Gwen | Point Chevalier
“I’m thinking of doing is something nice for our club organiser. She’s done so much for everybody else, and I was thinking of doing something kind for her, give her reward. She’s helped so many people that I would like to do something kind in return. Like the Good Sorts award.
I [have heart to heart conversation with a loved one] every day. I support him in his health problems. We both, I understand his, where he’s coming from, and I, and I’m always the one that, oh god. I always seem to be the one that my friends turn to when they need advice. I’m always there to support my partner, even though he doesn’t always listen. I’m always there to, you know, to give him love and support.
I always seem to be the one that my friends turn to when they need advice. I’m always there to support my partner, even though he doesn’t always listen. I’m always there to, you know, to give him love and support. He’s had a lot of health issues, and I’m never too tired, or I’m never too busy that I would never listen.
I put up with a very, very mad friend that um, she drives me crazy, but I’m always there to give her support. She might be a pain in the arse, but I’m always there to help her, though.
Do I feel connected to my culture? What culture? We haven’t really got a culture, have we? Ah, I can’t think of anything. No, we really haven’t. Um, I think if anyone was to pursue their culture, I think it’s up to the individual. I shouldn’t be, shouldn’t be forced to have to learn Māori at school. It’s up to the individuals.
I connect with people quite lot in clubs I belong to. Try to get to know new people. Try to make them feel welcome. Ah, yeah try to look out for new people, and try to make them feel at home. Yeah, and where they’re from.
I had a lot of connection when I was over in China. I found it so fascinating, particularly you know, up in Beijing. I found it, their culture was just so amazing that it was easy, and a lot of them could speak English, and it was great sharing stories. My travel guide was just amazing, and I learned a lot, so much with just four days about the different culture. It was, it was great, you know, great connecting. I grew up in Wellington for about 10 years, and my parents used to shift a lot, so we used to go to different schools, in all different schools and um, I never really stayed at a school long enough, which put me behind in one aspect. Ah, I like to keep active. I like to belong to a lot of different clubs, and love meeting new people, and it’s always interesting you know, learning about new cultures.
Connecting with people is very important. I think if you communicate with other people, it makes you feel better. It gets you out of yourself, and it’s exciting meeting new people. I just love listening to the different stories, and it gets you away from your own self. It makes you, yeah it makes you feel less selfish connecting with people.
I meet my friend regularly at the cafe. This area’s very friendly for meeting people. This little mall, it’s a little meeting place for lots of people where you can catch up with what goes on, catch up on all the goss. It’s really fun. We have daily conversations all the time. We might not always agree on everything, but it’s fun.
Normally I take my little dog. She’s not here today, but she’s very sociable, and most the people in the area seem to know him, seem to know us. We like to get around. We like meeting different people.
If anything was to happen, you know, if I wasn’t found in three days, people would worry if I wasn’t seen around. It’s important to ah, to know people in the area. If I was found dead, well who would be there to um, to know what happened to me? It’s important to know um, your community. It’s important to know who you are, and to know other people, so if anything was to happen they can check up on you. It’s good to have that connection yeah.
It happened three days ago that someone, a friend of ours was found dead. Her neighbours hadn’t seen her for three days, and if you keep to yourself people don’t know you. They don’t know something’s wrong, but if you’ve seen, if you’re around an area regularly, people do know you, and they would get worried if they don’t see you around. So I think it’s very important, you know, to have that connection with people.
Well, I think it’s important to get on with um, I think it’s important to get on, try to get on with every culture. Well, I’m neither um, a mixture, I’m not a Māori or a, or a true Pom or Irish. Yeah, I’ve got a lot of Irish-English in me, and I’m very, you know, I’m very interested in English history. Not so much in New Zealand history, and Irish. Yeah, I’m sort of pro-royalty and I’m probably more interested in um, our English culture, you know, especially the Royal Family.”
