Confirmation letter for PhD Grad'...

 

It's official! Today I received an email confirming my PhD graduation, in person, on Friday, 1st May 2026. I'll be travelling there with my family as it's been a long time coming.

We're looking at spending the weekend there, and then we'll all travel back after soaking in the sights and chillaxing in Whakatane. I've travelled to Whakatane once by plane and then by car with one of my children, and it will be great to take them down one last time. 

That's been the great thing about the development of online virtual meetings, because it helped keep down travel costs, and I could still meet with my academic supervisor regularly online without having to travel far distances.

In fact, my beloved is considering visiting Gisborne whilst we're down there, as I haven't been back to Gisborne in years. However, we'll be keeping an eye on the weather with some of the rainy storms that we've been encountering so far.

It's quietly becoming exciting in anticipation of this massive milestone for me which has been my nemesis for the past decades. It's neat to know that my graduation will signal the end of one journey and the start of another...

Countdown to PhD Graduation 2026...

 

Source: Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuirangi website 

I'm counting down to my PhD graduation with just 9 more sleeps to go. It is over two days, with the first day of registering, attending the pōwhiri or Māori welcoming ceremony with my family and then ensuring that I have all the vouchers, etc. for the following graduation day.

This is a dream come true as I had planned it in my 20s, and here I am finally at the end of this journey and ready to begin another.

My family will be travelling with me to Whakatane, hopefully all three generations of us, with my mum, if she's up to it as she and my late dad were an important part of my academic, spiritual and cultural journey to bring me to this point.

I'm also so happy that my children can attend from their busy lives and pause with me for a couple of days to celebrate with me, to thank our Atua (God) and to enjoy time together as a family. My eldest helped to book an Airbnb as I had already booked a hotel close to the venue, but she wanted it to be in a special space where we could be together as a family, so I happily changed plans.

It's also special because I'm graduating from an Indigenous tertiary institution, as Te Whare Wānanga o Aotearoa, which was very important for me to align with, as my thesis is about indigenous Samoan knowledge from my diaspora SamoaNZ perspective.

It's also a little daunting in knowing the journey that I've been on and the beautiful gems that I received along the way in many different forms. My only missing person is my late father. I know he would have been very proud, and I will be taking him in my heart with me as I dedicated my thesis especially to my parents who were there from my very beginnings...

'Grounding' with our natural environments...

Holidays are now over, and we're onto the first week back in Term 2. One of the neat things that we did do over the holidays was to go on a walk at one of the local parks called Totara Park.

The neat thing was that my youngest invited a friend, and we were able to explore the park as well as to enjoy lunch at another local park afterwards.

I think it's really important to get out into the sunshine near parks and waterways, especially when studying indigenous knowledge and information.

It reminds us of how our ancestors were able to accumulate knowledge without the need for digital aids, and also thinking processes that were natural and not recorded through digital means.

Sometimes it's about getting back to nature in seeing the sun, walking through and seeing native flora and fauna, hearing birdsong and listening to the ebb and flow of tides. It reminds me of the importance of  'grounding' ourselves in a spiritual sense but also in a physical sense to remind us about what really matters.

This is in our relations with our Atua (God), within ourselves and with others, our relationships with the environment, and with information as well as our spatial relationships too. To not be reliant on digital information but to believe in ancestral intelligence...

Last days of the school holidays...

This week, my three children went ice-skating, and I tagged along, as it was the last week of school holidays and uni holidays. It was so nice to go out together and to have fun.

Whilst they were skating, I had time to run out to do some quick shopping and also grabbed a snack at the local eatery that included carrot cake, a hot dog, and chips.

After skating, we went to lunch, and they chose to go to one of our favourite spots, which was the local Vietnamese Cafe. This time, I decided to stray from my usual Hinamese chicken on rice with its special soup.

Instead, I chose a combination soup with egg noodles as I'm not a big fan of noodles, but I simply love their flavoursome soups. We all chose different dishes, but couldn't finish them, so we were able to take the leftovers home.

My youngest has improved immensely in ice-skating, and I must say that although I did ice-skate 'once-upon-a-time', I'm most reluctant to take a fall and instead enjoy long 5km walks instead.

I must say that it's quite endearing to see my children taking me out, which still takes a little getting used to, having been a provider for them growing up with my beloved. However, it's also satisfying and a blessing to see them growing up, taking responsibility and showing love.

Today, they also baked a cake to commemorate the 62 years of marriage that could have been (although my dad passed away a few years ago). It still was very special and a blessing to know that it meant a lot to them, which brought tears to my mum, too. It certainly was a blessing...

Attending Auckland Careers Expo 2026...

 

Today I received an invitation to attend the 'Auckland Careers Expo' through the 'Inspiring Future Aotearoa' organisation that I volunteer at.

It's an annual Expo I attended with my adult students many years ago, and it's happening in two months on 17 June, all day but 11 - 12.30pm (my slot).

The venue is at the Auckland Showgrounds in Greenlane near the city centre, and I'm really looking forward to attending as a SamoaNZ author, artist and academic.

It's also after my PhD graduation and will be neat to represent and encourage 15 - 18 year olds to pursue their strengths and goals, as well as to never give up!

This will be my first time attending as a contributor, and that's neat to be able to share stories and to talk about my pathway to becoming a writer, artist and academic with a short-cut story.

Knowing that life was never meant to be easy, but that inspiration comes in many forms, and that I've been blessed to be able to do the things that I enjoy with my family's support.

I also want to encourage listeners to sometimes take the risk to do things that might not be the well-trodden path, but that can be very supportive of helping them to reach their goals. Having supportive family members is also a very big plus as well...

Cyclones concerns...

 

Last night I watched the weather report that was concerning regarding the cyclone that was expected to wreak havoc on parts of NZ. This was especially worrying as Whakatane (the place that I'll be travelling to at the end of the month) had issued a state of emergency with flooding, constant rain and battling the storms.

In parts of Auckland, people were racing to buy up bottles of water and other supplies in case of being stuck in homes with no electricity or water. We were asked to shore up supplies and to stay at home and not take any unnecessary travel in case of high winds and constant rain.

The storm was expected to hit Auckland last night, at around midnight, but by then I had already gone to sleep as I was so tired from my 5km walk with my beloved in the morning and a one-hour treadmill session whilst my family did some sparring and boxing.

I woke up early this morning to a calm day with light rain. However, my place of work had already issued a statement to say that there was to be closure at all of our North Island campuses and satellite sites for the weekend, including Monday.

My birth church also issued a statement on social media to say that there was to be no church services in light of the weather warnings, and instead, we would be gathering on a social media platform (as we did during COVID). 

This Sunday, I think I'll remain at home and be thankful that it was mild for my family, but my heart and prayers go out to those who have been hit and have now a cleanup to content with...

First week of School Easter holidays...

 It was great for me to watch the highly anticipated movie "The Magic Faraway Tree", which was based on books by Enid Blyton, as one of my favourite writers when I was at primary school. In fact, I enjoyed her books so much that I read quite a few of her series before I reached 10 years old.

I took my youngest, and it was interesting to see how the movie had been translated into a more recent time, with the parents having more participation than in the book. I was also interested in seeing how each of the characters featured in the movie, and there were some changes but still translated well.

However, I did find it interesting that features of the tree were not demonstrated more in the movie. As I had bought a copy of three books in one and read it in Samoa before returning back to NZ at the beginning of the year in wanting to refresh my perspective of the book before watching the movie.

I enjoyed the movie and would recommend it for younger children as it still does have a magical quality about it, but not as much as in the books. So these school holidays, with only one more week to go, I might have a look and see what else is on offer for my youngest too...

"Amazing Grace" song by Chris Tomlin...

 This Easter Friday, we spent time as a family, with some of us attending the morning service at Life Church South. There was a special presentation, beautiful worship music and also Communion together. It was definitely a special time together.

After the service, we were blessed with hot cross buns (either chocolate or the traditional sultanas) with butter! We then made our way home and started our BBQ (or rather, my beloved) with the rest of us making different dishes for the lunch preparation.

It was good to have a prayer time together for the meal outside, and a reflection of what Easter meant to us, and so good to have three generations of family together. We later dispersed, with the children playing Monopoly together, and with their complementary music blaring outside, as I watched a movie with my mum.

Into the evening, we had our usual family devotion and were reminded that Easter is a special time in remembering the importance of our faith and the sacrifice that was made for us in the death of the Son of God so that we might have life after this life on earth departs from us...