Alex | Glenfield

“Probably last year, because that was the time I was most with my friends, I think this year with my family, I haven’t been able to get new friends yet, because I haven’t started school or uni, but I’m hoping to meet some more different cultured friends.

I think it makes us different, and what makes us different brings us together. It unites us even if we’re not alike, but it’s just something. It’s actually quite hard to explain, but it’s really cool to have someone you’re not, it makes me unique if I’m the only Filipino there, and if they’re the only Rarotongan there, it’s just, it makes it more exciting, in the group. 

So, I’m originally from the Philippines. I was born there, and then we decided to move to New Zealand, like three years ago, I stayed up North in Kaikōhe. I guess some people don’t know where Kaikōhe is, so I just tell them I lived near Kerikeri. Then I moved here to go to university. I think I’m going to go to AUT. I’m not quite sure yet. 

I used to live in Auckland for three months before moving up north, and everything is just fast. It’s fast-going but up North, it’s so much different. It’s laid back, which I like, because I was able to hang around with most of my friends. We were just eating and chilling. Not like here. Like you go clubbing and stuff, and I like meeting Māori people, because there’s a lot of them there, and I just like seeing their culture, and it’s just cool. 

I like food, so learning about different cultures and the food that they have is really cool. I like tasting different kinds of stuff. I went to a Tongan birthday, and they had this food. I don’t know how to say the name, but it was really nice. All I know is it was corned beef. That’s all, but they cooked it in a different way, like they put in coconut milk or something. It was really good. 

I want to have my own business, like a restaurant, but that’s not what my mum was looking at going forward. She wants me to do something like working in the medical field, but that’s not my forte.”