Captioned by Catherine de Chalain Edited by Alana Drayton. www.able.co.nz Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2016 SLOW FUNKY MUSIC MUSIC CONTINUES Wadestown lies on the northern slopes of Tinakori Hill, just 3km from Wellington's CBD. A Mr Wade came in 1840, bought land with building a working-class settlement in mind. A couple of years later, he gave in to gold fever and moved to the gold mines in California, leaving behind nothing but his name. I was born and raised in Taipei, Taiwan. During my fourth year of university, I won a scholarship and came to NZ for an exchange program. I fell in love with the country. People were so friendly, and everybody's in love with nature. 20% of my neighbours in Wadestown were also born overseas. Let's hear some of the stories the locals have to share. In this episode of Neighbourhood, we'll find out what helped a young French woman feel at home here. My parents used to make tarte Tatin with the apples from my grandparents' garden. So now we're making the apple tarte Tatin every time we have to bring dessert somewhere, because it's always a big success. Not that many people have would have the idea of mixing rosemary with apples. # You know I cried those tears... # A Wadestown resident celebrates the creativity she gets from her cultural background. The home sessions around the two-bar heater ` they were` they were the sessions to be at, because we'd be like, 'Ooh, no, you're singing flat,' or, 'No, no, no. That's my part. 'I fanna sing that part cos it's got more, you know, trills and fancy things in it.' A local woman shares her favourite Polish traditions with her young family. We're going to do lanie wosku ` which means pouring of the wax ` and it's a tradition which we do at the end of November in Poland, and it's about telling the future. I'm kind of hoping for a horse or a rainbow. Awesome. We'll see what comes, huh? SING WAIATA And a new arrival discovers the best way to make friends. Certainly the Glamaphones has` has introduced me to a lot people that I can, you know, go out with and be friends with, and I think that makes a lot of a difference when you're trying to make a home in a new city. I'm Lily Brown, and this is my neighbourhood. PEACEFUL MUSIC Salisbury Garden Court is a Wellington landmark. In the 1950s, it became a miniature Polish village, with 13 of the 16 houses occupied by Polish families, many of whom arrived in 1944 as child refugees. My father was born in Beijing during the civil war. Because his family opposed the Communists, they were evacuated to Taiwan in the early 50s. It was terrible times. Tens of thousands were killed and families broken up. My auntie ` who was a little girl at the time ` didn't make it out to Taiwan with the rest of the family. She didn't see her parents for 30 years. It must have been very difficult for my auntie to grow up without her family, because family shape the people we become in so many different ways. (VOCALISES) (CONTINUES VOCALISING) I always knew that I was gonna be a singer, actually. At the age of 4, I sat my mum down in the kitchen. We had a sliding door that kind of separated the laundry and the kitchen, so I grabbed a big wooden peg ` that you hang your clothes with ` um, grabbed it out and sat her down and flung open the sliding door, and I` I announced that I would be a singer, and then I sang her a song. It's funny. I kind of` Yeah, it kind of was written for me. (SINGING) # I can never wait... # I've probably been working professionally in the music scene for 15 years and on my own original music for about nine to 10 years. (VOCALISES) (HUMS) STACCATO PIANO NOTES I pretty much just sit at the piano, or have the guitar, or even` not even any of the instruments and just start vocalising a` a melody, and then that eventuates into some lyrics. At the beginning, it's like, you know ` (VOCALISES) ...and to it I've written ` # I can never wait too long` FLAT NOTE # Long. Long. # (LAUGHS) Right, we do that one again. All right, so I've gone into it like this ` # I can never wait too long... # ...and then ` (VOCALISES) (CONTINUES VOCALISING) and then it` I just get a line in my head, and I just write it, and usually it makes sense. Yeah. I grew up with a whole heap of music. My father and mother were` they were a duo ` a country-singing duo actually. And so once Mum didn't want to do` She didn't want to do it any more, so I had to actually fill in. So then I started doing gigs with my dad at the age of 5. I was in the church choir for quite a long time. I couldn't get away from it, really, um, because Dad was in` you know, either playing the organ or taking the choir, and Mum was in the choir, so I had to go along. Being in the choir helped me with, um, just sustaining notes and being able to hear what the other person was singing and being able to harmonise on top of that. But also the home sessions around the two-bar heater ` they were` they were the sessions to be at, because we'd be like, 'Ooh, no, you're singing flat,' or, 'No, no, no, that's my part. 'I want to sing that part because it's got more, you know, trills and fancy things in it.' PEACEFUL MUSIC My mother was born in a town called Lufilufi in Western Samoa, and my father was born in a place called Leulumoega in Western Samoa. Growing up in Christchurch, I was probably` maybe one of four families that were brown within the schooling system there, so I didn't have very much to do with the Samoan culture throughout my intermediate and high-school years. Yeah, it was only` I don't know, when I` when` You find yourself, you know. They have that whole cliche thing of, 'I'm just gonna go` 'I'm gonna go overseas and try to find myself,' and ` pretty much ` that's what happened. And then, um, probably a couple of years ago ` and I'm` I'm 38 ` so a couple of years ago, I started really embracing my culture. Today, I'm playing with my brother from another mother. His name is Eugene Fuimaono. I love being able to sing with other people. It just makes me happy. # It's been so # Long # Since you've been here # And you know I worry 'bout you # And you know I cried those tears # But will you be coming back? # Coming # Back home? # I feel like what I do now as a performer-entertainer ` I've been able to grab at everything that I've been through culturally ` church-wise, my schooling, my upbringing ` and kind of been able to knit it all together for it to become this product that is me. (VOCALISES) # I had the same idea, # Running for most my life. 'I will always want to create.' # Hiding behind my fears. I can't live without singing and the whole creative side to being able to express. It'd be just like losing my arm. # Back home. # GENTLE MUSIC The early years after people were evacuated to Taiwan was a time of great poverty. My mother tells of a story of a family emergency when my grandmother needed to find a penny to make a phone call to my grandfather. They rummaged through the whole house but cannot come up with a single coin between themselves. I think stories like this help give me strong work ethic and a willingness to build a life for myself and my family in a new country. Some migrants suffer from isolation and loneliness when they first arrive, but eventually we all find a way to reach out and make friends. I was born in Parramatta in Sydney. I came to NZ last year in February. When you mention you're here from Australia, there's a lot of automatic presumption that my wife came with me to` to NZ. But in terms on progression on gay rights, I think NZ certainly has the record of being progressive in gay rights, and it certainly has gay marriage approval, which is` which is great. (VOCALISING) I sing in a choir. That's one of my hobbies. (VOCALISING) It's called the Glamaphones. (VOCALISING) I joined it as soon as I arrived in NZ and found them a very welcoming, friendly bunch, which was helpful to my` you know, to us getting integrated into Wellington. My partner and I don't go to bars, so it would have been hard for us to meet others, I think, easily. (VOCALISES) The Glamaphones is Wellington's GLBTI choir. GLBTI stands for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, intersex. It has about 50 members, and some of the choir members come from all walks of life, but, um, Wellington tends to be a more government-oriented city. (LAUGHS) There is a lot of people in government departments. GENTLE PIANO MUSIC The choir rehearses at St Andrew's on the Terrace, which is one of the main churches that embraces diversity in Wellington. One of my most favourite times of the week. I get to rest and do something different and learn some songs and catch up with everyone. Ready? # Nga iwi e! # Nga iwi e! # Kia kotahi ra # Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa # Nga iwi e! # Nga iwi e! # Kia kotahi ra # Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa # e-i-a-i-e # hi! # hi ha! # e-i-a-i-e # Our next big performance is at the parliament in Wellington. It's in honour of 30th anniversary of homosexual law reform, so that'll be quite exciting. 30 years ago, this crucial piece of legislation made it through the House, and there's going to be a big celebration in Parliament, which we're gonna sing at, and just before that, we're gonna do a series of concerts around Wellington, singing a whole range of music that really celebrates that idea of, um, one people, everybody out, comfortable with themselves; a sense of community and a sense of togetherness. What I love is being part of a community. I've always said you can't beat singing in four-part harmony with people, um, and songs that you love, but its also` with the Glamaphones, it's the social environment that you're involved in. It's all ages. It's just really enjoyable. The Glamaphones used to be called the Homophones a number of years ago, um, and that was an all-male choir. It was changed, uh, three years ago to incorporate women and men, uh, just to allow it to become a broader base, I suppose, for membership, and, uh` yeah, and incorporate the soprano and alto voices, which do make a big difference to the range of songs you can sing. WOMEN: # e-i-a-i-e # hi! # hi ha! MEN: # E tama ma! # E tama ma! # Tama tu, tama tu, tama ora! # I think the choirs are an excellent way to show the actual diversity of our community and what we can do as a group. It's a fairly non-threatening way of being out there in the community and` and just singing` singing some beautiful music. Certainly the Glamaphones has introduced me to a lot of people that I can, you know, go out with and be friends with, and I think that makes a lot of a difference when you're trying to make a home in a new city, so, yeah, it's been great. UPBEAT MUSIC My love of cooking began when I was little girl, sitting on my grandmother's lap making dumplings. But the Chinese dishes that I cook I've learned mostly from my mother. My family is from Northern China, where people eat a lot more pastry and noodles rather than rice. It was great to be able to represent my heritage on MasterChef. Food is such a good way to celebrate your culture, especially when you're so far away from home. My name is Juline Bunel. I was born in a small town close to Paris called Saint-Leu-la-Foret. I came to NZ for the first time in 2013 for a holiday. My partner's half-Kiwi, half-Danish. He really felt like he wanted to come back to Wellington and be closer to his parents and sister. So Pete and I live in Wadestown. It's really close to town. It's really close to nature as well. There's still a small village. We saw the big French flag outside the cafe. The first thing was like, 'Oh, that must be a French place.' That was really nice. It was just a little` maybe a little sign that it was home. Hi. How can I help? Morning. Hi. Uh, two long blacks. Two long blacks? Sure. Coming up. Yeah, food is definitely a way for me to stay in touch with my French side` (LAUGHS) French culture, because it's always been an important part of our culture, so we cook with my partner` At least once a week, we take the time to really take something from the recipe books. And we also have our signature dessert, which is the tart Tatin. I got the idea of adding rosemary because I was just looking online for a dessert idea for my partner's birthday, and then I just found that one with the rosemary, and I know that he's a big fan of fresh herbs, so I thought it would be quite a nice touch to add, uh, in a dessert. So the apple tart Tatin ` it's an apple tart, but the pastry ` instead of being in the bottom, it's on the top part. My parents used to make tart Tatin with the apples from my grandparents' garden. So now we're making the apple tart Tatin every time we have to bring dessert somewhere, because it's always a big success. Not that many people would have the idea of mixing rosemary with apples. The story goes that, uh, over a hundred years ago ` ooh! ` um, the Tatin sisters were in a hotel in the south of Paris, and they were making an apple tart, and one of them, uh, actually burnt the caramel she was making, so she just quickly folded the pastry and put it over it to cover it and bake it very quickly. and, uh` Yeah, she realised when she took it out of the oven that she actually needed to flip it, and, yeah. What was supposed to be a disaster turned out to be a very successful dessert. Everybody loved it, and, yeah. That's` That's how it started. It is absolutely delicious with the caramel and the apple. It looks great as well, and especially with the rosemary, it adds a bit of freshness, and it's very very pretty. Yeah, reminds me a bit of France and childhood flavours and stuff. My food memories of my childhood ` my parents have always cooked good food. It was never fast food. My grandparents on both sides lived in the countryside, so we always had really really good meat, really good vegetables from the garden and so on, so... Yeah, always fresh stuff. The rosemary just adds a very fresh touch, because there's sugar, cream and butter in the caramel, so it is very sweet, so with a little bit of rosemary, it just, like, turns down a little bit that sweet side, so` and it looks very pretty as well. I've made this tart many times ` like, dozens probably. Every time we wanna impress someone. (LAUGHS) It's quite nice to bring something French to our friends or family when we go out, and that's also what they expect, because` yeah, they know I like to cook, and French cuisine is quite famous around the world, so they're always quite happy when I bring something French. I burned the caramel a couple of times, I would say, but it was never that bad that I couldn't eat the` the apple tart in the end. It just` just have to scrape a little bit on the edges, but... No, I think I'm doing pretty good. PEACEFUL MUSIC So today we have Peter's mother coming ` Eneda ` and Peter's best friend from NZ ` Chris ` and we're all going to share the tart Tatin together. All right, so that's actually quite a nervous moment, because you never know how it's going to turn out. Ooh, perfect. Wow. I think it's actually the prettiest one I've made so far, so that's pretty good. No caramel spilling around, so, yay. Perfect. Yum. Ta-da. Well done, Juline. Thank you. Oh, it's really tasty, and it's not over-sweet either. Yeah, no, I'm really happy with it. Yeah, sharing food helps, because that's also one thing I used to do. We used to do that a lot with my family ` always would gather around a good meal. Also with my friends ` when they would stop by, we'd always cook something nice together, so being able to do it here ` it's really nice, yeah. (SPEAKS MANDARIN) (SPEAKS MANDARIN) This is my son, Michael. For the past six years, he has spent a quarter of his time studying in Taiwan. When he is in Taiwan, he lives with my family and studies at the same elementary school that I did. I think one of the bets gifts I can give him is to make sure that he grows up connected to his culture. WISTFUL MUSIC Are you excited? Are you gonna find some? Yes. Good. We're going to pick up some conkers. We're going to our special conker tree which is, um, the only one we found in Wellington. They are a special tree in Poland, cos they flower when we do our exams, and then they produce those lovely nuts when we go back to school, and every child in Poland at school will make little animals or little people out of those conkers. So I'm teaching those two about the conkers, and we come here and collect them as well, and we have some fun with them. My name is Marta Karlik-Neale. I was born in Poland, in Sroda Wielkopolska. Having those traditions makes me feel less guilty that I left. I just like sharing them and bringing bits of culture to my children. Can you put the last one in? Do you think we've got enough? Yes. All right, well, let's go home. We can make them now. PEACEFUL MUSIC I grew up when Poland was still communist. It was a good childhood. It was very different from what my kids have. It was much more about seasons. I do that a lot with my children ` just going to the beach and playing with a stick or picking up things and trying to make them aware of how the year changes and how the time passes and what you do and how you can celebrate different parts of the year with those different traditions. So this is what every Polish child will do at school every year ` we pick up those conkers and then we make these little creatures. They can be people. They can be animals ` anything, really. The legend about the conker tree is, um, that it used to be a person and it got turned into a tree by an evil witch, and the witch gave it fruit that was very spikey and scary-looking, so the children were really scared of it, but when autumn came and the fruit fell down and it broke, it came out with those beautiful-looking nuts, and the children were really happy, and the tree ` even though it was turned by the evil witch ` managed to give the children the joy. A bit harder. Good. That's a pretty good one, Nico. WISTFUL MUSIC In Poland, life was a little bit simpler than it is now. We didn't have much, but we didn't really need much. We were not really affected by all the big events that were happening out there. Living in a little village, it was all about making do with whatever was around. So we're going to do lanie wosku ` which means pouring of the wax ` and it's a tradition which we do at the end of November in Poland, and it's about telling the future. Originally it's on St Andrew's Day. I've decided I'm going to change that and move that significant date to the longest night in NZ. We melt the wax and we pour it into the cold water, and it solidifies in different shapes. Then everyone gathers around, and we'll cast a shadow, and from the shadows, we tell the future. I'm kind of hoping for a horse or a rainbow. Awesome. We'll see what comes, huh? All right. What have you got, Nico? Let's have a look. It's an alien. Oh, is it an alien? What is it? A alien. Or it could be a tree ` maybe you'll plant a tree. I wonder what that could mean. Rabbit. It actually looks like a person. Oh yeah, looking down. I don't think it's a person. I think it's maybe something like that. Ooh, wonder what that could be? Plate. A plate. Maybe you'll eat a new dish ` go to a new country and eat something that you've never ate before. It's a communal fortune-telling. Everybody shouts out which it is and what it means for the person and there's a consensus at some point that, actually, yes, that person's going to get married, or that person is going to get a dog or something else. That looks like a butterfly for me. See, this is the body and there's the wings. Yeah, but it's not. But I think it still is a plate. It's a plate. Maybe you will eat an insect. It's a butterfly on the plate. (LAUGHS) Oh yeah, I see it. Do you know they eat insects in China? Maybe I'll go to China. Yes, we're going to China. You kind of knew that it wasn't true. Nobody really believes in it, but it's just fun, so` It's just a game. Just remember the darkness again, and the excitement of being up late, and making them feel connected to Poland. Knowing where I came from and feeling that they're partly Polish is fairly important. UPBEAT MUSIC The longer I am away from Taiwan, the more proud I am of my country, because every time I go back, I see real improvement. But Wadestown is definitely my home now. I love how supportive and safe it is. Friendly neighbours who just pop by to have a chat about the garden or look after our pets when we are away on holiday. It makes me happy be part of a community that has been welcoming newcomers for generations. Captioned by Catherine de Chalain. Edited by Alana Drayton. www.able.co.nz Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2016