Well, that interview was pretty much a nightmare. Thanks so much for starting with 'what do you think makes New Zealand unique?' and 'what kind of vision do you have for this project?', Jock Phillips. Two questions totally huge in scope and guaranteed to make me freeze and stammer. Then follow it up with asking me questions about biculturalism *in front of Claudia Fucking Orange*. She wrote The Treaty of Waitangi!!! (The book, not the treaty itself. Obviously.) What can I possibly say about biculturalism in front of her that doesn't sound retarded and banal? My brain just stopped working the second I got into the room. A panel of *four*, two of whom are these giant names in NZ history... impossible.

Two good things: a) the writing exercise, which took an hour and a half, went pretty well (I am much better writing than speaking under pressure - another reason not to be a teacher!); and b) they had over 300 applications and only interviewed 18 people. So, um, yay for me for getting that far, I suppose. But still, overall: nightmare.