JawnBC (yeah you know me)

Here in Tamaki Makaurau we are wrapping up a two week return to level 3 lockdown. That's meant remote working, only essential businesses open to the public, and click and collect shops and restaurants. It seems to have been working, but the cluster of community transmission that emerged is now over 100 persons. We're getting cases in the single digits only, but I would be happier if we were in the 1-2 cases per day for at least a week. Our return to level 2 on Monday means working remotely recommended rather than required and schools (including universities) can re-open if they wish. Mine will bring students back to campus on 21 September, which is after our mid-semester break. 
As I did the last time we went from level 3 to level 2, I am struggling today. I don't want to *do* anything in particular. I have, in fact, liked being housebound--I am a gregarious introvert, who loves to interact so long as he can control time and intensity. My instinct is to watch TV and eat crisps.
But first it's Saturday so it's bacon rolls day chez nous. After that, crisps. 

So yesterday I finished my last suite of lessons in the Duolingo Irish course. The technical term for my achievement is a shit tonne: I have completed a shit tonne of lessons.  Every module has five levels; each level has several--often numerous--lessons. Jaysus Mary and Joseph it was a grind at times. But for someone looking for a self-directed way to being learning a language, Duolingo is a good tool. 

Why Irish
Many people have asked me why I decided to (once again) try to learn Irish. The first reason was happenstance: Himself came home after visiting his (English) father in Ireland, replete with some Irish language learning materials. Then he discovered there was a Duolingo course and off he went. I followed a few months later. 
But I had other reasons too. Irish is my ancestral language: my paternal Nana was a bilingual school teacher in Free State era Galway. But like many who emigrated, she gave none of her (eight) children the language. Perhaps my favourite moment of the Duolingo journey was coming across dún an doras in a lesson--Nana used to say that fairly frequently. It means shut the door. Learning Irish makes me feel a bit closer to Nana, who was just a fucking awesome person.
Finally, the way the Crown™ industrialized the suppression of the language makes me keen to try and help re-assert the language. This is decolonization: the process of unravelling the legacies of 8 centuries of occupation. Most of the arguments against Irish in Ireland are directly from the occupation and oppression toolkit: not practical, uncouth, savage. Well then, savage me the fuck up. 
As a bonus, Irish is a beautiful language: it's sounds gorgeous when spoken or sung. There's a reason an Irish accident gets people laid. 

Some things worth noting
Duolingo has been the main strategy in my self-regulated Irish language study, but it's not the only one. Duolingo uses gamification, which is especially important in the free version: you need to achieve a certain level of success/accuracy to have access to more than a couple of lessons at a time. This isn't a terrible incentivation, but there's a better solution: pay the USD60 (or so) for a one year paid Plus subscription. You can then determine your own pace for progressing through the lessons--even if you find some topics (verbal nouns are evil) particularly vexing. 
Another important tip: try to do most of your work using a computer and its browser: in addition to the lessons, there are 'tip' - which are really more fleshed out and complete lesson and study guides. I only use the app now when I'm on a long overseas flight (Plus members can download their entire course onto their tablet/phone and then it synchronizes when you're next online). 

What's next
In addition to Duolingo I have acquired a range of printed materials, though I haven't made much progress through any of them--and that's OK. I've also participated in a series of massive open online courses (MOOCs) on Irish delivered through FutureLearn and Dublin City University. The MOOCs haven't exactly elevated my language competencies very much, but they use a different approach compared to Duolingo. And they've had some interesting cultural pieces to flesh out some of the why bits of Irish. 
Our pre-Covid19 plans had been to travel to Ireland in Irish summer 2021 and do an immersion course. We'll have to see what's happening in terms of international travel at that time. But from my Québec immersion experiences of years gone by, being immersed in a language wires the brain much more quickly and deeply than studying books and recordings. 

 HMMoG we're already half way through January? Jaysus...

I've been back at work since the 3rd and back in the office since the 6th. Most folks in Aotearoa tend to book off from a few days before Christmas until closer to the end of January. I find this time of year really great, work-wise: 90% of meetings don't happen so it's time I can structure as I wish. I also get to wear sandals most days. Also, just as the last stragglers drift back in to the office the last week of January, I bugger off for that week. 

My reasons for coming back so early aren't entirely altruistic. Every spring I submit to a conference in Spain for March. If my proposal(s) are accepted, I have to confirm all the arrangements the first week of January.
This year both my submissions were accepted so that first week back at work involved:

1. Getting quotes for and booking flights for Valencia
2. Registering for conference
3. Booking hotel for conference
4. Writing two papers for conference

Of these, #1 also required picking a second destination: travelling to/from Europe in a week--in economy class--is mental. Also I go to this conference most years so I've done all the sightseeing in Valencia. Both All the things. 

After considering a few options, I'll be flying home from Brussels, a city I've loved since I was 18, which is...37 fucking years ago...Christ. I had to pick somewhere where the overall airlines ticket costs were neutral. I also wanted somewhere available via a direct flight from Valencia (and there's now a daily flight to BRU), and not involving shitty budget carriers and their nonsense. Aside from its own appeal, Brussels will allow to do something I've wanted to do for years: the Eurostar over to London. So it'll be Saturday lunch in London with some Eurovision mates!  First time through the Chunnel™ too!

I'm also trying to get into work earlier most days so I can enjoy a few hours on the back deck in the summer sun. A life unlucky.

 I arrived this afternoon from Europe. The trip was great, though my plans to visit Kraków (and Auschwitz) were banjanxed by an Lufthansa strike. Three more days in Dublin isn't a terrible thing.  But I would've been quite happy to have come home a couple of days earlier.
The flights back were a combination of Turkish and Singapore Airlines. Shall I review? I shall:
Dublin-Istanbul: Turkish operates an actual business class on many flights between European cities and their Istanbul hub. So I had a big recliner, was served a hot two course plated meal, and it was nice. 
Istanbul Airport: Turkish operates out of the brand new Istanbul airport and sweet Jaysus honey on the rock it's fucking huge. After landing I timed it and we were taxing for 19 minutes! But Turkish Airlines are either cheap or shortsighted Turkish: a flight landing after midnight local time is parked at a remote stand and we're bused to a brand new fucking terminal with dozens of empty gates. Fuckers. Also...having a huge terminal is fine, but you need to have some people movers on the main terminal level. I had to get to my get around 2km walking distance, at almost 01h, and arrived at my gate a sweaty mess for the upcoming long haul segment. Speaking of which..
Istanbul-Singapore: cheap fucking bastards with a remote stand again! So much for priority boarding: instead it was like the Port Authority on St Patrick's Day.  After a whore's bath in the airplane's loo, I settled for a quick dinner, a restful 6 hours of medicated sleep, and a brisk Turkish cafe for "breakfast" at 16h local time in Singapore.  Great crew, good food, good seat--but beware, Turkish still uses 2-3-2 configuration in business class and the folks who got stuck in the middle seats were not happy!
Singapore Airport: Istanbul might have one massive terminal, but SIN remains the best in the world. Efficient deplaning. Shops galore. Anything you desire on hand: a pool, a hotel, several lounges, shopping for things. The Silver Krys Lounge is getting very tired (especially the 'loo), but the food was good, there's lots of space, and I managed to score the last unoccupied shower. Though I only snacked and rehydrated.
Singapore-Auckland: SQ has a Book the Cook service for business class, and I booked my dinner (ribeye) and breakfast (waffle) in advance. When I boarded I explained I wanted a quick main-online dinner, then to get some sleep. That's what they sorted for me. When I had breakfast, I asked only for an espresso "shall I bring you a double espresso, Mr Egan?" SHALL I MARRY YOU SINGAPORE WOMAN????? This was on the older A380, but it's still one of the best seats and best beds in the sky. 

Lewis Capaldi's Someone You Loved has become a global hit, including #1 in the States. He's not a pop star, he's just a bloody great songwriter and singer.  The preview video for the US market makes no sense to me at all. But this one, which we can call the Commonwealth version, kills me. Every time. 


Here's the American version:

We have a very moist winter here in Tāmaki makaurau. Not Vancouver moist, but moist. Our property has very clay soil so we are surrounded by wet sponge-like soil in winter, which dries into cement in the summer. Unless you copious water said soil every day in summer.
Fuck that. For environmental and fiscal reasons. Though we do recycle my bathwater every day in the summer months, to water the garden and fruit trees. The front grass we let wither.
Usually by the beginning of October we are regularly topping out around 20-22C each day. We've only hit 20 a couple of times since April. But we are in the season when it feels cool in the morning, steamy in the afternoon, and...perfect in the evening. We're also back on Daylight Savings Time, so the evening are actual evening again. I haven't spent the entire weekend in the garden yet this season: school work and work work have precluded that. But I have been getting bits done and I do feed the citrus trees once a week. Which they love. We got our usual bounty of oranges (today I'll removed the last of the harvest), a few lemons and a handful of limes. The lime tree is a newbie, so any limes were a bonus. Also limes in Aotearoa are vilely expensive.
But I digress.
This week I finished my final assignment for the coursework component of my Masters degree. I only have to give a wee presentation and I'm done.  The last assignment is my research proposal for next year's thesis dissertation, so I'm in good stead. But because of workload issues I want to try and crank out the dissertation in the first half of next year. That requires getting ethics approval for my research before the end of November (Aotearoa is pretty much closed from 15 December-31 January, which is awesome unless you need to get shit done). Hence my getting the last assignment done over a month early. I'll pitch it to a purported supervisor for next year and hopefully get the ethics application in shortly.  I'm excited about the proposed project!
We also have a "restructure" hanging over our heads at work, though indications are that will be clarified in a fortnight or so--just as I leave for Europe for holidays and work. So I'm tidying my calendar up to potentially triage team members through that. Not a fun part of leadership. 
Stew for dinner tonight, followed by a very late rugby game on telly. COYBIG.

Nouméa est trop cher. C'est tout. 

Late in 2018 the university announced a new Masters in Higher Education (unfortunate abbreviation: HIGHED, dude). Including a two-year part-time option. Part of my job involves doing higher education research anyway: a bit of drilling down into the programme requirements and I thought "myself, you might well be able to harmonize your workload with the programme requirements" so I applied. Oh, also: the programme is literally free for me--I get 100% of the tuition and fees paid by the university. Free is almost as good as getting paid, eh? So I enrolled.
We just finished our first semester. Awesome cohort of fellow students. Terribly poor course organization. Maddening at times assessment processes. Lovely people teaching the course, but...oy.  On balance it's been a good experience, but it could be an awesome experience.
My final assignment was submitted a week ago, so we're off until the end of July now. Next semester's class is research methods and I'm looking much more forward to that one. Then next year I write a wee thesis (called a "dissertation") over the two semesters.
Then I'll be have M HIGHED. Like, dude, whoa. Am totally baked.
Also, Himself is making something with pulses for our dinner tonight. This pleases me. 

 COYGIR (Come on you Girl in red!)  

Himself went over to Ireland to visit his Dad several months ago. My father-in-law moved to Ireland shortly after his wife died...around 12 years ago. He's got a nice little setup there and, aside from the odd cultural blunder that only a cashed up English person can commit in Ireland, he's been well sorted.  
Last year Himself had a DNA test and discovered--to everyone's surprise--that's he's mostly of Irish stock. Suffice to say my family are thrilled ("We KNEW there was a reason we liked him!"). Himself has been researching his ancestry and now knows most of his Irish genes are from Donegal. So in addition to visiting his Dad in Wexford, this most recent trip inlcluded a motorcycle hire and a trip down the west coast of Ireland.
Max came home with some Irish language learning materials and was well into Duolingo's Irish modules before coming home.
We hadn't really discussed us both learning Irish. I've tried twice before: once using Plimseur's (pretty good; pretty basic) and once in an adult ed course at Sydney Uni (charming fella from Connemara, but an eejit of a teacher). Why not, you say?
Except...I'd already committed to start a course in te rēo Māori in March of this year. This is offered through Wānanga o Aotearoa, our national Māori tertiary institution. All NZ residents and citizens can study there for FREE. And we're doing it as a cohort through work. I collaborate with a number of Māori colleagues so it only seems right that I try to decolonize myself by learning the reo. Though after Himself arrived with a bevy of as gaelige booty, it occurred to me that as a member of the Irish diaspora I could do with some decolonization myself. 
But I couldn't possible do both...or could I?
So I will soon be officially doing what many European 8 years do: studying two languages concurrently. And as an educational researcher I am going to research myself through the process...here, in this blog. 
*deep breath*