s Captions by Ngaio Abrahamson. Edited by Amy Park. www.able.co.nz Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2015 INTRIGUING MUSIC Hillcrest sits on Auckland's North Shore ` a mix of homes from the '60s and '70s, along with newer developments, some of which were built specifically for residents of Hong Kong, who were worried about the instability there before the territory was handed back to China in the '90s. There's still a large Asian population here. It sits around 40%. I was first offered the opportunity to play in NZ back in 2002. I said 'yes' right away, but when I got off the phone, I thought, 'What do I really know about NZ?' Now, this is before smartphones, so I had to go find an internet cafe and figure out what I could figure out. But once I got here, it didn't take me long to realise that this was the place for me. Hillcrest is a colourful neighbourhood. You can head down to the corner store and see so many different languages being spoken. It's been a great place to put down roots, both for me and a diverse mix of other people as well. We'll meet a Russian artist whose work explores the darker side of dreams. You know, people thought, when I was a student, I am a freak, because I compose some strange music, painting strange paintings. But I like that kind of characteristic of mine. A long-term Hillcrest resident shows us the heirloom she was given on her wedding day. My father said, 'You can take that ta'ovala with you, 'and when you get to NZ, on special occasions, 'you must wear it.' A woman from Malawi shares a recipe her mother used to make. I'm going to cook a traditional lentil curry dish that we grew up with eating on a Sunday; very similar to the roast would be for the Western, um, families. And a young woman from the Ukraine tells us why she is committed to saving the local environment. I think that if people instead of being obsessed about power or money or just things that they can buy and just put a lot of their efforts and their passion into studying environmental and trying to unite and change the global issues that we are going to face. I'm Casey Frank, and this is my neighbourhood. CHILLED MUSIC One of the things I love about living in Hillcrest is its proximity to the North Shore Events Centre; home to the SKYCITY Breakers, who I've played with over the years. These days, you can find me in the Sky TV commentary box too. All athletes realise they have a use-by date, so I recently completed a master's in business administration. I even recently had the opportunity to play a baddie in an Indian feature film, which filmed for six weeks in north-western India, not that far from Pakistan. It was a great experience, but I've no plans to pursue acting full-time. I went into it like I go into most things ` 'It'll be a cool story to tell later in life.' Like, 'Yeah, I was in a Bollywood film.' I'm a big believer in embracing life's adventures. Those are the things that truly make us the people we are. A local painter, who was born in Kazakhstan, has taken his life experiences to create a style that is distinctly his own. I am Russian, and my grandparents been forced to Kazakhstan because it was a Gulag there. In the Stalin era, they'd been kind of rich for that time and they're not supporting Stalin, so they'd been in prison there. And after that they stay in Kazakhstan, and, um, my parents was born there, and me. When I been probably 15, I start to listen different, uh, sources of information about the world. So, you should realise it was a Soviet propaganda one side, and another side was the American propaganda. So I start to think about, 'OK, I have to go somewhere else.' And from that time, I always been open for the immigration. And one day, it happened. I left Kazakhstan when I finished the high school and went to Tomsk. It's a Siberian town in Russia where I study electronic engineering. Lots of boys, they go to university, not because they like particular subjects; it was a chance for them to not to go to the Soviet army for two years. So I chosen the subject not because of my love to electronic engineering; just because it was convenient. I start painting when I saw one guy work. I was probably 19 years old, and they show me some painting, very surrealistic painting. I was so touched by that painting. I thought, like, 'I can paint. I know I can,' and I bought the paint, and I start to, like, crazy-paint, and, uh, yeah, during probably a few months, I, um` I gained my skills, and I start to paint and give my paintings to all my friends. You know, people thought, when I was a student, I am a freak, because I compose some strange music, painting strange paintings, but I like that kind of characteristic of mine. And, actually, when we met with my wife, she appreciate this` this freakiness, and so we found each other. So, because she was crazy about fashion and she dresses very unusual, you know, I` I got her. So these people actually finding each other in my way in art was through that, um, difference. But I must admit, it was Soviet Union. To be different in that time in Soviet Union was, kind of, very illegal. Inspiration comes from dreams, and, uh, from old masters, I call them. So I'm often visiting Europe and the museums, and, um, my favourites are Botticelli, da Vinci, Raphael, and I've been in lots of museums, solely originals, and I've spent some time with them, and, uh, actually, I learned technique, even, from to see` seeing these originals. People who buy my art, who see my art in exhibitions, they ask and they question about what I meant by painting this, and I always tell them, 'Hey, you have your own story and just keep your story with yourself, 'because my story could be completely different from yours. I shouldn't explain it. 'Whatever is there, it's there, so if you like it, you buy it, and it's yours. 'It's connect to you, much more than me.' Now I'm making the small painting` small version of the painting. I might go through the big-size, normal painting, but I might stop on this one. I'm about to finish on this stage, and I would like to photograph that painting to` to try different colours and different, maybe, shapes, but I will try it on a computer. I don't want to ruin the painting. Paint is expensive. I like the illustrations of kids' books with mystical things, and kids like, actually, the spookiness, darkness, on the illustrations. So I have probably been caught in the same way. When I paint something, I always think about how the kid will react on that. I'm not trying to shock people ` it's one thing ` but I'm trying them to, maybe, smile; maybe to think. When I paint, I paint for myself, and myself is always excitement. When I'm painting, am I excited when I paint it? Yes. URBAN MUSIC Basketball really is an iconic game in the States. It's woven into the fabric of the culture. That's one of the reasons I played growing up. The game's even a part of my family's DNA. On my father's side, my grandfather was a great athlete. He played professionally in the NFL. That's American football, Kiwis. He even spent a bit of time playing professional baseball. He was always someone that I really aspired to be. Childhood memories can be really formative when choosing a career. For a young local from the Ukraine, growing up amongst political instability and a beautiful natural environment made her realise just how fragile the environment can be and convinced her that it's worth fighting for. INTRIGUING MUSIC I think the environmental sense is important, because at this moment, people are not really understanding how nature works, and I think that's where we can learn a lot as a humanity, as a population, global` in a global sense. I think everybody should do environmental sciences... (LAUGHS) to at least broaden your horizons. I think that you're not the main thing on Earth. There are a lot of more important creatures. When I'm walking through the forest, I'm basically just looking at the trees and wildlife and birds, and you just feel very relaxed, uh, at that moment, so just` just give away of all the problems and all of the thoughts, and just enjoying and breathing in. I was born in Eastern-South part of Ukraine. It's, like, really south. But it's just on the seashore, and a lot of people go there and enjoy the seaside. And also, there are some mountains, which you can do hiking. When I was 7, we moved to Russia, and, um` Because it's very distant territory, if you look at the Russian map, the Kamchatka's basically the peninsula that faced America to Alaska, so it's just very far, and it was very very wild and very quiet, because it was just a very small, like, village, where all, like, people who do military service lived there and their families. So we have quite a nice bunch of kids. (LAUGHS) And also, we were just playing and walking, whatever we want. We don't have any, like, restrictions, 'Don't go there,' or 'Don't go to the beach,' or whatever, so it was just very freedom-y. (LAUGHS) I decided to move to NZ because I` one day, I just think that I want to change my life completely and decided to start from the hemisphere, and now I'm studying environmental sciences. I'm doing my PhD in studying mangrove ecosystems. What I found in Ukrainian character, and in my character, if you want to change something ` for example, if you decided to move to NZ ` you do that. You use all your resources and all your, um, ideas to fulfil that dream, or fulfil whatever. So they're very target-oriented. (LAUGHS) Mangroves are tropical plants. That's why in Ukraine, there are no mangroves. But when I came to NZ and I saw those mangroves, and I just think about it might be what I really want to study. In tropics, there have been shown that mangroves help to prevent erosion and stabilise the shoreline, and I think that might be really interesting question to` and really interesting fact to understand how mangroves that grow along the Auckland motorway to prevent this wave activity and prevent physical damage from waves and from the tides to the motorway construction, in particular. They are important in terms of maintaining the biodiversity, and so there are a lot of different species living in mangroves. I have some couple of snails ` mud snails ` and also there are a lot of crabs and tiny worms, which live in that mud, and they scavenge on mangrove or algae that grow in mangroves. I think that if people, um, instead of being obsessed about power or money or just things that they can buy and just put a lot of their efforts and their passion into studying environmental and trying to unite and change the global issues that we are going to face. GENTLE MUSIC You can just imagine if there is no trees in NZ and no green stuff in NZ, what it might look like. So it will be just, like, very hostile environment for us, and we should really appreciate nature for that, and I think it's sometimes people just neglect this fact, and they just, 'OK, it's a tree.' 'A tree's a tree.' But, actually, tree provide you a lot. Even one tree. There is a big question in NZ ` so, why mangroves are spreading, and are we, as population of NZ, responsible for that? And I hope that this project will provide some clue between, um, how people change the mangrove environment and to make them spread. I think that they, like, in NZ, really want to move on and to progress in the conserving the nature, in conserving the attitude to the nature and the attitude between people, and, um, that's why there are a lot` a huge amount of PhD projects, uh, targeted on the environment, and they're being supported by the universities and by the society, by the NZ government, and I think that has really also` will sometimes` will give, um` um, will give really nice positive feedback for the society. That is what I see. CHILLED MUSIC Moving into our first home in Hillcrest in 2009 really made us feel like we were part of something. It was an easy transition for me. I'd already played professionally in Sweden and France, but what was hard was really not being able to see any of the friends and family. The only thing we really had back then were these pictures. And, uh, you had to make the visits, didn't you? The` The visits? Back then, which is kind of cool. They` They're Americans, so they don't travel. That's right. You get to go over there and visit your family. That's true. I head back to the States every couple of years, visit the folks in Arizona and see the bulk of the family back in Long Island ` all the aunts, uncles, cousins. Big family with big New York accents. It's fun times when we go over there. (LAUGHS) Fun times? (LAUGHS) Big family get-togethers are important to a lot of cultures. Ashia Ismail-Singer remembers her mother cooking for up to a hundred people at a time, without losing her cool once. Now she wants to pass on some of those skills and memories to her children. My childhood growing up in Malawi was really a happy childhood. Growing up, it was` we kind of lived in a bubble, I think. Um, not... you know? There was a big Indian community. We did a lot of, sort of, you know, gatherings and, um... And just` yeah, growing up was happy. We went to private school and all the teachers were English. And, yeah, just have happy` happy memories of growing up there. So, kind of oblivious of all the, you know, um, other stuff that was going on at the time. So, this is my twin and I, when we were young ` very young ` (CHUCKLES) in nappies. Um, so mainly they're in Malawi, actually, growing up. So this is` this is the lake. We were a bit of a novelty in Malawi, actually. There was not very many twins around. The cooking in Malawi was predominantly done by Mum, but she` we also had a cook, so he would do all the prep, and, um, as I got older, I was interested in what happened in the kitchen, so I'd kind of sneak in there and, you know, help him or, um, you know, um` and he, sort of, taught me quite a lot of stuff as well. Um, but mainly it would be Mum. He'd do all the prep, and then she'd come in and finish it off, really. So, today I'm going to cook a traditional lentil curry dish that we grew up with eating on a Sunday. So it's kind of like a traditional Sunday dish for us, so very similar to the roast would be for the Western families. This is moong dal. I've had it soaking overnight, and then I've just washed it, and I'm about to cook it. So, lentils ` you know, really healthy; um, vegetarian, so really good for, uh, pulse` you know, the pulses, and, um, yeah, so big part of Indian diet. Malawi being, you know, an African country, there was quite a lot of turmoil, politically, and, um, Mum and Dad didn't want us to grow up in such an environment, and because we were part of the Commonwealth, we all had British passports, and Dad had studied in the UK, so he felt that we could have a better life there, really. So, yeah, we moved from Malawi to the UK when I was 17. I left to come here for a year, so I was going to travel around NZ, do a bit of nursing, and then go back home, and, uh, along my travels I met my husband, and the rest is history. (CHUCKLES) So I've got, um, two going, and I tend to do this for most of, um, the dishes I make. It's that, um, the kids don't like it too hot, so I put chilli in ours and I don't put chilli in theirs. So... (LAUGHS) my kids are a little bit, uh, fussy. Zara is 10. Um, she goes to Sunnybrae Primary School in Hillcrest. We chose the school before we decided where we were going to live. I was calling around the different primary schools trying to find somewhere that I would know that she'd be well-supported, and, actually, Sunnybrae is the only primary school that had a learning support class that could support her, sort of, extra needs. Zara's my Little Indian. I call her my Little Indian, cos she loves all the traditional Indian food, and she loves, um` she just loves, sort of, my part of the family and that culture, that history, whereas Adam's pretty, you know, a typical boy, I suppose, but, you know, he can take it or leave it. (LAUGHS) But I think she's` you know, she just loves everything Indian. The board is a special board called a patlo. It just provides a little bit of stability when you're, um, rolling the roti. And also, the edges, it's a little bit higher so you're not hitting the surface. And also, it's just that whole tradition, and the roti just rolls on its own, and it's just lovely. Kind of reminds me of my mum. (CHUCKLES) There you go. Right, give it a good roll. There we go. Hang on a second. I'll do it. I'll do it. We'll just put a little flour on it. There you go, you can do it now. Oh, awesome. Little bit more. So Nani would be so impressed with you, Zara, wouldn't she? Nani would say, 'Look at this. Zara's making a roti.' My food would be fusion Indian, because I think sometimes people think, 'Oh, Indian food. It's, you know, really difficult to cook.' But, actually, the way I cook, using some of the simple spices, it's just a really lovely blend of East and West. For me, food celebrates life. When the kids come home, I want to sit down at the table and have a good family meal together and talk about the day. Just brings everyone together as a family, and I just think that's really important. < HUSBAND: Good. Yeah, it's good. SOFT LAUGHTER As good as always? ALL LAUGH Amazing. GENTLE MUSIC Sport was always hugely important in my family, both participating and watching. So that brings me to this little treasure that my dad got me when I was just a kid ` autograph from Joe DiMaggio, one of the great players to ever play the sport of baseball. He's one of those famous sportsmen who claim almost mythical status ` an unparalleled 56-game hitting streak; married to Marilyn Monroe, a real American icon. So that makes it pretty special because of who's on it, but mostly it's special to me, because my dad gave it to me. A Hillcrest local, who has lived in the area for nearly 50 years, also treasures something that her father gave to her. GENTLE MUSIC ...because the road wasn't like that. ...and narrow. ...when they doing up the road. Very very hard. So I wore this for that occasion. ...type of things to tie your tapa with; not on any other string or anything. No, they have to be special. ...looking after it... I don't really think we thought ourselves as Tongans, I think. I think that's how it was. Yeah, I know what my sister's saying, yeah. Yeah, because it's... You just` It's... It's just the way it was. And then when you go to Tonga, you're a palagi, so you're not actually` don't really fit a box. You're growing up on the Shore, as you say, when there were not many Tongans around. But once they in Tonga, they do what Tongans do ` eat Tongan food and... And, um... ...join in. We had no choice. Yeah. No choice ` join in with, uh,... Family. ...family. Do whatever's there. Mm. Going picnic and all of swimming. Well, I'm Fred Schaumkel. I'm the eldest child of, uh, Agnes and Fred, and, uh, this is my home. This is where I came when I was 2, and I left when I was 28. Lots of memories in this house, growing up with my brothers and sister, and watching Mum and Dad make this a home and change it over the years. GENTLE MUSIC Hillcrest is a special piece of Auckland. It's friendly, diverse and close to town. After settling here, it was really someplace that we feel we're going to be long-term. When I think of how I define myself culturally, I suppose I feel like a Kiwi now. I arrived when I was just 24, and I've spent most of my adult life here. It's been a great ride, and I really can't think of anywhere else that I'd like to call home. Captions by Ngaio Abrahamson. Edited by Amy Park. www.able.co.nz Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2015