Friday, August 18, 2006

freaky friday

So today is one of those Fridays I both loathe and look forward to. I'm heading to uni tonight for a 'wananga' (we stay overnight and do lectures and other stuff). Its for my language paper. I really love the context of them, and the fun and laughter of these weekends, however since its the language one there is NO english allowed! My Māori is not at the level of being able to converse freely with others and so my levels of anxiety are always higher than normal. It will be great for me though, cos the immersion environment is the best way to learn languages and unfortunately there is no country in the world where you can be emmersed in Māori in everyday situations. So the countdown is on until I head in, 2 hours and counting down. My previous experiences with the language wananga have given me a new appreciation of people who move to a country where they dont know any of the language and throw themselves right in at the deep end.
Im all for New Zealand being a bilingual country....it can be done. Seychelles has 3 national languages and people grow up learning and speaking all three. I wish more New Zealanders understood the importance of language to the survival of any culture.
So tonight I continue my learning.....I'll let you know how I go.

Ka kite ano

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