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Kiwi relatives of those who perished in the Air NZ crash off Perpignan meet with the authorities who helped in the rescue effort - Source: ONE News -
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I've always wanted to travel. It's unfortunate that throughout my years of school and tertiary education, I never put two and two together and realised a second language would be quite helpful out in the big wide world.
It doesn't stop me trying. I can order up to five beers in Spanish, ask a taxi to deliver me to a destination in French and manage just the basics... "hello", "goodbye" and "thank you" in Hebrew.
Last night after finishing work late Dave, the cameraman on the trip, and I were particularly delighted to have negotiated our way through a McDonald's drive-thru in Perpignan. Though we did end up with an apple crumble we never ordered.
I've lost count of the times I've thougth to myself "I've got to commit to a language and give it a good go".
In this job you meet so many different people who make an impact on you for many different reasons.
On this trip to Perpignan, it's been Donna Marsh. Her younger brother Noel died in the air crash.
There's no doubt she's had a rough year, a real rollercoaster of emotions. But do you know what she's done in the past ten months? Donna Marsh has been learning French.
She did it, she says because she intends to keep the link with the place where her brother died and wants to come back to Perpignan in the future with her family.
She also wanted to look the men who helped to recover her brother's body in the eye and thank them for allowing him to be brought home.
Donna could have used an interpreter, after the year she's had who would blame her? But she wanted to speak to them from her heart in a language they would have no problem understanding.
Last night she stood up on a podium in front of 100 people and spent around five minutes reading out her speech in French.
Donna felt she'd achieved her goal and I felt proud of this woman, who I'd only just met, for putting her mind to something and accomplishing it in such a trying time for her and her family.
