Latest / Babes, how did you get here / 20 Years in War Zones: Timor, Syria, Haiti, Sudan — He Tells It All

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20 Years in War Zones: Timor, Syria, Haiti, Sudan — He Tells It All · Babes, how did you get here

• 0:00
  I remember I just came back from East Timor. I was back in New Zealand and my boss said to me,
• 0:06
  listen, there's an opportunity for you to be based in the Middle East, which is Damascus, Lebanon,
• 0:12
  Syria. At that time, there was like suicide bombing, was at its peak. And I'm like,
• 0:18
  oh, what do I do here? And then my mother's quite religious. I said to you know what do you
• 0:24
  think about this? So you know, it's dangerous over the year, and I was going, yeah,
• 0:28
  but when you remember, you spoke to about this opportunity, so you should take the opportunity
• 0:32
  of what you have, excuse me, it's true, but you know, it's quite dangerous. And you said, oh,
• 0:36
  yeah, I think I should take this opportunity. And I look back now, when I joined the Air Force,
• 0:44
  the first night, the first night of the Air Force.
• 0:47
  So authoritarian dictatorship, millions of people disappeared, tortured, secret prisons.
• 0:57
  In Syria, the first trials are beginning of allies and associates, a former president by
• 1:02
  sure. It's in court, but going in there and then just like...
• 1:07
  What I remember is I went through Russian roulette and then I ended up, because I don't
• 1:12
  remember any questions any cars going out, the wrong exit. So then I had to turn around to go
• 1:19
  back to the right place. So as I turned around, I blocked the traffic. So as I turned around,
• 1:27
  cars were coming, both sides and they took, but they're not aggressive. And so I basically blocked
• 1:34
  the road, just arrived, and I'm in uniform. Then this guy comes out of nowhere and uniform,
• 1:40
  and he says, hey, that's you need to go down. And I'm thinking, I've been briefed on, you know,
• 1:46
  security, you know, so I wind up when I down a little bit. Okay. And he's like this,
• 1:50
  I'm down a bit more, I wind up a bit more and I'm like, what do I do? What's my exit strategy?
• 1:55
  I'm pretty sure at the time I didn't have any families. Okay. And then he goes, no, no, why not?
• 2:00
  So I wind up all the way down and then he reaches into his pocket and he pulls out.
• 2:05
  John aka JC in the military Kiwi in the UN describes himself as a simple Maori boy from New Zealand,
• 2:14
  whose life has taken him around the world. He has worked everywhere from a tent in East
• 2:19
  to More to Antarctica across the Middle East and Africa. But now he's based here in Cambodia
• 2:26
  where he lives with his wife and their two daughters. With a life well lived, comes
• 2:31
  adventurous stories and lessons to be learned. I want to hear it all, but first I have to ask,
• 2:36
  babes, how did you get here? By airplane. No, the moment that I was brought up in my little village
• 2:45
  and blend them with about 20,000, 22,000 people at that time, I knew that I'd be coming to Cambodia.
• 2:53
  Are you joking? Yes, I am. It's been quite a while. It's been about where you grew up first.
• 3:00
  Sure, so I'm from New Zealand and a little village in the top of the South Island,
• 3:06
  called Blenheim. So I think around the time was around 20, 25,000 people. State housing,
• 3:14
  a bit of a lower socio-economic upbringing. The neighbours next door, nine children.
• 3:20
  Okay. The ones across the road, six children. So in the street we lived in a coldest sack,
• 3:25
  been an excess of 60 children. How many siblings do you have? I have three siblings.
• 3:31
  Okay. So there's four children in our family and it was a close family upbringing and I really
• 3:37
  enjoyed where I was brought up. I lived my life there, went to school there, college,
• 3:42
  walked to school, bike to college and if you had three or four cars along the street,
• 3:50
  it was a busy day. Really? Yes. Super quiet. Super quiet. In fact, I could elaborate.
• 3:55
  So, top of the South Island, we call it top of the South, there's another
• 4:00
  village or township it's called Nelson and it's about, in those days it was maybe an hour and a half,
• 4:06
  two hour drive. Okay. And that was the place where I first saw traffic lights and they were the first
• 4:12
  town that had a franchise where we could get takeaways and that was Kentucky Fried Chicken.
• 4:18
  How old were you when you saw the traffic lights? For a good point maybe 14. Okay. Around that age.
• 4:26
  Wow. Yes, because we used to play rugby there. So you go there and say, oh well, it's got a
• 4:30
  traffic law. Are you a country boy at heart or do you like city life? I'm a country boy. Yes.
• 4:37
  I've lived in many cities but I prefer the country. It's just more at one nature. My upbringing,
• 4:46
  for a good time we would go ealing, get into the rivers catching the eel with a little spear.
• 4:54
  Where I lived, what we would do is an activity. For example, we gathered all the wood at the back
• 5:00
  of everyone's houses. Then we made a sled. So we nailed the sled together. Then we all carried it
• 5:07
  up to this hill which was nearby the houses and it was it's a dry area. So it was dry grass.
• 5:14
  So we put wax on the sled and then we would go up and down the sled on the hill all afternoon.
• 5:21
  That was my upbringing. When life was simple. Well, life was simple. No, but life is life.
• 5:26
  It's not what you make of it. Did you always want to be in the military? No, I did not. How did you
• 5:32
  end up there? Yes, good question. So at the time I was working in, we called it a muscle factory.
• 5:39
  So it was a factory where they would process seafood. But mainly muscles destined for Japan.
• 5:47
  So funny. When you said muscle factory, I was thinking muscle like muscles on your body. Yes.
• 5:53
  Mule and French. Mule. So at that time I had quite a tough boss and she was asking me what
• 6:03
  are you going to do with yourself and at the same time my parents were asking none of my family
• 6:07
  had been to university. So I had university entrance. Okay.
• 6:13
  Bursary. So I was academically qualified but my heart wasn't to go to university and my dad said
• 6:22
  going back to my boss she asked me what am I going to do and I said well I'm quite happy here.
• 6:27
  We're in this factory. I'm making money. There's only there were two men because we were doing
• 6:33
  the boxing. It was a different era in those days and the ladies would open up the muscles and then
• 6:39
  package them. We will package them so snap frozen. Okay. She said what are you going to do? I said
• 6:44
  I don't know. My dad's saying that I should maybe join the military, join the Air Force because
• 6:49
  it was also just down the road. The next minute she comes up to me and she said well you know
• 6:55
  this lady here, her husband's expecting you to go to the Air Force Base because she told him
• 7:01
  and he teaches the recruits. Okay. So I got an afternoon at the Air Force Base to see what life
• 7:09
  was like in the Air Force. Sure. So I was quite lucky but I don't know because the thing that I remember
• 7:16
  is that you got really short haircuts and I was from the era where you had long hair.
• 7:21
  So I applied and even that was a bit of a journey because you get tested at school and then I
• 7:31
  didn't really know what I was applying for. Okay. And I didn't really know about aircraft. I thought
• 7:36
  that was for wealthy people, aircraft flying, all that sort of thing. And then after the test
• 7:44
  I got told that I had to have interviews in Christchurch. So I had to move from my
• 7:50
  town in Blenheim to go down to Christchurch for the interview process. So I received a bus ticket.
• 7:58
  So I was really happy. I got a bus ticket. Then I got the bus ticket. I went down and then they
• 8:03
  knew who I was because I was expected and then they gave me a room key. So I had like my own room.
• 8:10
  I was like, wow this is amazing. And then I went to the interview and I
• 8:16
  dressed because I played rugby first of thing rugby. My dad said you make sure you wear a tie.
• 8:21
  Right. And you at least look good. Well try to look good because you weren't looking so good
• 8:27
  in those days. So at the interview panel there would have been five people at the interview panel
• 8:34
  and I hadn't never been interviewed before. And so they asked one person asked the question,
• 8:40
  why do you want to join the Air Force? And I froze. But by this point do you actually want to
• 8:45
  join the Air Force? Because you've got the key, you have the bus ticket, you're feeling more
• 8:48
  positive or are you still going through the motions because of the influences? I did want to join.
• 8:54
  After being exposed, I thought yes this is for me. But then after the first question was
• 9:00
  posed and I froze. I thought I've blown it. One of the other interview panel personnel said look
• 9:08
  just relax, it's normal to be nervous, just be calm, we just want to know a bit about you.
• 9:12
  And so yes I went through this process and also they gave you a phone card so you could
• 9:19
  ring up home after you finished. Oh very cool. So I rang up after the interview and I said
• 9:24
  spoke to my dad, I said dad listen. I didn't do it. I failed this. But it was good because I got
• 9:29
  a bus ride, just got my room and I'll get a phone card. So I'm okay to go home. It's okay.
• 9:34
  And I'll work in the muscle factory. It's so funny though because whenever I interview people know
• 9:39
  if you're a bit nervous to me that's a really good thing because it means that you care. Like if
• 9:44
  you come in and there's no nerves at all, I mean that like you better be damn good to justify
• 9:49
  this like confidence that you're giving me or if you're nervous I'm like oh maybe it's because
• 9:54
  you care. I can assure you I'm nervous. I'm just hiding it. So when you call your dad you think
• 10:04
  you're going home. No I do go home. You do go home. And then it was I don't know a few weeks after
• 10:11
  whatever the time period after. This letter comes in the mailbox and then my mum says it's here
• 10:18
  and I said mum you open it and she said no let's wait for your dad. I went okay and I didn't think
• 10:24
  much of it because I was confident that I hadn't hadn't been successful anyway. Dad came from work
• 10:33
  and then mum presented him this this letter and then we're all there and he opens up this letter and he
• 10:38
  says I'm sorry you're joining your force and I was like oh wow that's amazing so it's like
• 10:46
  straight away and then I went to see my my boss and my colleague at work and say thank you so
• 10:52
  much and yeah so that was my journey to the Air Force. How old are you then? I was 17. Really? Oh
• 10:58
  you're a barber. Yeah I was a baby. 17. But I looked old of them for my age. They're 17 and a half.
• 11:08
  What's the difference between time that you receive the letter and that you have to start doing
• 11:13
  whatever you do in the Air Force? It was quite close because it must have been
• 11:22
  would have been in the third quarter of the year and the start was in January the following year.
• 11:27
  So it wasn't that long maybe a few months. Does New Zealand go to war and do things like?
• 11:33
  New Zealand does well in my time. Yeah in my time it went to a number of operations so East
• 11:40
  Timor was one and that was a sort of a wartime operation. Okay there was there's many deployments
• 11:47
  for UN operations. Okay so peacekeeping machines. Peacekeeping duties. Yeah and there was a
• 11:54
  there was a time when you would see more senior people particularly officers that would only have
• 12:00
  say one or two medals. Okay because they had served on time but not served on operations. Okay
• 12:07
  during the early stages of my career. So when you get signed up for the Air Force what is the vision
• 12:13
  for how your career is going to look? So the stream that I joined which I wasn't overly sure
• 12:22
  about was called the New Zealanders to forget of engineering. So this scheme was five years in
• 12:29
  training and it it until attending block courses for academic training because you know it wasn't
• 12:36
  sure about how academically ungifted I was because I wasn't self-skifted academically but this
• 12:42
  was more hands-on so you have a recruit course. You do this thing with basic engineering so
• 12:48
  so basically I joined the Air Force as an aircraft technician. Okay but after the first six months
• 12:54
  I hadn't actually seen an aircraft. Yes could be because you do everything else but any one of the
• 12:59
  first courses you do to learn aircraft is you have to learn about the publications. Okay and I
• 13:04
  remember the instructor his nickname was Whispering Death because one it's a boring subject anyway
• 13:10
  and then when he spoke he's not listening to podcast. It wasn't the most motivating.
• 13:18
  So yes so and then from from that course progression then you finally get to see an aircraft
• 13:28
  and then you you work in block courses Air Force courses on the job training more block courses
• 13:37
  and then it's where you tend training institute a civilian training institute for a block of time
• 13:44
  okay so for us it's like three months at a time and then you end up with this civilian qualification
• 13:51
  so in hindsight it was a very good stream to take and then until that was five years with a
• 13:57
  return of service for three by that stage I've been in eight years and I was on an operational unit
• 14:04
  so I was on what's a unit which did large aircraft so that you could basically the flights were
• 14:12
  global so on that unit I was fortunate to become reasonably not seeing you but technically savvy
• 14:24
  with the aircraft such that you could go on some global trips. Okay so up until that point I
• 14:30
  hadn't been on many trips in fact my first flight I was playing rugby and my rugby coach knew
• 14:36
  that I had not been on a flight so he organised for the the engineer on the base to take me up on a
• 14:43
  flight. Okay and in the same township where I was so this was in the days of top gun I got my green
• 14:49
  overalls I had a green helmet so I thought I was Tom Cruise I sat on this it was called an air trainer
• 14:57
  and you sit side by side so and then I'd also the pilot said that he knew us from the local town he
• 15:04
  said where does your dad work we can fly to that area I mean oh this is cool so I told my dad
• 15:12
  and I remember flying and we flew where's where he worked in the freezing works you know the freezing
• 15:17
  works is it's where you basically cool animals to package them and it's like a butchery
• 15:25
  okay butchery yep it's not a good tunic so I saw them in the car park and I saw it excited
• 15:33
  and then he said so what we do now and all he did was he flipped this aircraft up your skins
• 15:38
  like this he flips it around and we were doing aerobatics at a certain time I don't know how long
• 15:45
  it was it felt like maybe an hour he lew all the aircraft and he said right now you should you
• 15:52
  should fly and I could feel you know like sweat building up and suddenly there was a lot of
• 15:58
  perspiration and I said to him listen can I just go back and he said no no you should he
• 16:05
  not feeling well I was going no I'm not feeling that well he said if you fly it will take
• 16:09
  your mind off and I said no thanks can you please take me back so he took me back so you didn't do
• 16:15
  anything I didn't fly I maybe held a stick for you know a minute he dropped me off I went into
• 16:22
  the hangar I was sick that afternoon and I was actually sick at the evening so it really put
• 16:27
  me off flying and I just went the air force so why would I travel yeah that's what I was thinking
• 16:37
  at the time because I thought maybe after doing this training course I might remaster or change
• 16:43
  trades to a pilot right that's what I was thinking yeah but no I put me off flying for how long
• 16:50
  did it put you off flying are you still okay with flying oh I'm okay with flying now but not
• 16:54
  I mean that was your first my first experience yeah it's a to flying I'm going upside down
• 16:58
  going upside down and down was that like a little initiation tactic or I was quite lucky because
• 17:06
  no one else on my course because he was not I know some course got the opportunity to fly but I
• 17:11
  think it was just because the my rugby coach who was a commanding officer sure I knew the
• 17:16
  new the guy and he just you know looked after me well I don't know if that looking after me but
• 17:21
  allowed me to fly so you I was just going back to the to the training course so it was eight years
• 17:28
  of training three return of service and then on the strategic unit for flying so during that time
• 17:37
  I was really lucky to get some I remember three big trips so one trip we took our prime minister
• 17:43
  at the time Jim Bolger to Thailand okay and so you have all the entourage the media the caravan
• 17:50
  around and there's two technicians on board so I'm one of those technicians okay and then another
• 17:56
  trip so your rule is the fixed things when they go wrong yes okay yes but when you at that time
• 18:03
  what I can just comment on the time sure we you could help you could help during the flight okay
• 18:09
  you could help with the flight attendants you could basically fill in do do what you want okay yeah
• 18:14
  and we're pretty was was very laid back it was it was just a nice time so for example there was one
• 18:21
  trip we did and I was with another colleague so I was the the mechanical technician we have an
• 18:27
  electrical avionics and so this particular trip was taking British military personnel back to the UK
• 18:38
  but going via Australia Singapore Maldives to Greece into the UK then going back the other way
• 18:48
  through and you stop in these places you were stopping places but for me I get out because I have to
• 18:52
  refuel the aircraft you stay at certain places for certain time then we stayed for a while in the UK
• 18:57
  and then you fly fly back through Canada east coast of the US Hawaii Samoa back to New Zealand so
• 19:08
  that was just one trip so you're you're there first thing in the morning you help with the flight
• 19:14
  you were there put in the aircraft to bed but after that you probably need to after a trip like
• 19:19
  that you need to sleep for a few days but great opportunities where is the best place that you've
• 19:24
  ever visited I don't have a best place okay you have a top three so is this military or just in general
• 19:36
  okay so I was lucky to be based in Damascus in Syria okay this is 2003 okay and that was the first
• 19:49
  time that I had been to multiple countries by land in a day because New Zealand had to fly everywhere
• 19:55
  we drove basically from through we our training was in Israel we drove through Jordan and I was
• 20:04
  based in Damascus okay and then the first the first or when I first arrived there was a round
• 20:14
  about and it was described as a Russian relate because there'd be maybe 10 entry exits
• 20:22
  right and there'd be three lanes with five lanes of traffic entering then cows in the inside we
• 20:27
  want to go out cows in the out we want to go around so it's just sort of something I wasn't used to
• 20:33
  right from Blenheim yes with no traffic loads no traffic lights but we had roundabouts
• 20:39
  so I was with my colleague who'd picked me up and I thought it's okay one driving on different
• 20:45
  side of the road okay but two at least I'll have a few days to acclimatize before I have to drive
• 20:50
  so we went to the like the operations area induction and then I saw that I was actually on duty the
• 21:00
  next day as the duty driver and I do not I do not know how to this day how that works surely you'd
• 21:06
  be there for a few days before you got duty driver anyway so it was a family duty station so the
• 21:12
  drivers job was to pick up the families bring them to they call this place is Machouse so it was
• 21:18
  basically when you see the families so it was a it was a family duty station so families of other
• 21:26
  of other military okay yeah so it was a all the families with you wonderful wonderful
• 21:31
  so you're knowing care of other people's families yes wise wives and children great while driving
• 21:37
  in a place I don't know and in a car that's backwards and yes for those fun things but what I
• 21:46
  remember is I went through Russian roulette and then I ended up because I don't want to
• 21:51
  question to any cars going out the wrong the wrong exit wrong exit so then I had to turn around
• 21:57
  to go back to the right right place so as I turned around I blocked the traffic so as I turned
• 22:05
  around cars were coming on both sides and and they took but they're not aggressive okay and so I
• 22:11
  basically blocked the road just arrived and I'm in uniform then this guy comes out of nowhere in
• 22:17
  uniform and he says hey like this you need to wind you window down right and I'm thinking I've
• 22:24
  been briefed on you know security you know so I wind the window down a little bit okay and he's
• 22:28
  like this one down a bit more than I wind it a bit more and I'm like what do I do what's my exit
• 22:33
  strategy I'm pretty sure at the time I didn't have any families thank goodness okay and then he goes
• 22:38
  no no wind it so I'll wind it all the way down and then he reaches into his pocket and he pulls out
• 22:43
  two lollipops and he gives me a lollipop and meanwhile everyone's two to you know the places just
• 22:50
  like it's a gridlocked and he opens up his his lollipop blocks of me smiles you know all his teeth
• 22:56
  have sort of messed up and I'm like you don't get my lollipop puts it in his mouth and I put
• 23:00
  at least miles at me and then I go shook lunges and thank you very much slowly he moves the traffic
• 23:06
  so I could get out of the way and there was my first experience with Syrian locals
• 23:11
  that's really sweet yeah it was amazing that is really sweet so a favorite place well don't
• 23:16
  know about favorite place but that was certainly a memorable time yeah and you've got the
• 23:21
  always remember those memorable times tell me what untarticle because when I read about you going
• 23:26
  to untarticle all I think of really like what is out there it's cold it's cold yes it's very cold
• 23:35
  how long were you there for yeah August 10 October November six months
• 23:41
  okay it's five six months so again it's I was just lucky so to me a lot of the
• 23:49
  experiences I've had have been opportunities that you take right but this particular
• 23:57
  opportunity I happen to be working in a position in the military where I could discuss
• 24:05
  with the people in the posting area okay so I'd already made up my mind at that stage that I was
• 24:10
  going to leave the military oh because I wanted to do something more and how long had you been
• 24:17
  in the military at this point 20 years okay a good stretch yes so why did you want to leave
• 24:24
  because I had been in my opinion I'd been fortunate that I had done everything that I wanted
• 24:31
  to do within the military so I'd represented in sports I'd played I'd I had been an operational
• 24:39
  units I'd deployed I'd been the military observer which was you know quite rare with my trade
• 24:48
  so and then the more senior I would be the more desk bound I saw because a lot of the senior
• 24:54
  positions you're more desk bound doing policy engineering decision so so that didn't appear I
• 25:01
  was more interested in excitement of operations and by then I'd travelled as well so I sort of
• 25:09
  already had the bug and it was funny because I applied for the UN I was you know when you there's
• 25:17
  this thing called the secret and it's basically it was a book someone described it to me later on but
• 25:22
  it's basically if you want something so badly you will it to happen so someone spoke to me about that
• 25:29
  and I remember at the time was like I really want to join the UN I really want this so so going
• 25:35
  back I went to Antarctica because I was given the opportunity because I was going to leave right
• 25:43
  and then and then be it down there I because I was leaving I was able to go and dedicate for a
• 25:52
  bit longer than what was you normally do so I got to go in the first flights Antarctica in the
• 25:57
  at the end of August which was the it's the beginning of the summer season they have a summer
• 26:04
  they have a summer where it's like 24 hours so this particular time it's August it's in
• 26:11
  no sorry August is when you get the first of the light right because in the winter it's totally
• 26:16
  dark 24 hours of dark so when we landed there's a there's a window of light so this aircraft lands
• 26:25
  it was a C17 and then we got out and there was this this light you don't see the sun it was just
• 26:31
  on the horizon but it's enough for the aircraft to land drop off fresh supplies and then it leaves
• 26:37
  so I think I stayed at the night down there just to understand how the base worked towards the people
• 26:44
  but I remember at that time they call it the freshy so all these fresh things had just come off
• 26:49
  the aircraft so that aircraft supports the New Zealand and the and the US Antarctic operations
• 26:56
  so we get to the Scott base everything's new for me the temperature says minus 40 something it's
• 27:01
  freezing everything's freezing your breath is just that just does not sound fun you're in us 40
• 27:08
  your your eyelashes stick together everything sticks you get a lot of icicles in your nostrils
• 27:14
  especially if you have hairy ones so so we go to the base and there's all this excitement because
• 27:21
  I have no idea I'm just new to the base and so what you do is you go down they bring this container
• 27:27
  and it's called the freshies I don't know what freshies was and then you see these people the staff
• 27:33
  they've been in there or winter one of them's like oh my gosh it's an avocado oh my gosh there's an
• 27:38
  apple I have a tomato because the whole time they've been having frozen food but how long are
• 27:44
  they having frozen food for they're there for six six seven months in the winter season
• 27:50
  so the the main season for scientists is in the summer and at the peak of the summer so when
• 27:56
  when I went down there it's this haze of light and then you don't deploy together until
• 28:01
  maybe October November okay and that's when all the science teams
• 28:07
  deploy so and you've got such a variety yes so yeah so at this base in Antarctica it's
• 28:15
  solely for science purposes it's yeah it's for science but then there's also
• 28:22
  um you get VIP visits so for instance if you heard of Sir Edmund Hillary no Sir Edmund Hillary
• 28:31
  was the New Zealander who first climbed Mount Everest extra patenting so he he also crossed
• 28:38
  the South Pole on tractor so he's really renowned explorer and he's like a VIP right so he came
• 28:45
  the year before in the year after just a visit just a visit okay you have composers there was a
• 28:50
  composer there that composed music okay these writers and you're just taking care of them
• 28:56
  so my job was to run this facility for scientists or for people who go down there
• 29:02
  there's part of the New Zealand Antarctic program wow so it's such a mix of people so you have
• 29:08
  fish exputes uh under sea exputes drilling specialist atmospheric exputes yeah
• 29:15
  I guess my mind from like a hospitality background right things always go wrong there's always
• 29:21
  something that's broken or something that needs to be fixed or supplies that need to be gotten
• 29:24
  and I'm like in Antarctica you can't just like run down to a shop like how do you manage facilities
• 29:35
  so I'm plugged out of the New Zealand military given to the New Zealand Antarctic program for a year
• 29:43
  they had the New Zealand Antarctic program's been running for you know a number of years
• 29:48
  I'm not sure exactly when and their logistics support is just amazing yep so we were having we
• 29:56
  would host VIP program like the chef that would work in the team and say like this is what the
• 30:02
  menu is salmon scallops muscles some like do you agree I would not disagree so everything that
• 30:12
  you need and then but I guess the key to it is is make sure planning meeting if there's a short
• 30:19
  fall we had a we had a meeting one day and it was a big discussion by one of the colleagues he said
• 30:26
  look we've we've run out of coffee and then one of the other staff said oh it's just coffee you
• 30:31
  know what's what's the matter and and I said hold on we've got this coffee machine which is like
• 30:36
  I don't know five or ten thousand dollars investment so we need coffee right so we'll make it a
• 30:42
  priority so coffee comes the next day so just gets flown in gets flown because in the summer season
• 30:48
  you have daily flights okay yeah so logistically in the summer season you you have regular flight
• 30:56
  schedule and the one thing you you have none because there's no light no light no we're the land so
• 31:01
  how do you manage in the winter season the the self-sustained they have to make sure they have
• 31:07
  and and it's less staff okay so we had 85 beds but so at its peak would have over 85 people
• 31:16
  maybe a few people if there's problems with weather where people get stuck down there whatever
• 31:22
  but in the winter there's maybe 10 okay such a minimum stuff don't use but again just a you know
• 31:29
  fantastic opportunity they were I remember you know again this this experience with Syria where
• 31:37
  I got the opportunity to go to one of the the hats of the penguin
• 31:45
  um scientists so what we do is we at the end of the season depending on what
• 31:52
  facilities went for structures in place so this particular one we had to close the hut
• 31:56
  so my job was really busy we would fly the Italians back from their base to our base to
• 32:04
  cross-judge to go back to Italy but they would come at maybe one o'clock in the morning then you'd
• 32:08
  have started you know seven in the morning for your normal schedule so there's always things on
• 32:13
  so at the end of the season some of the other New Zealand stuff came to supplement okay
• 32:18
  and then they said look you've you need to go and to help with the team to close this hut
• 32:25
  and I said no I've got this I get no what is closing our hut until um making a
• 32:31
  shutting that making it safe to last a season in the winter so then they open it up again
• 32:36
  in the summer so battling the hatches so we went to this and up until this time everything's
• 32:45
  frozen right and then we go by helicopter four of us we land the helicopter disappears and then
• 32:52
  you hear this so it's the movement of the water so this part's not frozen okay so this water's
• 32:59
  not frozen then there's a hut so we do all work on the hut and then and I said I go we've done
• 33:06
  our work I'm going to go out and watch nature okay so we're out and you've got your big jacket
• 33:10
  everything so you go to the beach and then the beach well I call it a beach because it's it's like
• 33:17
  a beach it's it's frozen it's not the beach where you go and you speed us it's for that way
• 33:23
  so on the on the sandy shore there was it was the um the colony of Adele penguins okay what's
• 33:34
  Adele penguins so Adele penguins are smaller penguins black and white they're clumsy but they're
• 33:39
  really cute the the most known are impra penguins they're very tall graceful they can be one
• 33:46
  meter high they have this yellow beautiful yellow streak so you know this is the colony of
• 33:51
  Adele penguins right so I sit there and these penguins come up to you and you can you can get
• 33:57
  personalities like and Adele penguin will look at you he's like like who are you right now the
• 34:02
  one will walk past like a bit frightened so you can see personalities then in the distance you see
• 34:08
  these seals were Dell seals so they're just swimming in the distance and then you see even
• 34:14
  out again the surface of a whale so I'm near for like a few hours just watching just watching nature
• 34:21
  that is incredible it's amazing so again watch your favorite place it's no favorite place it's just
• 34:27
  the things you get to see the opportunities you're gifted to see I want to see some penguins I did
• 34:33
  go to South Africa in January and forgive my ignorance but I had no idea that there were penguins
• 34:40
  so I'm on my phone and I see that this lady is taking pictures with some penguins I'm like
• 34:45
  hold on that's like an hour away from where I am tomorrow I'm going to go see some penguins
• 34:50
  and so we went to Boulder's Beach I took my girls and we had to like climb over cliffs and stuff
• 34:55
  because the tide had come in like clearly I wasn't there at the right time and so we had to make
• 35:00
  an effort to go and see these penguins I had one baby very scared on my back outside don't worry
• 35:05
  we've got this and then I had another baby a little bit more confidence what are you truth I think
• 35:09
  so they had just one for just turned for literally and days before their fourth birthday do you
• 35:14
  know what flavor the penguins were flavor what type no okay because this this quite a lot of they're
• 35:23
  big they're big yeah I mean not one meter big they're big and they're aggressive okay this idea
• 35:29
  that penguins are like just these cute little things they are coming for you like heads moving
• 35:34
  beaks open I was I damn but um definitely worth seeing but it was my first time that I even
• 35:41
  knew that there were penguins in South Africa oh yeah and penguins in New Zealand as well
• 35:45
  oh yeah south-east but it just gave you another another story actually so every year
• 35:51
  the New Zealand team plays the American team in rugby okay and we applied for the Guinness Book of
• 35:57
  Records as a southernmost international okay but up until that time New Zealand had never lost a
• 36:02
  match to the Americans in this rugby game so you playing in snow you have our goalposts and it's
• 36:09
  quite serious I didn't realise it was quite so serious because I volunteered to be the coach okay
• 36:14
  but we would play a bit of touch rugby as preparation right but it was quite a serious event for the
• 36:19
  Americans fortunately we won okay yeah I can go back proud I thought you were going to say you lost
• 36:26
  I was worried yes very worried so you're in a tent you said in east to more yes do you like camping
• 36:37
  you love nature yeah I do I do like nature in New Zealand right because we have no critters
• 36:45
  we have no bugs we have no do you have no bugs no we have the harmless they all went to Australia
• 36:51
  most of them must have at some stage swam to Australia or call about yeah so in comparison
• 36:57
  you know we don't have crocodiles right we don't have snakes we don't have aggressive spiders
• 37:03
  yeah so in team or in a tent you're you're in a like a netting right but you know netting doesn't
• 37:12
  stop a snake from climbing in so you sleep with your boots underneath you and but then you just
• 37:18
  you desensitise after a after a while you just get used to it but I do remember we had us we had
• 37:25
  a supply tent okay we put all the logistics supplies for the aircraft and there was a big
• 37:31
  commotion that I went in to to check with my colleagues and there was a snake that had got itself
• 37:37
  stuck in one of the a big one for you to hear it yeah no a big one for that we saw so there was
• 37:44
  a big commotion so yeah it was just a bit of a reality check but in that when you deploy
• 37:49
  millet with the military I guess the key thing for you're provided as much comfort as you can
• 37:55
  with an environment we have a generative power you have a fan fan moves yeah you don't maybe get
• 38:00
  so much mosquito we fumigate for mosquitoes okay but I guess that was you just I guess for me
• 38:08
  personally you're just desensitise right so the first I did a couple of tours first time was
• 38:15
  intense and then the second one we had just starting to construct huts okay oh great
• 38:22
  it was a huge upgrade okay yeah so I was like maybe Harlem in the 80s to Beverly Hills
• 38:30
  yeah so it was quite nice but but even when tense you don't you just get on with it okay
• 38:36
  you don't think about it I didn't know anything about East Timor until you said I had to google it
• 38:41
  I didn't know anything that was then there was a conflict in 1999 it's that 99 okay and what did
• 38:48
  you have to do just work on planes yeah my job was I managed the maintenance teams for for providing
• 38:56
  a helicopter fleet so we had a three-hour helicopter so I looked after the maintenance teams we had
• 39:02
  an armament avionics mechanical stores and one of the key things is morale which is the same
• 39:09
  in Antarctica one of the key things is morale you have to have social events sure keep people happy
• 39:16
  stop people getting bored right have activities like a social club so it's really it's it's quite
• 39:21
  key in those sort of environments when you are in these environments do you ever get an opportunity
• 39:28
  to get a sense of the local culture or are you guys just so busy on the reason for being there
• 39:33
  that you don't actually get to absorb so it depends like Antarctica there's not too many local
• 39:41
  community that was with the my opportunity in Syria South Lebanon you live amongst the local
• 39:51
  community so it's wonderful you get to experience the local communities you get to make wonderful
• 39:56
  people you live in communities and it's safe and yeah I had a wonderful experience in Syria
• 40:06
  wonderful experience in South Lebanon with two more it was a bit different in the fact that we were
• 40:12
  in tentative camp so restricted we I don't remember we gifted items to give to the local community
• 40:23
  so we did go out to give out these gifts which was the time that you you know you get out to
• 40:29
  those communities but we didn't have the same exposure and is that just to make sure that they don't
• 40:34
  resent your presence oh it's just I don't know how the initiative came out but it was just you
• 40:39
  know when this hardship people volunteer or donate until and does that quite well they still tell
• 40:45
  telephones where they donate money to causes okay so this was just people are donated and we were
• 40:52
  the distributor at that time yeah so again that's just a wonderful experience you went to south Sudan
• 41:00
  oh yes what was the point of that mission so I might turn the table back so when I left the
• 41:08
  military I joined the UN okay and then in the UN I met my wife okay in Haiti okay and then
• 41:19
  what were you doing with the UN so I've always been involved aviation so in Haiti I was what they
• 41:27
  called it it's called the chief but it's just it's just a post where I was responsible for quality
• 41:32
  assurance standards and training but in the end my role core role because I didn't offer a few
• 41:38
  gaps was to train the military to make the aviation operations safer okay so basically I identified
• 41:44
  some gaps created a training course and then delivered the training okay because then the
• 41:50
  military units rotate inside travel around Haiti training the units to look after UN aircraft
• 41:58
  because we also float night for mini-vec casualty evacuation casualty evacuation how is Haiti
• 42:06
  it's so funny in the sense that if you look at his vanilla like on a picture on a map you have like
• 42:14
  lush green on one side and then almost devastation on the other side and I find it strange that you
• 42:21
  can have like one landmass but to really separate sides and I can't imagine what it means to like
• 42:29
  live there it's it is interesting and you see it when you fly so I was there during the Earthquake
• 42:39
  or just after the earthquake so I was there before but during I was in another operation but after
• 42:44
  yeah and during the time we had an average so flying between Santo Domingo and Porto
• 42:50
  Prince to support the community during this during this you know sad time devastating time
• 42:58
  but when you fly over the border you see a dotted line where it's green yes forestry and where
• 43:04
  it's not deforested yeah and I was reading books because I'm not an expert on the history of
• 43:10
  Spanish oil but for Haiti people would that was a source of income to chop down trees and it was
• 43:20
  also to be able to to live because they relied on on fire cooking that sort of thing by the same
• 43:30
  token my understanding was that in Dominican Republic the government would protect the forest
• 43:36
  because they were getting some sort of subsidies some sort of financial gold that they were trying
• 43:42
  to achieve and then environmentally the the island is more favorable on the east so because when
• 43:52
  they deforested on the west and Haiti then with with you know you get hurricane belts a lot of
• 44:00
  torrential rainfall and then because it's eroded you get a lot of flooding where some of the villages
• 44:07
  are located they're constantly in floods where the Dominican Republic is located that I think
• 44:18
  the the natural environment waters the protected forests I'm not sure if they've got dams but
• 44:27
  there's a number of reasons why one the governments of both countries in environmental conditions
• 44:33
  here it's it's it's crazy it is it's crazy how was life post earthquake
• 44:40
  it was tough but it was tough for the Haitian people you know for the UN it was
• 44:49
  the UN suffered its biggest loss of life in in any operation during the earthquake really
• 44:57
  in any single event so so it affected the the UN community but I guess I had a colleague that lost
• 45:07
  two of three children in her husband in the earthquake so put things into perspective
• 45:14
  yeah she lost her family so so I just make sure to look at things differently
• 45:21
  so post earthquake for me it was a busy time I just focused on what I needed to do my work
• 45:28
  wise and then at a certain time I got tired of it and then eventually I made my way back to New Zealand
• 45:35
  okay I just don't want to work for the UN when I was little oh yeah yeah I just had this like
• 45:41
  idea of change for the world and you could do that through the UN so what did you want to do in
• 45:46
  particular I just want to do something legal it's like oh yeah I like that I don't really
• 45:51
  thought it through and then as I got older and you start to like read about different atrocities
• 45:55
  around the world like for example when I learned about the Rwandan genocide and and maybe I'm
• 46:02
  just a bit cynical now you know when you're younger you're kind of full of hope and optimism and
• 46:06
  the world is a fair place you just need to work hard and you're gonna get where you need to go
• 46:09
  and you can help with change yeah you know and change is possible and all the things you just
• 46:14
  need to do the right things and then I think as you get all though I've questioned what the
• 46:19
  hell the UN actually does in real life sometimes because it feels like in an effort to be a peacemaker
• 46:28
  and sometimes real change needs like more revolution then seems to align with the UN but I say this
• 46:35
  are with like ton loads of nivity and ignorance right like I don't I don't know enough
• 46:40
  but it's just like the sense that I get whenever there's like a world issue we could talk about
• 46:44
  several current world issues and I just feel like I don't know if the UN does enough and then I
• 46:50
  didn't want to really be a part of an organization that didn't create the change that I kind of
• 46:55
  imagined could happen yeah I joined it with that same intent you know to make change to contribute
• 47:01
  to do what I can you know how he's a good example that it's having operations
• 47:09
  and it's provided stability sure there are things that don't work for sure and there's corruption
• 47:15
  there's exploitation there you're trying to be a bit more sharp in that but I guess selfishly
• 47:21
  I looked at it what I can contribute in my own little space so so you'd spoke really about
• 47:27
  South Sudan so I was in Haiti within peacekeeping so the UN has a bunch of different pillars
• 47:36
  UNICEF UNDP development program so WFP World Food Programme is the humanitarian
• 47:44
  of the UN so my job in South Sudan is humanitarian aviation so I went there to coordinate
• 47:54
  training to maybe get some capacity development particularly for local community maybe work with
• 47:59
  the universities to have some sort of pathway so that was my aim my vision right but then COVID
• 48:08
  struck okay so then training became secondary because we have other operational units that need
• 48:15
  the time to operate because if we don't operate humanitarian context then COVID becomes number
• 48:21
  three or four behind hunger cholera what it will you know disease yeah so at one point I think in
• 48:30
  Sudan was one of the largest global operations at that time I think we were the largest aviation
• 48:36
  operator globally because we're operating when everybody else is close yeah I think we live in
• 48:41
  a living aircraft so so my job then became COVID focal point so anything related to COVID
• 48:49
  was directed at me okay so then we had to implement you know protective measures when
• 48:55
  crews got sick and that was just such an uncertain time because I think in the country there was
• 49:01
  like one incubator that was it for the whole country I didn't know where the incubator was wow
• 49:07
  there was no vaccines where does South Sudan fit in the picking order to receive vaccines right so
• 49:15
  that's when the UN came with WHO to get vaccines and donated okay work with the minister the
• 49:22
  government minister of health to eventually get these vaccines out so my job I coordinated vaccines
• 49:27
  I coordinated with UNICEF so my selfish little contributing world was beneficial to what I was
• 49:36
  doing within the UN right so I don't think about when I when I when you talk about the UN holistically
• 49:43
  I don't tend to think about you know all the negative things because there are a lot of negative
• 49:46
  things mine's more like what can I do what's my contribution so it was actually quite satisfying
• 49:52
  when I did you feel pressure during specifically for that COVID period pressure to do I guess the best
• 50:02
  that I have this issue that I don't I don't want to do a job but I want to do it well and I guess
• 50:08
  I put always put pressure on myself so yes I guess I want to do a job to make sure it goes well so
• 50:16
  I would physically go to the aircraft I had a colleagues that were really supportive and we would
• 50:22
  get UNICEF to come to the aircraft we would tell them the time so that we can minimize the time
• 50:27
  exposure of the cargo to you know the invocates hot weather sure that we coordinated closely to
• 50:35
  meet the needs where they wanted to go to all these different locations just for vaccines then
• 50:39
  you've got the human factor where maybe one of the crew is unwell what can we do to support the
• 50:44
  crew because I also had to do medical evacuations at a certain time as in people who had COVID really
• 50:52
  badly needed to get older the country for you and staff yes yes but that was later later on but
• 50:58
  been so kinder to WHO to sort of perform that role so yeah you've got people's lives in your
• 51:06
  hand you've got the outcome is you know at the end of the days the well-being of the people
• 51:11
  community so yeah you do put a bit of pressure on yourself but it's in a good way and you were
• 51:17
  there throughout COVID yes so for over five months I would talk to my family not known so they're
• 51:26
  not with you at this point Lauren Rome so your family is in Rome you're in Sudan
• 51:32
  you burn self Sudan yes during COVID and then because you I just started the role and then suddenly
• 51:40
  you you are you can't travel so the plan when you started the role was it to just fly between
• 51:47
  Roman Sudan yes okay but no you can't fly now I can't fly so you're just by yourself
• 51:53
  well I have I have my colleagues so everyone's in the same situation but I had a couple of really
• 52:00
  close colleagues that I one I knew XEF was from New Zealand and one was who I knew from Haiti
• 52:06
  okay and they basically it's your little network there how old are your girls at this point
• 52:11
  yeah good point eight and maybe four three four so your three four-year-old can't really
• 52:21
  no she doesn't really know but yeah the older one she was yeah that was difficult was difficult for
• 52:26
  all of us really sure but I remember even coming from Juba on the first flights so I flew on a
• 52:34
  UN flight to get to Ethiopia right because we were providing that flight service globally the UN
• 52:40
  was providing a number of flights so I was able to get on that flight then you get to Ethiopia
• 52:45
  you're put into a hotel and then you don't see anyone because you're quarantined you quarantined
• 52:49
  and then the next day you go and you're flight and you're hoping that you can get on your flight
• 52:54
  but then I spoke to someone else on the bus saying oh he did the same transport the day before and
• 53:00
  they canceled the flight so it's just but then when you do get out you're like have I contracted
• 53:07
  to con anything on the way you know so it's always it was stressful you don't want to give
• 53:12
  something because you know that your contacts go over on flights and I'm gonna now infect and
• 53:18
  I'm gonna get it myself because you're free and post-testing yeah and my it's my family you're
• 53:22
  gonna get you know circuit am I gonna you know so you saw those sort of thoughts that go through
• 53:27
  here so yeah so so after that time my my wife was in Rome that's when she got the job opportunity
• 53:40
  and and Cambodia so okay so for us we had to decide are we still going to have this long distance
• 53:46
  or perhaps it's better to be together are you gonna go back to Sudan or are you gonna stay in Rome
• 53:51
  I'm so confused where you're staying so wife has the job opportunity in Cambodia that's what we're
• 53:57
  here that's why we're here but where were you planning on potentially being asked we don't know so
• 54:04
  we came to Cambodia with my with my wife's role and and you'd stop working for the you and
• 54:09
  at this point and I stopped working to be together okay yeah otherwise I'd still be in some other
• 54:15
  location most probably okay yeah but then I missed a point because we we lived also in Jordan
• 54:24
  everyone lived in Jordan yes okay but we only had one daughter at that time and then we had
• 54:30
  both daughters when we lived in Sudan okay so we lived in Sudan yes since we talked about
• 54:36
  what we've been doing over the place how was life in Jordan Jordan was nice okay yeah Jordan
• 54:43
  was safe we had a nice time in Jordan good schools good community yeah what's the culture like
• 54:49
  is it worth visiting I've never even thought about visiting oh it's lovely it's lovely yeah you
• 54:53
  put it on the list yes why a number of reasons are the the people are nice it's safe you have some really
• 55:02
  world-renowned destinations okay did see yes picture yes what do you run the worth worth
• 55:10
  what he runs one of the most amazing places to see you know desert desert sunsets how was the food
• 55:18
  do you know the film The Martian no oh there's a film The Martian was met Damon and it was shot
• 55:23
  there shot yeah okay food beautiful Middle Eastern foods lovely okay so like kind of food
• 55:30
  it's yes that vibe Lebanese it's yeah it's similar meaty but then you got hummus
• 55:37
  love a bit hummus tabooly oh yeah yes okay so good food good food things to see you would like it I
• 55:45
  would okay it's safe whereas Sudan is challenging what does that mean challenging that was at that
• 55:54
  time we were there it was under sanctions so a lot of times you got a supermarket you you couldn't
• 55:59
  buy a lot of things pharmacy I mean we are thought it was unwow we couldn't get the you know
• 56:06
  the medicines that she needed there was issues with getting fuel we had a vehicle so we had to rely
• 56:13
  on support through colleagues to get fuel just everything's challenging you have her boot her boobs
• 56:18
  which is those big sand storms they're called her boobs her boobs yeah and the sun just take over you
• 56:25
  can see the storm coming it's like a big brown mass of cloud coming and you're both working
• 56:32
  so my wife was working in Sudan again with World Food Program I was working in UAE in Saudi Arabia
• 56:40
  okay so I was doing a job for a New Zealand organisation right and again I was fortunate I had
• 56:49
  a boss that sort of wanted to look at different opportunities so you know I was able to travel
• 56:57
  I was the grocery person okay so I'd go between Saudi Arabia and Dubai Abu Dhabi and bring back
• 57:03
  groceries supplies supplies essential how old is your daughter at this point she is maybe 10
• 57:14
  so she's in school in Sudan yeah she's in school in Sudan how school in Sudan it was okay it was
• 57:20
  a French school okay yeah well it's not quite the school that you have in Cambodia because they're
• 57:26
  educated through the French system sure but the school for alpipuses was fine it was fine yeah it was
• 57:32
  fine how long were you living there three years okay yeah three years were they enjoyable considering
• 57:39
  you can't have basics looking back you you think about the good times but I mean would I
• 57:47
  I didn't an idea would go back I probably would not would I recommend that you go for a holiday
• 57:51
  I probably would not the day we left was when they ousted bus year the president and those
• 57:58
  what happened that was two military senior staff got together to oust the president now those two
• 58:09
  military leaders oppose each other which is what you have now with this current situation in Sudan
• 58:16
  when you get assigned a post in a country do you get the option of saying no thank you
• 58:24
  no I haven't had that I haven't had that with you and so I've been given opportunities
• 58:31
  and I've accepted them okay yeah and for your wife has she ever said no thanks
• 58:37
  she she gets choices choices to choose okay but she gets what she gets selected for right
• 58:45
  so she doesn't necessarily get a choice to what's what cards she's handed out in the end right yeah
• 58:52
  but you just went to accept it yeah I don't know if I could I think I just but I think it's great
• 58:59
  to be able to because then you're open to you know whatever life wants to teach you sometimes it's
• 59:05
  it's really challenging you know when you're moving often and you know will eventually be moving
• 59:10
  again it's some part of you wants some stability but the other part is like you know you're still
• 59:17
  healthy the world is a place to see you know what lies ahead of you don't know and even though
• 59:25
  you have your challenging times it's you know I wouldn't have taken half the opportunities if I
• 59:30
  if I had that mindset I know I mean but I just came back from East Timor I was back in New Zealand
• 59:37
  and my boss said to me listen there's an opportunity for you to be based in the Middle East which is
• 59:43
  Damascus Lebanon Syria at that time there was like suicide bombing was at its peak
• 59:49
  right and I'm like oh what do I do here and then my my mother's quite religious and I said to her
• 59:57
  but I already made up my mind she's not listening to the podcast I said to you know what do you
• 1:00:02
  think about this she goes oh you know it's dangerous over there and I was going yeah but my
• 1:00:06
  remember you spoke to me about these opportunities you know you should take the opportunity or
• 1:00:09
  you have it's because yeah it's true but you know it's quite dangerous and I said I yeah I think
• 1:00:14
  I should take it it's an opportunity and I look back now when I joined the Air Force the first
• 1:00:22
  the first night the first night the Air Force I joined from this the same town I was six kilometers
• 1:00:28
  from my house where I was brought up that's where the training base was I could have climbed out
• 1:00:33
  the window and gone home and they're shouting at you swearing at you those the days you're you'll
• 1:00:37
  have to do that and I remember there was a young guy who was like upstairs he was homesick and I
• 1:00:43
  you know I said oh listen man it's okay well think about this this night and you know you'll you
• 1:00:50
  think you know just just one night will be you'll be over it and I'm telling them this to rest
• 1:00:55
  sure and I'm thinking what I want to do is jump out the window and go home yeah but then you get
• 1:01:00
  through that you get through these these other things this middle east thing you and it's just
• 1:01:05
  you come at the other end all the more richer don't you as you know from traveling but when you're
• 1:01:11
  older you have a family and you have kids and obviously moving around by yourself versus moving
• 1:01:17
  around as a family unit I imagine it's quite different do you ever feel like one from a social
• 1:01:23
  perspective I appreciate hearing Cambodia there's like a strong expect community where everyone
• 1:01:29
  seems to know everybody so if you're always moving do you ever feel like you're missing out on
• 1:01:37
  keeping those relationships on you know having like your core routine or are you like anti-routine
• 1:01:45
  you you adjust your routine okay matter where you go you adjust your routine the people at times
• 1:01:51
  that can be tiring because you're going to a new post yeah you've got to find your feet you
• 1:01:58
  got to meet people you're starting from scratch job wise even that you're starting from for
• 1:02:04
  my wife even for me when you're starting this new job just starting from scratch and you know
• 1:02:09
  you just need to find your feet again I guess the challenging part now at this time of our lives
• 1:02:16
  is our daughter's particularly the eldest okay because she's really enjoyed her time how would
• 1:02:21
  you know she's 12 13 this year she's done really well academically she's found her niche got friends
• 1:02:30
  doing really well in sports she's got a good balance so the people will probably be more of an
• 1:02:37
  effect for her so I guess as a parent it's the support that would be the biggest challenge
• 1:02:44
  for my wife and I we we used to move in the the youngest one sure she'll be it'll be a
• 1:02:51
  challenging time but she'll be okay but the the biggest challenge will be for the older one
• 1:02:56
  yeah so again I'll let you know when we I'll let you know in about three years yeah yeah when you
• 1:03:04
  first hear that you're coming to Cambodia do you have an idea of what life is going to be like here
• 1:03:08
  it's interesting because we spoke before we met in about yeah sort of a bit of a stereotype so
• 1:03:16
  for New Zealand and for my experience I'd been to some of South East Asian countries we had a base
• 1:03:24
  in Singapore we had Asian meetings in Thailand we go to Thailand so there was this sort of
• 1:03:31
  unknown factor with Cambodia and also it's history you know it's really interesting history so
• 1:03:38
  I sort of had this vision of what I expected maybe maybe Bangkok 30 40 years ago okay but I was
• 1:03:47
  really surprised at the concrete okay the infrastructure at the external influences of the
• 1:03:56
  city and Pompeii and I thought it'd be more like maybe some of the provinces maybe like
• 1:04:01
  CM rep but it's a bit more quiet I would have thought CM rep would have been yeah so I was shocked
• 1:04:08
  in that regard the traffic even it's a relative thing but but the people are lovely people it's safe
• 1:04:17
  and those are the main things that you think about as a parent and my children are going to be safe
• 1:04:22
  they can my our daughter travels on her own and the tuk tuk's yeah so it's so you have a preconceived
• 1:04:29
  idea some things are much different but other things are refreshingly positive so overall it's been
• 1:04:38
  a great experience for us in Cambodia was there anything that you had to adjust to?
• 1:04:42
  so I think that my so all my travels my tummy has become sensitive really yes so I remember when
• 1:04:55
  we first arrived we went to Kip okay so if you've been to Kip's I've been to Kampot and everybody says
• 1:05:00
  I should have gone to Kip which is just next door yes I didn't okay tell me about Kip so Kip
• 1:05:06
  is for it's crab okay and and so if you first arrive and what you what you do when you go to
• 1:05:12
  you know the local township you you indulge in the local you know community fluid cuisine drinks
• 1:05:21
  whatever so I had the crab salad and after I had the crab salad I was not well for maybe like
• 1:05:31
  five days even five days or whatever three or five was quite significant when normally food
• 1:05:37
  poisoning is a one night thing no no but I just I was told later because it was the rainy season
• 1:05:44
  that you don't eat the crab during the rainy season because the the water flows off the land
• 1:05:49
  and it can the crab feed and so probably it was I found out in hindsight but I'm I always
• 1:05:56
  and weary of what I eat now okay so I don't eat the street food have you in the street food you
• 1:06:02
  don't eat street food I haven't eaten the street food in Cambodia really have you yes and I
• 1:06:08
  live to tell the tale why do you have what I had some octopus like on a stick I haven't had
• 1:06:15
  anything super exotic I've seen the insects and the spiders I haven't I haven't had them yet
• 1:06:21
  although I've had a few conversations and apparently I need to try the legs and just stay away from
• 1:06:25
  the body of the spider okay what anything on a stick I've had I've had salad to honest the food
• 1:06:34
  here to me isn't like mind-blowing is there something you really like that's not street food because
• 1:06:42
  clearly you're not eating that no so it's a little bit naughty but my we tend to eat French
• 1:06:50
  right those are big French community because there's a big French community yes yeah and then my
• 1:06:55
  children have been sick at various times we we had a trip the it's not uncommon for they've been
• 1:07:01
  to the medical clinic a few times for an IV okay because they've sort of been unwell for you know
• 1:07:08
  for a few days so it's not uncommon so now we just be extra careful yeah I'm just careful we
• 1:07:14
  are careful how is health care here just in terms of if someone's thinking of like where to move
• 1:07:18
  right these are the things that people think of how is how is medical care in Cambodia good okay
• 1:07:24
  yeah compared to the countries we've been it's good diagnostically it's good they may not have the
• 1:07:29
  the capability for certain I guess highly or I'm not a medical expert but in terms of
• 1:07:34
  but it wouldn't be something that someone needed to worry about no I'll always had your appendix
• 1:07:39
  taken okay since being here okay yeah and it's obviously this a lot of tropical disease and
• 1:07:47
  I've got another thing that's just recovering from dengue so he's got to be a little bit careful
• 1:07:51
  with you know being in a tropical country sure which is you know the same in the neighboring
• 1:07:56
  countries yeah I mean when he said dengue to me that's like normal I don't yeah come from the tropical
• 1:08:02
  countries they found it's the same Haiti's the same what do you think that you hope your children
• 1:08:11
  will gain from this not quite nomadic lifestyle but a lifestyle that requires that you move you know
• 1:08:17
  for us all years I just I just hope that later on maybe not that they won't now but later on that
• 1:08:25
  they appreciate the opportunities they've had okay that's what I would hope they do because I came
• 1:08:31
  from you know the one township with no traffic light no traffic light roundabout didn't travel or
• 1:08:38
  traveled locally sure and then you know to go on a plane like you know even when we flew here they
• 1:08:45
  went and flew in a business class oh I used to always get free upgrades right before always I
• 1:08:58
  know how to get a free upgrade when you're traveling on your own with you thank you that is it so
• 1:09:02
  I tell people all the time that motherhood has like demoted me in so many ways so I used to go to
• 1:09:09
  the airport and I would say you know hi check it out and be really nice just be my really usual
• 1:09:17
  bubbly self and once this person checking me in I said oh so because I'm so lovely do you think
• 1:09:24
  there's space at the front of the plane and he laughed and he asked me to step to one side so he
• 1:09:29
  could see my shoes I was all okay I was wearing normal shoes thankfully and he said okay cool I can
• 1:09:34
  give an upgrade so I said what were you looking for and he said you know if you were in trainers
• 1:09:39
  or like looking a bit scruffy I couldn't upgrade you because it might disturb other guests if you
• 1:09:44
  pay you can dress however you want but you don't want to like alert anyone who has paid and then
• 1:09:49
  they could make a complaint okay I was like okay cool that was the last day I wore casual shoes
• 1:09:54
  to the airport when you see me go to an airport by myself babes I have heels on they're comfortable
• 1:10:00
  but they do what they need to do at four inches high right I dress up particular way not too much
• 1:10:05
  just like I belong you know what I mean and whenever my luggage was overweight because Jamaicans
• 1:10:10
  we are known for like if you're checking in for a Jamaican flight you don't need to see where the
• 1:10:15
  desk is just look for the people are unpacking and sort you know that is just how we roll and I
• 1:10:20
  I can't unpack like what if my underwear falls out to the suitcase so I'll always go and I just
• 1:10:24
  admit it I admit it start straight up my luggage is so over it and then I ask you know how much
• 1:10:29
  is going to cost with the hopes that you're going to answer and say it's not going to cost anything
• 1:10:34
  and then I remember going to New York did that they looked over to the manager and the manager
• 1:10:40
  looked at me and then nodded and then the man said you don't have to pay for your overweight
• 1:10:45
  luggage I said oh thank you look to the manager give a little smile I see you babes and then I got
• 1:10:50
  upgraded and my sister and my dad on our farm chat they would always be like why do you always
• 1:10:55
  get upgraded and I say first of all I don't get checked in by a woman I don't care what anyone says
• 1:11:00
  I know we live in a world where gender doesn't matter let's be real right so I don't get checked
• 1:11:04
  in by a woman if a woman is about to check me I literally said to the person sorry I have to find
• 1:11:08
  something please go in front of me and then I will go to the minute man at the desk I will be kind
• 1:11:14
  just you know my normal lovely warm self and then I will make a reasonable reasonable reasonable
• 1:11:20
  request babes and I always get upgraded you can't do that with children especially with twins
• 1:11:24
  right and also not all business class has a three-wave configuration most of it is two and one
• 1:11:30
  yeah yeah so where's the other twin gonna go but the other thing too is that once you once you've
• 1:11:36
  been business so I remember that when I first joined the UN I went into the like Auckland going to
• 1:11:43
  I was going to it's liberant dizzy for training okay so I was flying Thai airways and so I went
• 1:11:50
  in the line I didn't look my ticket went in the line and you know all the CF people and then
• 1:11:55
  the lady goes oh sorry you're over you're on this line okay oh so I go from all this people to
• 1:12:01
  no one and I walk in here and I've got a tray you know tray of drinks right and they go look at
• 1:12:06
  me they oh hello mr Cassie how are you no they didn't have a tray of drinks they had the
• 1:12:11
  the for your hands so they said are you upstairs this is not the the 380 this is the Boeing 747
• 1:12:18
  right it was in the 2006 so I go upstairs trying to be called so I got stairs and then I sit down
• 1:12:28
  there's already a lady sitting down I'm seated next on the window and then I see these buttons
• 1:12:33
  on the seat and I'm doing the again trying to be cool but they know they know who has not been in
• 1:12:41
  business class so when you know this the the flight attendants comes up she goes sir would you
• 1:12:46
  like some something to drink would you like some orange it would you like some champagne I just
• 1:12:50
  go actually I'd like some champagne that will be lovely because here you go excuse me champagne
• 1:12:54
  and I'm like it's just amazing in looking down and then I even finished the champagne and she
• 1:13:01
  goes would you like another one I was going oh yeah but you know how much is this cost she goes
• 1:13:06
  it's okay it doesn't it won't cost you it's okay so straight away they know and so you do that
• 1:13:12
  whole experience and then after that it's like man what is economy you want to be economy
• 1:13:18
  economy anymore it's like oh and the other thing too is when you travel a lot you know as you know
• 1:13:24
  where where you get I become gold or something right it's there's no better feeling when they go
• 1:13:32
  Mr. Cassidy can you please come to the gate I've been thinking that you might get an upgrade yeah
• 1:13:38
  I love an upgrade so you know in terms of travel these different countries
• 1:13:41
  it's something about upgrades it's basically it never gets old no the first time it was because my
• 1:13:47
  neighbor worked for the airline and I was like maybe 10 10 years old and I was so excited I was
• 1:13:53
  going to the UK and I knew that anti-vivine was going to be on the flight and I knew I was going to
• 1:13:58
  get my upgrade and I slept the entire way they gave me the menu and I was like oh my gosh I feel
• 1:14:04
  like an adult I'm getting a menu on a flight and before I could even order I was sleeping and no
• 1:14:09
  one woke me up I slept the entire nine and a half hours and I was so disappointed when I landed
• 1:14:14
  in London I was like my first experience I didn't get to experience anything because I was just
• 1:14:19
  sleeping so I can't I can't do that you can't sleep no no sleep standing up you're lucky
• 1:14:26
  lucky this is not boring otherwise you'd be sleeping now the the I've this feeling that you're
• 1:14:33
  missing out on something you are even though you don't need the food because you go to the lounge
• 1:14:37
  before right and then you like would you like this what would you like for dinner it's like
• 1:14:41
  what I've just actually eaten at the lounge but yeah I ate dinner as well and you would
• 1:14:45
  you like to do it you don't need that either yeah yeah so the best airline food do you have a
• 1:14:50
  fair favorite airline well I did like a New Zealand but they had nice wine as well but I didn't
• 1:14:58
  we didn't have such a good experience yeah they've good wine if I ever see a Sauvignon Blanc
• 1:15:03
  on the menu that's from New Zealand it's my safe it's my safe choice yeah yeah yeah same
• 1:15:09
  but I I worked with Emirates flight catering that's my favorite so they they at that stage they were
• 1:15:15
  appearing like 250 thousand meals a day so we worked I worked with them up one of my jobs when I was
• 1:15:20
  UAE in Saudi Arabia right and they were making their own kitchen they were making their own
• 1:15:24
  chocolates ice cream and they were making to double the the number of meals so that they were
• 1:15:30
  building that was pre-COVID and then I then I changed roles again but what they were investigating
• 1:15:36
  that time was um vertical farming it's basically where you grow your produce and containers yes
• 1:15:43
  so you use 90% less water no pesticides so they were going to make all their produce and
• 1:15:49
  listing the American company so they were their produce their processing it's just I've seen
• 1:15:56
  I was I was very cool and and then their chefs were doing like at that time these qualifications
• 1:16:01
  that we were that we were working with so it was the first airline that gave me proper seasoning
• 1:16:07
  not really I remember getting like a chili jam on the side and I like make chili jam I love chili
• 1:16:12
  jam and I was super impressed I was like oh my gosh there is flavor in the food but then it also
• 1:16:17
  makes you wonder like why the others are so terrible yeah you're right oh gosh if there was anything
• 1:16:22
  you would share to someone who is thinking about moving abroad who doesn't have the luxury of
• 1:16:28
  necessarily having a job like yours that took you to places what would you see one question your
• 1:16:36
  motivation because if if you think oh I'm going to do that because it seems a cool thing to do
• 1:16:45
  and then you get there and it's not so not what you expect if you're motivated you're going to have
• 1:16:52
  face challenges you're motivated you'll overcome those challenges easier because you know you're
• 1:16:58
  there for the right reasons some some travel you won't have those challenges and but I'm thinking
• 1:17:07
  more hardship type or more challenging type environments where you've got above normal you don't
• 1:17:17
  have the luxuries that you might otherwise have and you know places like Rome and Paris you know
• 1:17:23
  there's nothing to worry about if you're going to those places it's more the the challenges that
• 1:17:29
  you'll face off the offbeat and track because if you're traveling to you know the main cities
• 1:17:35
  around the world it's just it's just wonderful yeah that's wonderful I mean when I first went to
• 1:17:41
  went to Paris I mean I was at my wife's the the street just where I lived and you could see in
• 1:17:49
  the distance that I felt how have you seen the fake Eiffel Tower here sorry I know I got to
• 1:17:56
  this place and I was literally just looking for a park for the girls so I typed in park near me
• 1:18:02
  and it said Euro Park I said okay cool I go to Euro Park thinking that I'm going to see slides
• 1:18:07
  and swings or whatever that kids needs to play on and then I why is there a weird miniature
• 1:18:13
  Eiffel Tower but also also like why is there the Sydney orchestra house that is not in Europe I was
• 1:18:20
  very I don't understand the appeal do you understand the appeal of this workplace I just I buy by
• 1:18:28
  chance went there because I also saw here that's park and my daughter had played in a football tournament
• 1:18:33
  so we went around the end then I saw the Eiffel Tower it's like I didn't actually realize this
• 1:18:39
  so I don't know I didn't I took it with a grain of salt it was so confused it was it was nice
• 1:18:45
  it was not quite the same as going to Paris but it was okay sure back in your real Paris with
• 1:18:51
  the real Eiffel Tower yeah I'm just spoiled yeah it's just been spoiled it's amazing I've eaten on
• 1:18:59
  top of the Eiffel Tower it's amazing is it well just the just the so I'm being extremely
• 1:19:09
  disappointed with my business extremely disappointed so I go to Jouvern I think it was for my
• 1:19:16
  22nd birthday I think so I was living in New York at the time I'm like cool I'm going to go
• 1:19:22
  to Paris I went to Paris with school for like a summer trip and then I was like oh I'm going to
• 1:19:28
  treat myself to go to Jouvern and at the time I think they had one Michelin star either one or two
• 1:19:33
  can't remember but I was like I was still on the Michelin star hype I'm no longer on the Michelin
• 1:19:37
  side and also you have a more culinary well then no I was in college I just even know I just I'm
• 1:19:42
  someone that eats right like we all have palettes and we all like food I just know what I like more
• 1:19:46
  than other people so I go to Jouvern I'm super excited I remember it was the time when everybody
• 1:19:53
  who was rich had those ostrich egg handbags I don't know I'm not fashiony stuff but yeah they all
• 1:19:59
  had those ostrich eggs handbags that were very expensive so I remember walking in like seeing
• 1:20:04
  a few of them around I'm wondering why their husbands looked scruffy in like a Ralph Lauren Polo
• 1:20:08
  next to them trying to look like they were walking off the road yeah it was very strange and I was
• 1:20:13
  just like if I was a glamour queen I would help my husband to like match the vibe anyway we get
• 1:20:18
  the menu I'm as I said younger less experience and this like wine menu was an encyclopedia it
• 1:20:27
  was like pages pages very heavy and I have zero reason to pretend to know anything about anything
• 1:20:33
  so I asked to speak to the smelly ace in hopes that he would kind of guide the experience
• 1:20:37
  I tell him the kinds of wines that I like at the time I was very much more white
• 1:20:42
  no I'm still white but I'll go a little red if we need to but at the time I'm like this is what
• 1:20:46
  I like could you please just kind of suggest something for me he makes a suggestion I said cool
• 1:20:51
  let's go with that first thing he says is we don't have it okay why did you suggest it I didn't
• 1:20:57
  ask for it you suggested it and you don't have it okay cool then we finally get to a wine that they
• 1:21:02
  do have in stock and then we get the meal and the meal which is it was not tasty it was not great
• 1:21:08
  it was not mind blowing the view incredible and then I was like I feel like that's why
• 1:21:15
  they are where they are in terms of status it's because of everything else that is going on
• 1:21:20
  and normally in hospitality I agree that the service the ambiance the everything else other than
• 1:21:28
  the product is probably more important than the product itself right how long ago was this when
• 1:21:34
  so I'm 36 so this is about 14 years ago yeah and I do agree that all the other elements are
• 1:21:43
  probably more important than the average person thinks than the product itself however this isn't
• 1:21:49
  street food prices right this is a certain level of prestige that I then expect you to be really
• 1:21:54
  firing on all cylinders the service was basic if not poor the food was forgettable and yes
• 1:22:00
  the views are beautiful he lets us say I've never been back yeah we we were spoiled in the fact that
• 1:22:09
  my wife's parents took our daughter for her birthday and we had had at the time of her birthday
• 1:22:19
  we had a trip to Sri Lanka okay and when we arrived we had flown through the night and we went
• 1:22:25
  to the hotel it wasn't expecting us the guys were like zombies there was no rooms and we were
• 1:22:32
  traveling with my wife's parents as well he's 84 she's you know mid 70s so everyone's so you
• 1:22:40
  hadn't booked we'd lost their bags they'd lost their bags they know we'd booked we'd booked months
• 1:22:44
  in advance they'd lost your bags the hotel wasn't aware that you were coming even though you had
• 1:22:50
  a reservation yeah and we have elderly and young people and then they offered these rooms one
• 1:22:55
  was like a smoking room they just think one with a AC didn't work one was just dirty with a carpet
• 1:23:01
  was dirty and that was and then the next day we were looking for a place to have some breakfast
• 1:23:06
  nothing was really open and that was my daughter's birthday oh no so what they did was they took
• 1:23:11
  us took her up to the Jules Verne but I know what you mean about like the the view the presentation
• 1:23:22
  I like food that I like okay I like small I think being with a French wife I have become more
• 1:23:30
  attuned to enjoying food and eating as a as a experience so not not as in hailing so I think
• 1:23:39
  generally New Zealand you got good food but you tend to just in hailing right go off you go
• 1:23:44
  whereas in France and Italy because we were living in it's an experience I love Italian food but I
• 1:23:49
  remember the it wasn't nice food to me it tasted nice and but it was quite really heavy you know
• 1:23:56
  typically French heavy food so after a while it took I don't know probably a few days to digest
• 1:24:02
  but I remember going to another restaurant and again my in-laws was for my wife's birthday
• 1:24:10
  okay and I went to take my jacket here to wear a jacket I would take my jacket top I went
• 1:24:15
  sorry you can't do that you have to die on these two jackets okay and they specialised and
• 1:24:22
  oh what are they specialised in duck oh you probably know the restaurant I don't know of
• 1:24:28
  when you get there they tell you what number duck you have because they have all the number of
• 1:24:32
  ducks that they've served since the history of the place yeah yeah it was duck and it was amazing
• 1:24:38
  too I love the presentation but we didn't get the the Somalia negative experience that you had either
• 1:24:44
  by the place but same thing a big book or what the Jules Verne Somalia that is he took out this
• 1:24:50
  bottle of wine gave it to my daughter to hold and it was worth I don't know thousands of euro
• 1:24:57
  and I'm like can you please give it back to him now why did you even give her the bottle
• 1:25:04
  yeah it was thousands too funny for wine yeah I wouldn't appreciate that no I did a tasting once
• 1:25:11
  with a French friend who worked for a major hotel and he was my first like introduction to
• 1:25:17
  the knowledge behind wine so we would do a lot of smell like testing and all of this Tijuana
• 1:25:24
  and everything he was taking me through everything about wine and I remember he introduced me my
• 1:25:29
  first like expensive bottle of wine with the managing director of the hotel so we're at the table
• 1:25:34
  and at the time the bottle was like 2000 US dollars right and I would have been just turn 19
• 1:25:42
  and so I hadn't had a bottle of wine like this before and I was tasting it and I turned to
• 1:25:47
  the MD and I said but it doesn't taste good and he says to me April this is why I love you
• 1:25:53
  because everyone else at this table even if they don't like it they'll tell you how great it is
• 1:25:58
  thank you so much and immediately your first thing is but you don't like it regardless of the price
• 1:26:04
  tag like but if it costs two thousand dollars I want it to taste good it's like don't worry
• 1:26:09
  and we still became friends because that's just how I feel I think it should it should taste good
• 1:26:14
  so can you tell the difference now between a two thousand two hundred no baby it's just your
• 1:26:19
  it's just your taste but you know how you say you know what you like yeah I'm the same I know what
• 1:26:23
  I like and also I just never feel pressure to pretend to like something regardless of the audience
• 1:26:30
  or how much it costs yeah yeah yeah whereas I think I think the wine world I think they're trying
• 1:26:36
  to do more now to make it more approachable but for a long time the history of the wine world
• 1:26:41
  is a very snooty industry I think so being brought up in Blenheim that's the home of Montana
• 1:26:50
  okay Montana wines so there used to be like agriculture so as a young boy I was doing garlic
• 1:26:56
  okay so you that lay garlic out you'd cut the roots cut the tips and you'd make many of
• 1:27:01
  of a barrel of those so you'd cut it and then you'd hand you barrel you get a ticket
• 1:27:07
  right to make money okay so you've got shearing shoes you get blisters on your hands but suddenly
• 1:27:11
  you get this money it's like it was as cool yeah and then they changed that land to vineyards okay
• 1:27:16
  then after a few years they had this thing called a wine festival and there would have been like
• 1:27:21
  two tents one tent had some wines one tent had some food so and then gradually it grew into this
• 1:27:26
  morphed into this big event where it was a stadium bans and then you'd pay it had its own currency
• 1:27:34
  okay by currency right and then one wine would be worth three of these tickets as opposed to
• 1:27:39
  that give in the first ones they'll give you the bottle go here you go just fill up your glass
• 1:27:42
  sure but again my safety taste or savignon I never like shardonnay okay I never like was it too
• 1:27:51
  too okay yeah yeah yeah same and then I read wine I know I've become a bit more familiar am I
• 1:27:58
  am I an expert of taste no way but I know what I like but the same as you it's like okay a
• 1:28:04
  chef Oliver chef and and all you hear that if you're here there's a place called Pepe not to
• 1:28:10
  advertise they have this really nice wine called Alan Scott okay is that the one you like it
• 1:28:17
  is there anything that you wanted to touch on that we haven't touched on in this conversation
• 1:28:23
  no just that I've really enjoyed talking to you but so really thought about your journey you know
• 1:28:28
  you don't think about your travels you just do your travels and you just move on to another
• 1:28:35
  travel so and and basically talking about this your step back you think oh when you probe the
• 1:28:40
  questions like oh oh yeah I didn't really think about this and this so so it helps you to I guess
• 1:28:46
  appreciate what opportunities you get you know opportunities of tasting wine that's a thousand
• 1:28:52
  dollar whatever bottle of wine you know I'm happy with a fifteen dollar bottle of wine I was happy
• 1:28:57
  in a tent but now that I'm older I don't want to live in a tent so yeah thank you thank you so
• 1:29:04
  for taking the time talk with me if your life was a postcard what would the image look like
• 1:29:11
  for me family's important my roots are important where I came from I'm a New Zealand Māori so
• 1:29:17
  that would have to feature somewhere on the bridge I mean to you identity it's my identity
• 1:29:23
  where you from I mean I'm a New Zealander and more than that I'm a New Zealand Māori my dad's
• 1:29:28
  from a village up north but you identify with the country strongly for me so it's a good question
• 1:29:35
  maybe from my daughters later on what do you identify as do you instill like a sense of culture
• 1:29:44
  in your kids so like for my kids I have since they you know knee high to a grasshopper I stand
• 1:29:50
  them in the mirror they say like some positive affirmations but it starts with I am Jamaican and
• 1:29:54
  we do that every morning and every evening because for me being Jamaican is that my armoured
• 1:30:00
  yeah it's your identity too yeah and so regardless of where they're born regardless of where they
• 1:30:04
  live regardless of our movements if you ask them know you know where they're from they will
• 1:30:09
  automatically say Jamaica even though people get confused because they're speaking French and
• 1:30:13
  English and all of these things but for me that's important is it important for your children to
• 1:30:18
  have it's a kind of attachment yeah it's a good question so when my eldest was young my wife said
• 1:30:28
  you know what language should I be speaking and I said you should only speak to her in French
• 1:30:32
  she was born in New Zealand okay so only speak in French and she did to her credit she only spoke
• 1:30:38
  in French and she never you know after the with the time when she did start talking whatever it
• 1:30:44
  wasn't she never spoke in French and it wasn't until we all went to Corsica whatever age it was
• 1:30:51
  that suddenly she was surrounded by these people that only spoke French that was like a switch
• 1:30:56
  that she had for French the youngest one was born in Paris okay they've both been educated in the
• 1:31:02
  French system when we went to New Zealand we went to the store where they were they have green
• 1:31:11
  stones green stones are a necklace called ponamo in New Zealand it's it's like a each ponamo has
• 1:31:20
  a different story but it's to me it's like a protection of the of my daughters okay and it's
• 1:31:25
  quite common to have ponamo in New Zealand you'll see a lot of New Zealand especially Māori were in
• 1:31:31
  ponamo necklaces so they each have a ponamo necklace so but the interesting part is when we went
• 1:31:39
  to the store there's the woman at the store as Māori she said so watch your fucker papa watch your
• 1:31:44
  history watch your that crown watch your mountain watch your river because that's what you identify
• 1:31:48
  yourself in New Zealand and they don't know and she said you need to teach your children that
• 1:31:53
  so have I have I been doing that no I haven't should I yes I should but I should probably be doing
• 1:31:59
  that more myself especially when I say my identity is that Kiwi okay so I probably and ironic in
• 1:32:06
  that regard where I should be and like for a while with my family my siblings we were doing
• 1:32:13
  language training together okay because my cousin the teacher and and it was quite fun
• 1:32:19
  doing Māori languages either but now the language do you speak no okay I know some words but I don't
• 1:32:24
  speak and being away I haven't practiced with that sure no would you ever move back to New Zealand
• 1:32:31
  I I would but it's it's now the the driver is our children sure and there's no French
• 1:32:39
  international baccalaureate they've been this French system so it's it's highly unlikely that
• 1:32:45
  they're at the front sorry to New Zealand and yeah and also with my wife's drivers that sort of
• 1:32:51
  dictates we were going to be yeah cool so the postcard there's something Māori and maybe something
• 1:32:58
  family wise as well thank you thank you it wasn't as bad as he thought it was going to be wasn't
• 1:33:06
  that wasn't