Mairangi Notes #26 — 2026.10.09

MHJ

my mairangi

Issue

#26

2026.10.09

Yussi's Note

Life in Rhythm

One by one, the dance performances the girls have been preparing for throughout the year are beginning. Today is my eldest daughter's K-pop dance competition. Her school performance is coming up soon, too, while my youngest is busy with rehearsals and practice for her ballet studio's annual show. My middle daughter has already finished her school production. I wonder what it feels like to stand on such a big stage. It's been so long that I can barely remember. I was thirteen when three friends and I formed a theatre group and entered a competition. From piano competitions and musicals to dance competitions and performances, my girls are surprisingly shy, yet surprisingly brave. Applause for the girls!

Main Story

Life in Aotearoa · 2026.10.09.

3 Girls, 3 Colours of the Holidays : Jin

Week one of the holidays, Jin danced 9 to 4 at her studio's holiday programme. Week two, an ear infection kept her home with books, crafts and StoryPress.

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Lunch Box

MON

Grilled Eel Rice Bowl

No lunchboxes to pack during the school holidays, so just lunch at home. One day’s menu was a bowl of rice topped with garlic chives, thin strips of egg, and sweet-savoury grilled eel. A hearty, energy-boosting meal for our stay-at-home dad.

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Campus Notes

TUE

Towards the Finish Line

Everything is in its final stretch now. I’ve submitted all the drafts for my research report, and the next step is to bring them together into one complete piece. All of our block courses are finished, with just one group presentation still to go. Most of my classmates have also finished their placements, which leaves only a handful of things between us and the end: the group presentation, the research report, and the last bits and pieces of placement work.
Everyone seems to be wading through the same swamp of pressure and limited capacity, trying to squeeze out whatever energy is left. It feels good to finally see the end, but somehow that makes it daunting too. We’re almost there. We just have to get through the last stretch.

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English with Jin

This Week's Expression

“Easy peasy!”

“Why is this so easy peasy?” Jin said the other day, halfway through something. She said it in Korean, all of it except “easy peasy”, which sat right in the middle of the sentence as though it had always belonged there.
She didn’t pause to choose. “Easy peasy” probably came from school, from a teacher saying it to a mat full of five-year-olds. The rest came from home. For now, they aren’t two languages to her, just one pile of words, and she reaches for whichever fits. There is something so natural in the way she moves between the two.

StoryPress →

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Local Guide

📚

Book Feast

Book Feast at Dorothy Butler Children's Bookshop

Sat 10 Oct, 10am - 4pm · Free
NZ Bookshop Day at one of Auckland's few specialist children's bookshops, with morning readings from Vasanti Unka, Shara Curlett and Maria Gill, plus summery and rocket crafts. Kids can also join a book character hunt to win a $5 voucher. Ages 3+.
📍 Dorothy Butler Children's Bookshop, 1 Jervois Road, Ponsonby, Auckland

🎭

Arts Festival

The Imaginarium at We The Young

Sat 10 & Sun 11 Oct, sessions at 10am, 11.30am and 1.30pm · $12, family of up to 5 $45 (Ticketmaster, no booking fee at the Box Office)
An immersive play space of light, shadow, sound and movement, themed Our Natural World this year, where children and grown ups create side by side. It was designed by Disabled and non-disabled artists, with accessibility built in from the start. All ages.
📍 Hunua Rooms, Aotea Centre, 50 Mayoral Drive, Auckland CBD, Auckland 1010

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From the Archive

Little 15 Mins

What We Tried — Nothing Quite Fit

Videos, books, worksheets, apps — we tried them all for our daughter in Auckland. What worked, what did not, and what we learned along the way.

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

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