Kia ora readers.
Kei te pehea koe?
Ah, ka pai.
I can count to tekau, and I know ma is white and whero is red, but that's getting near the limit of my knowledge of te reo.
I would love to be fluent in Maori, and that still may happen, but you knowwhat they say about the best-laid plans.
I have made a small start, however.
This week, Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori, I learned seven Maori words: Rahina, Ratu, Raapa, Rapare, Ramere, Rahoroi and Ratapu.
You may know them by their aliases: Mane, Turei, etc.
Or you may not recognise them without their macrons. Apologies for the omission but I dare not risk adding them here as the wonders of modern communication still may not extend to macrons going through the publishing process and appearing in your newspaper.
If you'd like to add your own they appear on the first 'a' in each word as well as the 'u' in Ratu.
You may, on the other hand, be very unhappy about the fact we replaced Monday and co with Rahina and the rest this week.
Some of you were unhappy enough to ring and chastise us about including te reo in our masthead.
Well, you'll be glad to see Monday back in its usual spot in two days' time.
But was it really such a hardship to not be told what day of the week it is, just these six days in a whole year?
If so, we did provide a translation at the top of each page inside.
Maori is an official language of this country - and is a taonga.
Many of us don't do enough to recognise this, and this awareness week around this time each year is a welcome reminder of such.
Have a great weekend, and noho ora mai ra. - Kim Gillespie
