#28 Marnie Watson (Just Add Water)

Are you chopping onions or have you just brought a tear gas canister into your 15th floor apartment? Aussie country-kid, Marnie Watson (Acumen / Sannam S4 Group) chooses to disregard her own wedding anniversary to join the TFTDL flight crew and share some honesty and a whole lot of love with her favourite podders.

We lurch from wardrobe malfunctions to Papa New Guinea via long distance friendships in a way only this podcast can. There's more quality dog-cast content and we rally against the loss of language learning in schools and fight for our right to take more carry-on luggage on planes. I predict a riot or a friend swap. 

Final boarding call: Ho Chi Minh City

This episode is sponsored by Duolingo. Today over 4500 institutions including Yale, Imperial and Trinity College Dublin have adopted the Duolingo English Test. If your university wants to join them then get in touch at www.englishtest.duolingo.com

Tales from the Departure Lounge is a Type Nine production for The PIE www.thepienews.com

Transcript

Nick 0:03

twiddle my knobs,

Andy 0:04

that's not good preparation

Nick 0:06

I'll put some sound effects in, it'll be fine. Welcome to Tales from the Departure Lounge. This is a podcast about travel for business, for pleasure, or for study. My name's Nick and I'm joined by my co-pilot, Andy. And together we're gonna be talking to some amazing guests about how travel has transformed their. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the journey. Welcome to the podcast.

Andy 0:39

In the show we're joined by Marnie Watson. She's the Chief Commercial and Partnerships Officer for Acumen.

Nick 0:44

With some special guest dogs.

Andy 0:47

We turned this one into a bit of a dog cast.

Nick 0:50

is a super fan of the show.

Andy 0:51

She has spent much of her life, living overseas.

Nick 0:54

including Papua New Guinea when she was just a child.

Andy 0:58

tAlks about having sleepovers, with, local tribes? She's really passionate about immersing yourself in different cultures.

Nick 1:06

And that includes not really acting like a tourist, We talk about modern languages and how they're dying out in universities, and the best ways to learn a language.

Andy 1:16

Unorthodox ways to learn a language.

Nick 1:18

Intimate ways to learn a language.

Andy 1:20

She's the Aussie farm kid who spent much of her life living overseas. She's passionate about languages and curious by nature, leading us to a story about taking things back to her apartment she probably shouldn't have. Let's get some tales from the Departure Lounge from Marnie Watson.

Marnie 1:34

I remember going out in a typhoon in Hong Kong when the windows were being sucked out of those Wan Chai windows and there's glass splashing everywhere. I was like, yeah, shini kushidashue, getting all confident. He's like, oh, kushidashue. And he chucked a U turn I found my friend Tung in a completely different country, completely unexpectedly. And yet, she's the person I feel most connected to in terms of my values. so we took the tear gas canister home and we decided to wash it.

2:03

So before we get into the episode, a quick word about our sponsor. Have you noticed how tech is advancing so quickly? It's impacting all of our lives in unexpected ways. From robot vacuums to GPT recipes through to English language testing. Advances in AI now make it possible to offer secure, intelligent testing that's accessible anywhere and at a much reduced cost. Meaning everyone has access and who doesn't want that? Do you willing goes leading the way with their Duolingo English test? I personally am fascinated in how they're using generative AI to create tests that automatically adapt to a test takers abilities. Meaning tests don't need to last for hours for the sake of it. No more putting test takers through unnecessary repetitive questions. In fact, you would never get the same test item twice. It's efficient. I also allows Duolingo to eliminate the ways test takers, fake their identity or cheat on tests. And they're all counter validated by human proctors as well. But for me, it's because the test can be taken remotely and it's a third of the cost of traditional pen and paper tests. This means it removes barriers that prevent students from progressing with their education. No need to book slots that are oversubscribed or might be in a different country. Uh, pay high fees just for the privilege. Today, over 4,500 institutions like Yale, like Imperial and Trinity college, Dublin. have adopted the Duolingo English test. So if your university wants to join them, please click on the link in the episode notes and find out more and get in touch. Now let's get on with the episode

Andy 3:37

Marnie, welcome to the show.

Marnie 3:39

Thank you very much for having me. Do you know, actually, it's my wedding anniversary today. And I knew I didn't have any evening time tonight. And so I took my husband for lunch over at the university campus, cause we met there.

Nick 3:50

Nice.

Andy 3:51

You're on a podcast instead of going out for dinner with your husband.

Marnie 3:54

I actually confess I forgot that it was our wedding anniversary when I agreed to this date. So don't tell him, okay?

Andy 4:00

I met my wife at university, and it's a good time to meet, isn't it? You're just investing in somebody because of who they are, rather than all of those boring adult things that we have to think about later on in life.

Marnie 4:11

That's really beautifully put.

Nick 4:12

I think he described her as an investment, didn't he?

Marnie 4:18

Sorry for laughing in your ear

Andy 4:19

So the first question we always ask our guests is if you could take our listeners anywhere in the world, where would it be?

Marnie 4:25

we are going to go to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. And I'm a little self conscious that you've had Jakphan and Ben and other people chatting about Vietnam. So I'm hoping that I can capture some of that, wonder and that addictive excitement of Vietnam without being repetitive.

Nick 4:40

Describe it for us.

Marnie 4:42

I love Vietnam. I love Ho Chi Minh City for so many reasons. Broad sweeping generalization, but Vietnamese are very smart. They're very entrepreneurial. They're incredibly determined. And living in Vietnam just feels like. Anything's possible. It's a really exciting place to be. There's constant change. We used to go away every Christmas for two or three weeks and literally we'd come back and whether it was a building next door or a building down the road, building across the road, it would have been demolished and then rebuilt in the three week period. So a lot of change going on.

Andy 5:17

so you were living out there

Marnie 5:18

Myself and my partner. We went over in 2002, with two suitcases and that's about it. And 11 years later we left. I had a husband, two children, a Vietnamese street cat, 33 cubic meters of, shipping. whole bunch of friends, Vietnamese, French, Belgian, Aussies, British,

Andy 5:37

And you were just about to talk about riding on a scooter as well.

Marnie 5:40

Yes, that's one of the other things I love about it. Riding a scooter, it's really like a wild crazy computer game, where you're dodging monkeys and cats and dogs and cars and motorbikes and humans.

Nick 5:50

It's like real life crossy road, the game.

Marnie 5:53

I mean, any image of Ho Chi Minh City, you can imagine the traffic, the motorbikes everywhere.

Nick 5:58

Isn't that a bit overwhelming? The motion sickness of this continual movement?

Marnie 6:02

You've got to relax into it because the noise never stops, the heat is constant, the traffic movement, the humanity everywhere, you can eat dinner at any time of night. go to the flower markets on the way home from a big night out because people are starting at the markets at three o'clock in the morning. That hubbub, that life energy is something that I just completely adore.

Nick 6:25

Had you ridden a scooter before you went there?

Marnie 6:28

I'd been in Indonesia for three years, so I'd certainly done my fair share of, Being on motorbike taxis, I'm also a country kid, so I'd ridden motorbikes as a teenager a lot on the farm. but it was probably my first time to drive every day to and from work. And, live my life essentially on a scooter. And I now have one. I came back to Australia and was like, how can you live anywhere without a scooter? So I also have one here.

Andy 6:52

That's what I was going to ask you. Have you brought any of your Vietnamese life back with you,

Marnie 6:56

Well, the cat died sadly. The Vietnamese street cat lived 18 years. I got him as a tiny little fellow in palm of my hand who was in the gutter outside the office. but he died 18 years later

Nick 7:07

How about cooking skills?

Marnie 7:10

Look, this is, this is the part of the conversation that I'm hoping you'll cut because I hate being an expat brat. When you're living overseas, you've got someone who does your cooking. so I don't know that I learned that much, but I do love food. It's so fragrant. It's so light. So easy to enjoy. Huey food's my favorite. Spicy Huey food.

Andy 7:29

And the language, is it incredibly challenging? Is it very tonal? You could be saying horse or you could be saying mother in law?

Marnie 7:36

Yeah, you're spot on. I literally spent two years just trying to hear the tones. It took me that long. I speak very, very bad Vietnamese now. My Vietnamese buddies if they ever listen to this will be appalled still that I get my accents wrong. But there is a word B A N and depending on when you say bun with an upward tone or bun with a downward tone or bun with a Intonation, like a up and down. It can mean busy or bread or tire or friend, or there are another like three or four definitions that you could use for the phrase B A N, the word B A N.

Andy 8:12

I don't want to, put you on the spot Marnie, but could you just say... Tales from the Departure Land is the best podcast in the world in Vietnamese, please, right now. Go! Go!

Marnie 8:21

Thank you. Thank you very much, Andy, for the opportunity, but I will be passing because I have Vietnamese friends who will be appalled at my ability.

Andy 8:29

I learnt, in inverted commas, Mandarin for two years. It was just embarrassing. I was embarrassing myself when I was in China all the time. Just lots of blank stares.

Marnie 8:38

You just need to drink more. Honestly, you're most fluent when you've had a few.

Andy 8:44

Actually the advice that I got from my Mandarin tutor, she said, what you need to do is get a Chinese girlfriend.

Marnie 8:52

Oh yeah, you do.

Andy 8:54

And I said, well, I'll ask my wife and see what she says. It's for us, darling. It's so that I can,, further my career. yeah, she wasn't on board with that. I think the French called it, L'école horizontale, didn't they?

Marnie 9:05

what is it?

Andy 9:06

the horizontal school.

Marnie 9:07

Ah. I don't speak any Mandarin. But, my children speak Mandarin and they very unwisely taught me two sentences. So that when I was in Beijing once. I jumped in a taxi and, wanted to engage. And I was like, I'm going to use my sentence. And I'm like, I am a teacher. Wǒ shì lǎo shì. And he's like, oh yeah, cool. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. No idea. And then I was like, ah, they taught me one other thing. I've never worked for the University of Technology, but they taught me this. Shì And so I was like, yeah, shini kushidashue, getting all confident. He's like, oh, kushidashue. And he chucked a U turn and started to take me somewhere completely different to what my business card said. And so, lesson was learned.

Andy 9:48

You can be slightly overconfident, can't you, with these things,

Nick 9:51

fake it till you make it.

Andy 9:52

that's what we're doing.

Nick 9:55

Something that's always intrigued me about Vietnam that you might be able to explain Marnie, is the culture around scholarships for students. I, once met the founder and owner of a boarding school in the UK, who claimed to have introduced scholarships to the Vietnamese market. And from there, everybody had followed his lead. It is known for a place where you have to offer scholarships, which doesn't really exist in any other market in the world. True?

Marnie 10:24

I remember back in 2002, we gave 12 scholarships, to students to go to Bellabease College. from Vietnam. And those 12 scholarships students were very carefully handpicked and they were outstanding. and as I said already, Vietnamese are generally speaking incredibly intelligent and determined and driven. And these 12 kids ended up in a combination of Oxford and Cambridge. And over the next 11 years, we grew to about 180 Vietnamese students studying at Bellabies College as a result of these 12 who just made such an incredible journey from their opportunity. The scholarship, desire in Vietnam is it's not simply a financial thing. It's a prestige. It's a recognition. Parents really want that recognition for their children.

Andy 11:11

I used to call them dinner party scholarships. It's where parents of the children are sitting around saying that my son's got a... Scholarship from such and such and it doesn't really matter how much it is, but they can talk about it.

Marnie 11:21

Exactly.

Andy 12:03

the next section of the podcast is called any laptops, liquids or sharp objects. Do you have any travel hacks or anything that you have to take with you?

Marnie 12:11

to tell you both, I laughed at myself when I thought about how I would answer this for you because I don't think I've ever sewn anything. anything when I've been at home. my wonderful husband was always the one who made the children's book week costumes, for example. But I confess that I always carry one of those little flat hotel sewing kits with me. because a number of times I've, had a hem fall down or I've put my butt through my pants or I've lost a button, means that I've realized that having that needle and thread is an incredibly important part of my travel.

Andy 12:41

Marny.

Marnie 12:42

great. That's definitely what I want to be known as. Thank you.

Nick 12:45

I can remember being at a table at an awards dinner and this colleague had this jumpsuit, an all in one with the zip down the back and she disappeared. For an hour and in the end we were like someone's got to go and see if she's okay And basically the zip had ripped and so the whole thing wouldn't stay up And so she was in the toilets trying to find a way to fix her outfit

Marnie 13:11

See, she just needed my little hotel sewing kit and all would be well.

Andy 13:14

what have you fi What have you fixed with your sound kit?

Marnie 13:16

Splinter. The hem. The hem is the big one, right? Like how often do you put your toe through the hem of your pants or your skirt, Nick?

Andy 13:23

It's buttons for me, I'm popping buttons all over the place, the older I get.

Nick 13:27

mine's way more gross, but I'm going to share. I have one wisdom tooth here. And the only time I ever get toothache is if something gets trapped in that gap there. So sometimes if you haven't got floss then you have to find some cotton thread just to get that out. Otherwise my mouth swells and that is disgusting using a sewing kit for. Dental surgery,

Marnie 13:50

Yeah, I get it.

Andy 13:51

That's not as disgusting as I thought it would be. I thought you were gonna go down the sort of popping blisters,

Nick 13:55

Hmm.

Andy 13:57

Yeah, getting rid of pus in some way.

Marnie 13:59

Delightful.

Andy 14:02

Nick, I don't think I've ever asked you what your laptops, liquids and sharp objects are.

Nick 14:07

you need to give me a bit of time for that.

Andy 14:09

we've been doing this for a while now.

Marnie 14:10

How many episodes do you need, Nick? A, um, carry on only person, Nick? Or are you a, as big a bag as you can possibly get?

Nick 14:19

I can be carry on. The formality of the events means that you have to pack a little bit more.

Andy 14:25

I struggle with carry on and I think there should be a tiered amount of luggage that you're allowed based on your size, because I'm quite big, weigh quite a lot, and two pairs of shoes in a bag, that's my carry on, basically full.

Marnie 14:37

I am a hundred percent carry on only. Suit bag and carry on bag. And I've got tiny feet, so I'm fine.

Andy 14:45

You must be quite organised. Can you get dressed out of your suitcase in the dark,

Marnie 14:49

great question. Yes, I reckon I could. I do know where everything is.

Nick 14:53

I don't want to do gender stereotypes, but it is unusual for female travelers to not want to take more luggage.

Marnie 15:00

I feel like you're judging me, Nick, on insufficient diversity of outfits or something. But, but when you've got a suit bag, what I've worked out is I can fit three, I can fit three jackets, three dresses, a pair of some pants. it's cheating when you say carry on only when you've got a suit bag, cause a lot goes into that suit bag. Just as a quick side story, I actually don't like travelling for tourism. I find that when I go to another country, it's either I want to live there and I want to understand what it might be like to live there. And so one of my favourite things to do is just go to a supermarket or go to a local shop and see what people are buying and, try and have a chat with people and just live that, that real life rather than, that tourism experience, which is something I'm really not very good at.

Nick 15:45

Oh my god, I'm the same. My idea is to just go and pretend that I live in the place. It sounds so ridiculous. But I sit, in a coffee shop or something in a neighborhood, and then look at tourists, as though that I'm not one of them.

Marnie 15:59

100 percent with you, Nick. There you go. That's exactly the way to go. Cause then also you pick up the local nuances, right? Or you try to, at least you pretend you are, I went to Russia, for work once, and it was the only time I realized that if I actually shut my mouth for a change, people thought I was a local and I realized if I just didn't speak, people would just speak to me it was the most thrilling thing.

Andy 16:22

Do you speak Russian?

Marnie 16:23

NO, I do not. If I'm not going to give you any Vietnamese, I'm not going to give you any Russian.

Andy 16:55

The next section of the podcast is called What's the purpose of your visit? So Marnie, why do you do what you do?

Marnie 17:00

I I love adventure. I love languages. and ultimately I love finding commonality and connections. One of my best friends in the world is a Vietnamese woman who I met in 2002 when I moved to Ho Chi Minh City and we worked and we traveled together extensively when I was living there. And one of the things that I love about our friendship is that. she grew up in rural Vietnam in the late 70s and 80s, and I grew up in rural Australia, two very different experiences given, especially, Vietnam was coming out of the American war and there was food rationing and a lot of challenges. I don't think I could find another person who shares such similar values with me. We're both proud of the fact that we grew up in a rural environment. We're both first in family to go to university. we're both career ambitious but totally dedicated to our husbands and our children and our parents. We both also always dream of, owning a sleepy cafe in a beautiful garden, for example. I just, I think The power of those international friendships and the impact they have on your tolerance and your understanding of each other is so special. I found my friend Tung in a completely different country, completely unexpectedly. And yet, she's the person I feel most connected to in terms of my values.

Andy 18:14

that's something that you through your career,, have been helping to happen at scale.

Marnie 18:19

Exactly. It's just such a beautiful part of the international education community that we share is those friendships lead to business opportunities, they lead to marriages, they lead to government and exchange opportunities and transnational education. All of it stems from that lovely person that you met, by having a common experience somewhere outside of your home environment.

Nick 18:40

One of my benchmarks for true friends is that you don't have to necessarily nurture that relationship. It's just when you see them again, it's just so natural. You just slip back into, enjoying being in each other's company. However long it's been and however far it's been, it's very natural.

Marnie 18:59

I absolutely couldn't agree more. None of my best friends are in Australia. And yet I still feel totally connected to them.

Andy 19:05

We should swap friends, Marnie, cause all of mine are in Australia. Uh, maybe it was something I said,

Marnie 19:10

excellent. I'll borrow some. Thank you. That would be very kind. I find that's one of the hardest things being back in a home country is people don't really make the effort with each other, but it is one of the special things about our industry because then you get to go to. a Pi Live or an AIEC and then suddenly those friendships are all there.

Andy 19:30

you grew up on a farm. You say you're a country girl

Marnie 19:33

I am a country kid.

Andy 19:35

Was that a farm in the middle of nowhere

Marnie 19:36

About 40 minutes from the closest supermarket. I was an hour's drive from school, so yeah, very, very isolated, my dad's a farmer. but when I was nine, we went to live in Papua New Guinea for three years, um so I was homeschooled, um, for those three years. Old school distance learning where, your schoolwork arrives in the mail once every eight weeks

Andy 19:59

what was he doing there?

Marnie 20:00

he was essentially teaching the locals how to make a profit off the land, regenerative farming techniques. It's that whole power of education, international experience. First time to learn a language without even realising I was learning a foreign language. yeah, really, really special, life changing experience for me.

Andy 20:21

You must've felt, really different by doing something like that.

Marnie 20:24

It was really hard to come back, if I'm honest with you, it's like when you go on an amazing holiday, or you've been to live somewhere different. No one really gives a shit when you come back.

Nick 20:32

Papua New Guinea is one of those places that historians and geologists and biologists love it. One of those kind of cornerstone places of the world it must have been a pretty amazing place.

Marnie 20:44

it was extraordinary. One of the places we lived in was inside the Owen Stanley Ranges, which is down the sort of eastern end of Queensland. Papua New Guinean, it's only way in and out was by aeroplane. so you're getting this incredibly isolated, environment, in terms of ecology and animals and environment, but just being foreigners in this environment and having the opportunity to share ideas with people and see how they live their lives. I did a homestay, with my little sister. I was 10 and my little sister was three. and mum and dad let us go and do two nights sleepover, at the local village. and it's something that I will never forget. How everyone slept and, eating around the fire and... I had to take a bottle from my ridiculous little three year old sister and try and work out, how do you feed a bottle to a little bubby in a village in the middle of nowhere. It was beautiful, The other place we lived was was up in Medang province, up, north. Very close to the beach, very close to the ocean, big volcano, the coral, very different.

Andy 21:42

Have you been back

Marnie 21:43

I have not. So we left there in 1987, and I've not been back since. I would love to go. I really would.

Andy 21:51

have another sleepover.

Nick 21:52

If that was your formative experiences in childhood, how are you applying this to your own children?

Marnie 21:59

my boys were both born in Vietnam. they spent the first five years and three years of their lives in Vietnam. And then we moved to Singapore and they spent the next period of their lives living in Singapore. they learned Vietnamese. They learned Mandarin. We came back to Australia two and a half years ago, their first time living in Australia. I am trying not to push them to do anything because there is an element now of being back here and they're just... Finding their feet and finding friendships, that are stable, just letting them chill a little bit.

Andy 22:29

I think rather selfishly, my wife says to our kids, you can travel anywhere in the world. you should see whatever you can. But you're not allowed to, marry anyone from another country.'cause she doesn't want them to go away.

Nick 22:39

That was definitely my mum's view of America. you can never go there because you'll go and live there and never come back.. So of course I wanted to go.

Marnie 22:48

I'm working on the idea that, it's the children's turn to create the next adventure and I just want to follow them. They might think that they're getting away, but I'll just be trailing along.

Andy 22:56

With your hand luggage. okay now you've gotta tell me your scary or your funny story, what is it?

Marnie 23:04

Going to have to take us down a different path.

Nick 23:06

Uh oh.

Marnie 23:06

Um,

Nick 23:07

We're going into the land of terror, aren't we?

Marnie 23:09

I wish it was funny, but I don't have one for you. So my partner and I were living in Jakarta in Indonesia in 1998, which was during the Asian financial crisis. And in May of that year, there was a lot of unrest, which was being triggered by, corruption and economic problems and food shortages and unemployment. And the situation really was so significant that it actually led to the resignation of President Soeharto and his fall of government that they'd been in power for about 32 years. So it was a really incredible period of change for Indonesia. So there were a lot of anti government demonstrations on the streets and university students were particularly active in the protests. And there was this period in mid May where we went into lockdown. We had to stay home for several days because it was just too dangerous to be out on the streets.. So my partner and I, we lived on the 15th floor of an apartment building and that apartment building just coincidentally happened to overlook the Indonesian parliament house. and the freeways that are directly outside the building. And for many of those afternoons that were in lockdown, we would watch the students from the local universities build up on these freeway that's outside the Parliament House. And they were trying to access into Parliament House and the riot police would be in the middle, just surging back and forwards with these sort of wild, angry skirmishes with the students. And,, one of the scariest things we learnt over time was that when the ambulances turned up, this was a sign that the police were about to, open fire and charge into the students. And so what would happen is that as the sun would go down, the police would head home, the students would head home, the street cleaners would come in and they would empty the freeways of any evidence of, tear gas canisters or rubber bullets or casings, whatever it may have been. Given the Indonesian government was denying that there was any violence going on against students, the media was denying the use of tear gas, that combined with the stupidity of youth, uh, meant that my partner and I decided to, to venture out onto the highway. It was empty, you know, everyone's, at home in lockdown. And so we decided to see what evidence we could find for the, activities that we were seeing happening every afternoon. And we're very excited. we found a tear gas canister. We found a headband with a reformasi, reformation written on it, which was part of the students call, call to arms. And so we took the tear gas canister home and we decided to wash it. Anyone who knows anything about tear gas will know that water activates tear gas. So although it was very, very uncomfortable. You know, the whole, you know, not being able to breathe and the eyes tearing up and the stinging. That wasn't too much of an issue, except that at that exact moment, as we'd washed the tear gas canister, my parents had finally been able to get through on the phone. Because there'd been so much chaos going on, they hadn't been able to get through on the landline. And I'd chosen not to call them because they were living in a very isolated area and I thought, don't worry them, they won't, they don't need to know. And so it was at that moment they called going, we've been so worried, are you okay? And had to pretend that I had this, you know, horrific kind of cold, but like, completely fine, completely fine. So lesson to listeners, don't wash your tear gas canisters.

Nick 26:25

I mean, in terms of life lessons. Going and collecting a tear gas canister, taking it to the 15th floor apartment, and then

Marnie 26:35

I was young. What are you going to do? I mean, come on, wouldn't you do it? It was very exciting. And let me be clear. It was not an exciting time. It was a horrific time for Indonesia. There were a lot of deaths and it was really awful. you're young, you're on an adventure.

Andy 26:47

you still got the headband?

Marnie 26:48

I do. I was just having a chat with that about my husband earlier today. Got the, we've got both of them.

Nick 26:54

activating what was the thinking around washing it?

Marnie 26:57

you know, it had been out on the street and it's tear gas, right? You know that you don't want tear gas in your apartment. And so we thought if we wash it, everything will be fine. But everything was really not fine.

Andy 27:07

what did the neighbors say?

Marnie 27:09

We kept the windows shut.

Nick 27:10

Not a lot Andy, they were choking in their own tears.

Andy 27:14

crawling around on the floor.

Nick 27:18

There is this human nature thing, of going towards danger. Why is that?

Marnie 27:22

I think it's a partly a youth stupidity thing isn't it? I remember going out in a typhoon in Hong Kong when the windows were being sucked out of those Wan Chai windows and there's glass splashing everywhere.

Andy 27:33

You become more aware of your own mortality the older you get, don't you?

Nick 27:36

I Can remember a huge thunderstorm, in North Carolina. We all just ran into the sea. We went and swam in this heavy rain and lightning, and it was the most exhilarating thing. And we came out and this woman just went absolutely crazy. She said if the lightning hits the water, I can't even remember, it was like 10 miles away or something. You would, get knocked out and then drown. But still to this day, I remember it being one of the most exciting things.

Marnie 28:06

I would do it, too. I'm with you.

Andy 28:38

The next section of the podcast is called anything to declare. It's a free space for you to talk about whatever you like.

Marnie 28:44

I want to use this opportunity to encourage everyone to learn a language. And especially for those people who are in Australia and New Zealand to learn an Asian language. You in seven years time, two thirds of the world's population is going to be in Asia. Half of the world's top 10 economies will be in Asia. And, learning a language is not about economics. It's not even simply about the learning the language. It's about that understanding of another culture more deeply. It's about understanding why people think the way they do. It's understanding relationships. It's understanding history. I feel really concerned about how little language learning is happening in Australia. I mentioned already that I've got a son who's, in his final year of high school. He's learning Mandarin, and I'm proud that he's doing that. But he's in a school of 200 students who will be finishing year 12. And there are only eight of them out of 200 who are learning Mandarin. And there's about 75, 000 year 12 graduates just from New South Wales, next year. And there's only 6 percent of those students who are learning any language. So only about four and a half thousand of them learning any language and way less than half of them are learning an Asian language. There's only about a thousand out of 75, 000 kids who are learning an Asian language. And I just think that's such an incredible missed opportunity..

Nick 30:00

Well said, A lot of people are really worried about this at the moment. Lots of universities all cutting modern language departments.

Andy 30:07

I think there's less opportunities and less options to learn different languages.

Marnie 30:12

WHat languages do you both speak?

Nick 30:14

This is where it gets really awkward, isn't it? Um,

Andy 30:18

I speak Duolingo French.

Marnie 30:19

Yes.

Andy 30:20

I did French at high school, so I speak terrible French. I went to the EAIE conference in Rotterdam and a guy sat down to have a conversation, and he said, what language do you want to speak? And he spoke French, German, Spanish. And Arabic. I Just found it absolutely mind bending. But obviously it's quite common. Just not if you're a native English language speaker.

Marnie 30:42

it's sad, isn't it? My New Year's resolution this year was to learn Hindi and I love it.

Nick 30:46

I've just coasted speaking English and knowing about soccer, and this really is universal language everywhere I've been,

Marnie 30:56

I'm very disturbed that you just said soccer rather than football. Are you okay? issue here? Yeah, nah, come on. It's football. It's football. Come

Nick 31:02

it is football.

Marnie 31:03

Do you know I'm a football player?

Nick 31:05

you told me this at the Pi Live. Winger. I remember

Marnie 31:08

Yeah, left footer.

Nick 31:10

tackler..

Andy 31:11

Nick, I don't think you know this about me, but I don't think I've ever played a game of football.

Marnie 31:15

Wow.

Nick 31:15

I do know this. You get really funny when people talk about football because I'm such a big fan, but you, it's like, we're talking

Andy 31:22

I, I don't get funny about it.

Nick 31:24

We're excluding

Andy 31:25

I get funny about the assumption that everyone's interested in football.

Marnie 31:29

But we are.

Nick 31:30

It's life's great soap opera, decades of history about players and results

Andy 31:35

if you're outside of it. If you don't watch a soap opera. It's just rubbish isn't it?

Nick 31:39

You'd much prefer cricket, where you can play, Four, five days it'd be a

Andy 31:43

I like any sport, I like any sport that revolves around meal times.

Nick 31:49

Halftime pie?

Marnie 31:50

Yes. Who ate all the pies?

Andy 31:52

Have you got any other stories you want to share?

Marnie 31:54

look, there's more stories, but I'm fulfilled. Thank you. You've been good listeners.

Andy 31:58

Oh, Marnie, thanks so much for coming on the show.

Marnie 32:00

No, thank you both so much. I'm a big fangirl of what you both do and I especially love your jingles. Well, let me be clear. I love your jingles and I love your guests and I love your questions.

Andy 32:09

Just not, just not Nick, or me. That's fine.

Marnie 32:13

I have to tell you though, the ones that I remember are the ones where I might've laughed the most. Which is why I feel disappointed that I don't have a funny story for you.

Andy 32:21

What I've been surprised by, is the serious points that people have to make they really stick with you. It's not all giggles.

Marnie 32:26

It's how many episodes I nod and I'm like, I completely agree and understand that but wouldn't have thought to raise that You're my dog walking podcast.

Andy 32:34

Stay away from trains. That's my advice to any dog. Mm. There you go, there's the microphone, just speak into the,

Marnie 32:43

Mmm. He looks pretty normal. I was expecting deformed dog face, but I'm disappointed. Oh, so cute. Have you got a dog, Nick?

Nick 32:51

Yes, actually. Our dogs have never met, have they, Andy? Do you want me to go and get my dog as well?

Marnie 32:57

Go on, show and tell. Do you want me to get mine?

Andy 33:00

this has become a dog cast.

Marnie 33:01

I want to see. Hi.

Andy 33:07

He or, he or she,

Marnie 33:09

her name is Elephant. I've got a dog called Elephant, a cat called Flamingo. Where's your dog, Nick? Come on.

Nick 33:15

She's here.

Marnie 33:16

Oh, you've got a similar dog.

Nick 33:18

a Labradoodle.

Marnie 33:20

You two are like in the same room, right, you just passed the dog to each other, yeah?

Nick 33:24

THey're Australian, aren't they? Labradoodles?

Marnie 33:27

they're very popular in Australia

Nick 33:28

yeah.

Marnie 33:29

Thanks for the dog, Sherry.

Nick 33:30

I'll put some sound effects in, it'll be fine. Brilliant.

Andy 33:33

That's awesome. Um.

Marnie 33:34

you both so much.

Nick 33:41

Hello everyone. Thank you so much for listening. As always. If you are a fan of the show. Please leave a review or emailers at sick bag, a tales from the departure lounge.com. Shout out as well to our sponsors, Duolingo. Tales from the Departure Lounge is a type nine production for the pie.