It’s fair to say that I’ve gone a bit “Crazy for Japan”. Train travel, capsule hotels, souffle pancakes you name it. It’s a place I’d like to visit but for now, I just have to contend with making my own learning experiences. Today was raining all day and I didn’t leave the house. Andrew was […]
Travelling Around Japan By Train
I love YouTube. When you can’t travel for real, there’s always a YouTuber who has travelled the journey you want to go on so you can travel in the comfort of your own home – an in your PJs. I stumbled upon the channel called Kuga Travel where he travels on trains. He doesn’t speak […]
Blocked Drains
I wrote a few posts back that it seemed everything was breaking down at our place. To be fair, it’s an age thing. As most equipment is over 20 or 30 years old, they’re all giving up the ghost 
and come at once. Not exactly the right time either when we are looking at […]
The Kids Run the Show
Recently I read a book translated from French called The Kids Run the Show (or in French, Les Enfants Sont Rois) by Delphine De Vigan. I’ve read some of her other books and liked them so when I saw this latest one on the shelf at the local library, I borrowed it. It kept me […]
Trip to Moonee Ponds to Check out Collins Booksellers
One of the things I love to do is to go somewhere new in our city and just walk and explore. I was going to meet my friend in Ascot Vale to have lunch at a cute cafe called Old Man Andrew in Ascot Vale. As I was early, I stayed on the tram and […]
Visiting My Old University
We woke up to the radio announcer telling his listeners that it was the coldest day in Melbourne in years. In some parts, it was -5 but outside it was -2. No wonder my nose was so cold! The house was freezing and the only thing that was different to any other winter day was […]
Glendalough Revisit
I’m reading Edward Rutherford’s big novel of +800 pages called Dublin published in 2005. I’m a great fan of his writing and have most of his works which are all huge books that span many years all about the history of cities. It’s a great way to learn about history through fictional stories and characters […]
Bad Golf
For the last couple of months, my golf game has deteriorated so much that it feels like I’ve gone back to the first days of this game. It has become frustrating for me as it’s such a mental game. I feel demoralised and sad every time I get off the course. It’s difficult not to […]
Everything Is Breaking Down
I could write about this to mean something about the world but no, I won’t. I’ll write about what’s happening at home instead. 
Yesterday our CD player component broke down. To be fair, it was over 25 years old. Andrew had wanted to spend the afternoon listening to music and he chose the CD […]
Yellowface by Rebecca F. Kuang
Here’s the latest book review that I’ve put up online. I enjoyed this book that gave you a picture of the publishing world behind the scenes but also the toxicity of social media. Well worth a read!
The Pachinko Parlour Book Review
Here’s the latest book review up online. I liked this book as it taught me a little about the history of Japanese and Korean relations. I had no idea of their tension and how Japan had colonised Korea in the past. Well worth a read.
Tasting Raclette
One of the things I love about my French school is that our teacher includes cultural experiences within the lesson. We speak in French and then we learn various cultural and traditional aspects of the country. Today was our last lesson for the semester before a three week break and she put on a “raclette”. […]
If You Can’t Travel to Paris, Go To Bendigo in Regional Victoria
It was a very long time since I had a school excursion so on Saturday, my French School organised a day trip out to regional Victoria, the old gold town of Bendigo to see the French Impressionism Art Exhibition of Life in Paris during 1880-1925. And shock horror, we were all going to go out […]
Worldwide Knitting in Public Day
Saturday June 8th is worldwide Knitting in Public Day and one of the local libraries in the area, hosted an event for knitters and crocheters. They also had biscuits and a barista there for biscuits and coffees as well as baskets of yarn and needles for anyone to have a go. I decided to go […]
What are My Next Steps?
I’ve been considering what to do with this Activate Learning blog. Should I close it down? Should I rename and redesign it? Should I start a new one as Life Lessons from Books? However, the more I think about it, the more I realise that “activate learning” is a useful generic “catch-all” phrase that could […]
Medea and Other Plays
Here’s the latest review I published on YouTube. I enjoyed reading this book and wondered why I hadn’t read the Greek plays before this. 
Love Affair with a Hot Water Bottle
The most underrated piece of kit any home to have is the hot water bottle. …and flannelette bed sheets …and flannelette pyjamas …and hand knitted woollen socks But mainly the hot water bottle. If I was a poet, I’d write a poem to my beloved hot water bottle. It’s THAT important in my life . […]
At the Crossroads of a Decision
Learning Inclusive Language for French
We had an interesting lesson in French today where we talked about inclusive language in French. To be honest, I thought that anyone who doesn’t identify as male or female would have used “vous” which is the equivalent of “they” or a formal “you” in French but I was wrong. The pronoun iel is used […]
A Good Clean Feels Cathartic
As poor little Pud has been sick lately we monitor his health daily. It means unfortunately he’s not always using his litter. Stressful for him as it is for me. However, I’m not too fussed in all honesty. I keep a fairly tidy house but not “sterile clean” because that’s way too much work (and […]