Mairangi Notes #18 — 2026.08.14

MHJ

my mairangi

Issue

#18

2026.08.14

Yussi's Note

Happy 12th birthday, Min!

The 8th was Min's 12th birthday. She invited five friends over for a day packed with mala tang, an escape room, a trip to the pool, and a surprise party back home to finish it off.
Penny and I turned into drivers, chaperones, and cooks all at once, just as busy as she was, all to catch that grin that kept breaking across the birthday girl's face and never quite faded. All to make sure the first day of being twelve was one worth remembering.

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Life in Aotearoa · 2026.08.14.

Blessings for the Lost

Without noticing, I'd turned storybooks into English lessons. A National Library report on reading for pleasure showed me how to let go of the map.

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Lunch Box

MON

Chicken Riceball&SamgakGimbap

Same chicken fried rice, different shapes. Min prefers hers pressed into samgak gimbap, while Hyun and Jin go for the plain riceball. Min and Jin will eat a banana without a second thought, Hyun won't touch one. Jin can't have chocolate biscuits, so she gets a nut topped cracker instead. Different tastes, different bits of work behind each lunchbox.

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Campus Notes

TUE

Between an Ending and a Beginning

Another block course paper wrapped up, marked with two thoroughly enjoyable days of lectures and a generous shared lunch. Assignments still remain, but the classroom side is done. The very next day, placement began. A simple, warm orientation set off the 450 hour journey at last. The week closed with my first external supervision. Striped t shirt, a white goatee, my supervisor was such good fun that we ended up talking for an hour and a half, tangled somewhere between English, Korean, and Spanish. It's lovely to have a safe space to share the journey.

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English with Jin

This Week's Expression

“No, I like it.”

Jin has been wanting to bring little things to school lately, toys, stickers, bits of jewellery, to give to a friend. I told her not to, since the other kids might want one too, but let her hand them over after school instead. At first I thought it was simply because she liked her friend so much, but she'd often seem to miss the thing she'd given away afterwards, so I told her she didn't have to give it if she didn't want to. That's when she said, "I don't know how to say no." Now I could see what was really going on. I taught her the easiest phrase to remember: "No, I like it." Every time she gains a new word she needs, her social skills grow a step further too. Here's to today's growing.

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Local Guide

🫜

Blackpool Community Garden Working Bee

Sun 16 Aug, 9.30am - 12pm
Get your hands into the soil alongside neighbours, no garden of your own required. Tools are provided, and a shared morning tea rounds things off. Bring something to share if you can, and take home whatever's ready to harvest.
📍 Corner of Moa Ave and Nikau Rd, Blackpool, Waiheke Island

💬

Workshop

Spoken Word Workshop with Ruannah Nansen & Koko

Thu 20 Aug, 5.30pm - 7.30pm · Free (Ages 12+. booking essential)
A hands on session exploring spoken word, poetry, and rap, led by DJ and spoken word artist Ruannah Nansen and Pacific poet Koko. No experience needed, light refreshments provided.
📍 Tupu Youth Library, 102 Dawson Road, Ōtara, Auckland 2023

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From the Archive

Life in Aotearoa

Tricky Egg Hunt for Easter

How we turned Easter into a four-stage treasure hunt for our three girls in Mairangi Bay — eggs, book clues, hidden sentences, and a movie at the end.

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www.mhj.nz · Mairangi Bay, Auckland, New Zealand

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