893

 If I'm honest, I must admit that it has lately become more difficult to remain enthusiastic and motivated about this project. It isn't that the project itself is failing to inspire me. Rather, it's the fact that it has become almost intolerable to live an ordinary, unvaccinated life.

892

Apropos of nothing much, I learned the other day that one difference between Māori and Cook Island Maori is that more, if not all, double vowel combinations are pronounced distinctly separate. The word 'koutou', for example, has four syllables ko-u-to-u. 

891

Pēnei on page 145 of Hare Pota.

On this page, there were five instances of this structure that struck me.

1. Pēnei i a Whirika
2. Pēnei anō i a Whirika
3. Pēnei i ō Hākiri
4. Kāore i paku pēnei i ō Hākiri
5. Pēnei i a Ahorangi Makōnara

They are all cases of comparison. 

890

 I had to scramble a little to find another audiobook version of Harry Potter as the link to the previous one had disappeared. But there is always another one. And if there isn't, I have downloaded Stephen Fry's excellent rendition on my home computer.

889

 Happy to report that my new routine is going well. There are three or four parts to it:

1. I do a page reading with the two texts side by side
2. I make a note of any sentences I feel confident about
3. I listen in English while I follow along in Maori
4. I try to repeat the above cycle later in the day (for the next page)

The third bit takes only about a couple of minutes as I let it play right through without pausing.

Here are the sentences I elected to copy from page 143:

• Kātahi ia ka huri i tana tēpu mahi hei poaka, ā, ka hurihia anō ki tana tēpu mahi.
• Ka tino hiamo rātou katoa.
• Ka hoatu ki tēnā, ki tēnā o rātou he māti.
• Ka tīmata te whai kia hurihia heo ngira.
• Mutu rawa ake te akoranga,
• Ka whakaatu ia i tana menemene ki a Heremaiani.
• (me uaua kē ka kitea)
• Ka hana te mata o Kīrera.
• Ko te tuarua he haunga rerekē ahakoa haere ai ia ki hea.
• Ka ora te ngākau of Hare.
• He tokomaha ngā tāngata i ahu mai i ngā whānau Makuware, ā, pēnei i a ia.
• He rā nui a Paraire ki a Hare rāua ko Rana.

888

 Time for a little tweak.

I'm going to institute a bit of a change to my program. I'm not entirely sure yet what I'll do, but it will be something along the lines of incorporating several strands of activity.

I want to read, listen, and write - a little of each daily.

Details to follow.

887

 On my Kindle, I have the habit these days of alternating Dutch and Māori. 

Now and then I highlight interesting words, especially those that are new to me but that I can grasp from analysis and through context.

e.g. curiositeiten (curiosities), antropoloog (anthropologist), modderpoten (muddy feet)

And in te reo: kōhimuhimu (whisper), akoranga (classroom), nekeneke haere (moving about)

886

 With help from Google translate, I wrote the following as a comment on the latest staff update: proposal on mandatory vaccines:

E noho pono ana ki o tātau mātāpono me o tātau uara uho.

(Holding true to our principles and core values.)

885

 I woke up this morning with a half-dream idea: to create some sort of spaced repetition app for Māori based on the text of Hare Pota. I'll just let that sit there and percolate . . .