced by sap sucking insects feeding on tutu has accounted for many cases of poisoning amongst humans.

Despite its fearsome reputation tutu does have beneficial uses. Māori mashed the tender shoots into poultices for bruises, cuts and boils. They even made a refreshing drink from the juice of the petals. The fruits and seeds are favourites of birds and insects and unfortunately possums."

Interesting, right? 

I'm including this and the following picture to demonstrate how incredibly up close and personal the birds got while I was walking quietly by myself. You can see a Tīeke (Saddleback) in the shadows of this picture, and it was just a couple feet away from me. (There are better internet pictures in my other post, but I'm proud to have gotten one myself.)

 This Toutouwai (North Island Robin), which looks depressingly far away in this picture, was really very close to me, along with several of her buddies. (Again, better internet pictures in other posts.)

I may have raved about this before, but seriously, can you see how many pinecones are on this tree? So many! Sometimes you can barely see the branches themselves because they are so covered!

Lovely view out over the sanctuary. Have I mentioned that it is 225 hectares? That is almost a square mile, which didn't sound as impressive as I'd thought, but he assured me that it is massive. Anyway, it seems like its own world when you're in it, despite being just a few minutes from the city.

I love little bush tracks. I love chatting with friends as I enjoy being out in nature, and I love walking by myself and really taking in everything around me. I'm working on slowing down and being present in my life, and this is a great way for me to do this.

I don't know if I've shared this before, but I love spiderwebs. I find them strikingly beautiful and endlessly fascinating. My camera didn't feel the same way, and had to be wheedled into focusing on it instead of the background, but it was totally worth it.

Well, that's all for this visit, but I'm sure I'll make some more wonderful discoveries next time I go.

Certificate in Māori Language

Back in June, I completed my Level 4 certificate in te reo Māori (Māori language). As I shared a while back, it was an online course that started back in January. Several of my colleagues did it as well, and we all supported each other to varying degrees, but mostly worked independently at home. 

I found the course impressively resourced and useful for something that is completely free to all students. I got to listen to audio tracks of a native Māori speaker interacting with her whānau (family) throughout daily events, as well as retellings of well-known fairy tales is te reo Māori. The former were often helpful in building vocabulary and grammar, but frankly, not super interesting. The latter were endlessly entertaining to me, as I delighted in using a combination of my knowledge of the Māori language and my knowledge of these stories in order to piece together and puzzle out the language itself. None of the stories were translated into English, but I was always able to figure it all out. The coolest thing that came out of this is that I can now tell the story of Ngā Poaka e Toru (The Three Pigs) entirely in te reo Māori. I made puppets to go along with the story, and so I tell it and act it out. I used the version from the course as a foundation, but modified and rewrote parts of it so that all the phrases are much more concretely connected to what I can show with the puppets, so that the children can be building their understanding without the need for English translations. Unsurprisingly, the children are picking it up faster than I ever could, and last week they acted it out themselves, with me providing the narration and them saying the characters' lines, all in te reo Māori. Some of them asked for reminders of what to say, but many of them completely knew the lines already from me telling and retelling the story. It was amazing and rewarding to see.

I am also using an app that lets me make my own flashcards to study words and phrases. I want to drill them into my head so thoroughly that when the occasion presents itself to use them, I am ready and not wasting time searching through my memory trying to find the right words. I think it is working rather well, although I still need lots more work.

This week, I received my whakapūmau (certificate) in the mail, so it's all official.

I have done my best to translate it for you, with help from a Māori-English dictionary.

University of Raukawa

I will not fail.

Emma Leilani Mercier has completely the learning for the qualification of Poupou Huia te Reo on the 30th of June 2017.

Certified by the professor of Raukawa University.

The president addressed the assembly, and this certificate was awarded.

I'm feeling wonderful about the progress I have made, and about my increasing comfort with this language. I have just started the Level 5 certificate course, Poupou Huia te Reo - Te Hōkairangi. So far it seems like it is going to be very challenging, and therefore very stimulating and helpful in my drive to improve my Māori language. I am again feeling nervous about the time commitment, but I know that it will be worth it. 

Japanese Food-like Delights

In Wellington, if you're looking for the weird and wonderful, you can probably find it on Cuba Street. One day, while wandering down it looking for presents for J for his birthday, I went into this wonderful Japanese store that appears to specialize in "everything that the Japanese owners think is cool." Their tastes seem to overlap significantly with J's and mine, so we love browsing through. For this particular birthday, I'd elected to get J several small gifts instead of one bigger one, and so I was looking for things that were amusing (and hopefully consumable, as we don't like accumulating possessions), and I was not disappointed.

I found this cardboard box, containing what appeared to be candy versions of hamburgers, fries, and a drink. Being that J loves burgers and candy, I thought this might be a fun, silly treat for him.

First surprise: After being suitably enthusiastic about the candy, J opened it up, only to discover this. It now seemed clear that this present was far more for me than for J, as it involved mixing and stirring and assembling, which is super fun for me.

Second surprise: Instructions and labels exclusively in Japanese. The plot thickens. 

Trying to use the pictures, in combination with the colour and smell of the powders in the packets (and trying to avoid being concerned that the meat patty powder really smelled like beef), I assembled the component parts. This even included microwaving the fry dough before slicing it up, which I'm pretty sure means that this was real cooking. The soda powder also fizzed like real carbonation.

Once assembled, it looked like this. Turns out, I accidentally used the bun powder for the fries, and the fry powder for the buns. I was wondering why the fries rose so much in the microwave. Anyway, we laid aside our misgivings about what was actually in this stuff (the ingredients are also in Japanese, so we'll never know) and taste tested each bit. I would have sworn that the ketchup was real, and the "fries" tasted like bun, and the meat tasted like meat! The Japanese are pretty impressive!

Delighted with this experience, I went and bought two more, and first tried out this doughnut one.

Mine aren't as beautiful as the picture, but I believe that I correctly used all the packets, and they tasted pretty doughnut-y, so I'll call it a success. Plus, it was lots of fun!

I may have mentioned in the past that I'm a little bit obsessed with the deliciousness of sushi. That's not actually why I picked this one, however. The picture on the back shows making the red fish roe balls by dropping one liquid into another, and that sounded like the best fun yet. (Spoiler: it was.)

This is what the tray looked like with all the powders mixed, spread, kneaded, etc. I couldn't quite figure out the pictures for how much water to add to each one, but I got there eventually. You then sucked up the red liquid in the dropper (seen in the picture below full of soy sauce) and dropped it into the clear liquid, which hardened it into amazing little spheres. So cool!

Once assembled, my sushi liked like this. My best one yet, I think! 

The sushi, unlike the previous two, was not designed to taste like the real thing, but was rather a candy version. Which I think is best, really, when it comes to pretend raw fish. The fish roe was particularly delicious, still juicy inside. 

I haven't tried the other sets yet, so I will have to return to Cuba Street in the near future and select my next projects.

Tree Planting in Makara Peak

As you will recall, our house is right next to a huge mountain bike park and nature reserve, called Makara Peak Mountain Bike Park. It is a beautiful place to ride, although most of the trails involve much too much risk of bodily harm for my taste. We enjoy hiking in it, however, and are deeply appreciative of its role in providing a wonderful ecosystem for native plants and birds. Several of our neighbours are very involved in keeping Makara Peak as pristine, inviting, and healhty as possible, and this Sunday, they invited other neighbourhood helpful-types to come and plant some baby trees. J and I decided that we could be helpful-types for a bit, and headed up the Rimu Track, which starts right next to our house, and then onto the Miro Track, where the planting was focused. 

More skilled helpful-types than us were working with a digger, although I confess that I got distracted and didn't actually ask what they were doing with it. I know that they're creating a brand new path somewhere in the park, so perhaps it's to do with that?

Heading out to find some seedlings that need planting.

First we planted some Northern Rata, a native tree that we actually read about not too long ago, after having realized that many people (including us unless recently) call all trees with bright red starburst flowers Pōhutakawa trees, but actually many of them around here are Northern or Southern Rata. The Northern Rata is actually the one that is native to Wellington, so it's the natural choice to plant here.

This is what that cute little baby tree will look like all grown up.

Next, we planted some Miro trees (hence the name of the track, although we'd gone on past it by then), and some Kohekohe trees.

(Sorry for the blurry picture. These trees like shadier spots, and this was a great one for them, but not ideal for clear pictures.)

A grown-up Miro...

... and a grown-up Kohekohe.

The soil was very rocky (or it might be more accurate to say that there was some soil between the rocks), so J had his work cut out for him digging holes big enough for the baby trees.

But what lovely little additions to the woods they are once we get them in! We'll have to keep visiting them over the next few months and years and see how they grow!

Kudos to everyone who works so hard to keep this park the incredible natural space that it is. We just barely dipped our feet into the colossal amount of work that goes on, and we're truly appreciative of everyone who does it regularly. We'll be up for more tree-planting next time! 

Children's Conversations

Sorry for the delay in posting this week. J and I had a wonderful and exhausting weekend of snowboarding, and I confess that I completely forgot to do anything but sleep when we got home.

Today's post is not particularly unique to NZ (with a couple exceptions). Lately, I have been even more impressed than usual over how wonderful it is to have lots of conversations with children every day. Sometimes they are funny, sometimes they are confusing, sometimes they are heartwarming, and they are always interesting! I thought I'd give you some examples from my time in NZ that I've found particularly great.

E will be me, and C will be child.

(C, who has recently had a few accidents due to waiting too long to do wees, comes into the bathroom and sits on the toilet)
C: I didn't have to run!
E: That's great! You didn't wait so long that you had to rush to the toilet.
C: Yeah, I just did wees on the floor a little bit, but that's okay, eh?
E: Um, if you did wees on the floor, we need to clean it up. Where are the wees?
C: Right there. (Points to a dry spot on the bathroom floor)
E: They're not there. Where are they?
C: Somebody did wees over there (different dry spot) but I don't know who it was.
E: But what about your wees? Where are they?
C: Right there (different dry spot on linoleum floor). They're on the carpet but you can't even see it.
E: You did wees on the carpet? (outside the bathroom)
C: Somebody did wees on the floor but I don't know.
E: .... Okay... did you do wees on the floor?
C: No! (indignantly)
(cue E's head exploding)

(A child is trying to climb over the top of a the monkey bars - a tricky maneuver)
E: I can see that that is tricky to figure out.
C: I look scared!
E: You look scared? Do you feel scared?
C: I feel a little bit scared, but I can do it!
(And she did. Bravery at its finest. I always try to teach my children that when you feel scared, that's the best opportunity to be brave.)

(Two children talking at the creativity table)
C1: Did you go see Moana?
C2: No, mum says I can't because it's too scary.
C1: Well, it does say PG, and that means Parental Guidance and that means your mum and dad get to choose.

(Child is screaming because someone broke his block creation)
E: Honey, you need to take a deep breath and calm your body.
C: (through sobs) I can't take a deep breath because my mouth is too silly!

(We found a mushroom in the Botanic Gardens)
C: Don't touch it! It's boisonous.
E: Yes, it could be poisonous.
C: No, boisonous.
E: Oh, what does that mean?
C: If you touch it, you turn into a boy!

(Playing in the sand pit, a child presents me with a sand cake)
C: Yucky 'nana cake for you.
E: It's yucky?
C: Yes. Yucky 'nana cake.
E: Well I don't want to eat it if it's yucky.
C: No, cake! (puzzled look) You put yucky 'nanas... you cook it... yummy! Yucky 'nana cake!
E: Oh! I've had that cake. Thanks for explaining!

(Upon finding a child throwing all the blankets out of a huge basket of blankets onto the floor)
E: What are you doing?
C: Looking for a hat.
E: Are there hats in that basket?
C: No, I don't want a hat.
E: So... what are you doing?
C: I want my balloon.
E: Is your balloon in that basket?
C: No.
E: So... what are you doing?
C: ... I don't know.
(At least we were on the same page at the end.)

(Sitting peacefully chatting about this and that)
C: Emma, I don't understand how we have good dreams.
E: Dreaming is hard to understand. I agree. Do you have good dreams?
C: Yes.
E: What happens in your good dreams?
C: I go to Whare Kea and the library. And sometimes I eat cookies at Whare Kea in my good dreams.
(Sweetness all over. How wonderful to have your life be your good dreams.)

(At lunch - the child has a sandwich and a cupcake and has picked up the cupcake)
E: Remember, we eat our sandwiches first to give our bodies good energy.
C: No, I'm going to eat my cupcake first.
E: When you have eaten your sandwich, then you may eat your cupcake.
C: You're not the boss of my cupcake!!!
(One of the most quoted statements of my life.)

(At the afternoon tea table)
E: Would you like a banana?
C: NO!
E: Okay.
C: NO!
E: I understand, you don't want a banana, that's fine.
C: NO! It's not "banana" (American accent), it's "banana!" (Kiwi accent)
(Garage and compost are also commonly corrected words.)

(Looking at the sea of puzzle pieces on the floor)
E: You tipped out all the puzzles!
C: No, it wasn't me.
E: Yes, it was.
C: Oh! True. (with an air of genuine realization)

(Trying to figure out if a child who has put magnets in rainbow order did this intentionally)
E: Why did you put them like that?
C: Because those are the colours.
E: But how do you know that that's how they go?
C: Because I put them like that.
E: Can I move one?
C: Okay.
E: So what if I take yellow out and put it over here by purple? Is that okay?
C: Yup ... Or .... we could put it back over by orange! (moves the colours back to their proper order)
(Diplomacy at its finest.)

(After seeing this child's discarded sweater on the floor near the lockers on a very cold day)
E: What do you have on under your jacket?
C: My sweater.
E: (silent, dubious look)
C: I'll go put on my sweater, then.

(Child sitting quietly on the toilet, staring into space, suddenly jolts up)
C: You know, some octopuses have ink, but some of them don't have ink. (looks slightly concerned for the latter)

(Soon after the child arrives in the morning)
C: I had ice cream yesterday.
E: Yeah, did you like it?
C: Yes, but did you know that ice cream is not actually healthy for your body?
E: That's true. That's why we only eat it sometimes.
C: Yeah, because it's not actually good for you.
(later that day, as we're having a goodbye party for a teacher)
C: Where's the cake?
E: We're not having cake because it's not her birthday. But also, you know how we were talking about how ice cream is not healthy for your body?
C: Yes.
E: Well, cake is one of those things, too.
C: (stunned silence, follow by...) CAKE ISN'T HEALTHY????

(As I'm sawing up a branch into natural blocks)
C: What's that stuff coming out and falling on the ground?
E: Hmmm, what do you think it might be called?
C: Tree glitter.
(This is now what I call sawdust.)

(Talking to another teacher, having discovered that I lost my wallet for the first time ever)
E: And I know that I put it back in my locker, and it's my special wallet from Germany and I don't understand where it could be!
C: Emma, it will be okay, because... well... you can have my wallet.
(The clear highlight of what was otherwise an awful day.)

(Building with blocks with C, and I drop one, which falls and breaks his block structure)
C: That's why we can't have nice things.
(I'm usually good at not laughing at the children, but I had a little giggle at that one.)

(C is doing puzzles in the "Library Room." He brings a puzzle, almost complete, out to me, looking very sad)
C: I can't finish the puzzle because pieces are missing!
E: Oh no! We need to take care of our puzzles. Where did they go?
C: I don't know. They're missing.
E: Well, let's go look in the Library Room.
(We look under and around things for a minute, when I notice C glancing over at the open window)
E: Did you throw the puzzle pieces out the window?
C: No.
E: I'm going to go look. Will I see the pieces in the street?
C: Um... yes.
(Sure enough, upon looking out the window, two brightly-coloured puzzle pieces are laying, miraculously un-smashed, in the road)
E: You threw them out the window.
C: Yes.
(Never a dull moment.)

(Over several days, we'd been reading the Lorax and discussing saving trees, and how if you have paper scraps after making creations, you should put them in the recycling so that it can be made into new paper, instead of cutting down more trees. I observed C taking clean paper off the shelf, cutting it into small pieces, and then putting it straight into the recycling bin. Just as I was going to ask about this, he runs over to me, with a big smile on his face)
C: Emma, I made lots and lots of paper to turn into new paper and I didn’t even cut down any trees!

(While collecting sticks for the Bug Hotel, C brings over a big one)
E: Oh! You found a big, fat stick!
C: I saw a big, fat lady at the shops, but Mum says don't say that anymore.
(Mum later shared that she'd never been more embarrassed in her life.)

(While giving baby dolls a bath outside, a child pauses and looks up at me)
C: Emma, I'm so glad you're here.

(While walking through the Botanic Gardens)
C: This is a good place for me to open my mind. Then my brain gets lots of energy.

Well, if that doesn't bring a smile to your face, I don't know what would. I've always said, teaching early childhood shouldn't be done if it's not your passion, because it will drive you insane. But if it is your passion, nothing is better!

Linguistic Kai Time

As I've shared in the past, bicultural practice is a vitally important part of the NZ Early Childhood Curriculum, Te Whāriki. In fact, a new, updated version has just come out this year, and bicultural practice is even more highlighted and effectively woven through it than before.

Being the language geek that I am, my favourite part of bicultural practice is teaching in te reo Māori. ("Te reo" means "language," and I have found that using the full phrase "te reo Māori" is the most respectful way to refer to the Māori language.) 

Helping young children learn new languages is a very rewarding experience, because their brains are primed for language learning, and so they can understand and remember quickly and capably. However, they need consistent and repeated exposure to pick up on things, and that can be hard when none of the teachers are even fluent, let alone native speakers. I have found that routines throughout the day are perfect for this, because kaiako (teachers) often say pretty much the same thing each day, and the meanings of words tend to be concretely represented in what is going on, so the children can make meaningful connections between the words and the actions or objects. It is not helpful to language learning to say something in the target language and then immediately repeat the same meaning in the child's native language, because it communicates that the meaning is secondary or even unnecessary. Plus, children aren't dumb and will just learn to wait for the English. Also, I find it to be ideal when we can teach both the question and the response, so that a two-way communication can occur. Anyway, we find times when we can consistently use te reo Māori in meaningful exchanges with the children throughout our routines, with no English involved.

Kai (food) time, and particularly lunch time, has proved an extremely successful time, and we have integrated a great deal of te reo Māori into this routine. After our karakia mō te kai (which you can read about in my post by clicking here), a kaiako goes around the table and asks each child, "He aha māu?" and the child can respond, "He iti koa" or "He nui koa." The children can also answer questions about whether they would like wairanu and tīhi. (See translations below.)

He aha māu? ------- What would you like?

He nui koa. ------- A lot, please.

He iti koa. ------- A little, please.

He wairanu māu? ------- Would you like sauce?

He tīhi māu? ------- Would you like cheese?

(We also know the words for lots of other foods, which we can use here.)

Āe. ------- Yes.

Kāore. ------- No.

He kai māu āno? ------- Would you like more food?

Homai tō kumete koa. ------- Give me your bowl, please.

Homai tō pereti koa. ------- Give me your plate, please.

Ānei tō kai. ------- Here is your food.

Tīkina te ipu wai. ------- Get the pitcher of water.

Riringihia tō wai. ------- Pour your water.

He pai ēnei kai. ------- This food is good.

He mutunga kē mai ō te reka. ------- This is delicious.

We started with just the interactions in the paragraph before the translations, and have slowly added on the subsequent phrases. Some teachers are more comfortable just sticking with the original ones, which is fine, but the children are increasingly familiar with all of them and respond appropriately. They are fantastic at context cues, and at first mostly responded based on those, but many of them are moving beyond that now. For example, at first when I would ask them, "He kai māu āno?" (Would you like more food?") they would answer, "He nui koa" (A lot, please) or "He iti koa" (A little, please). While this effectively communicates, it indicated to me that they weren't differentiating between the specific words in the phrase, but rather responding to the context. In addition, it meant they were unsure what to respond if they did not, in fact, want more kai. Now, when asked that question, many of the children will respond with "Āe" (Yes) or "Kāore" (No) and then wait for me to ask, "He aha māu?" (What would you like?") before telling me how much. This delights me, because it means that the language is being integrated authentically and their learning is accessing the linguistic part of their brains and not just the rote memorization part. It's fantastic!

I have a million other very exciting linguist exploits to share, but I'll do my best to remember that not all of you get as excited about phrasing as I do. As my first recognition of that, I will stop here, and will spread out my subsequent language posts over time. You're welcome.