Salinas Californian

 

 

Upper Hutt is a city of 40,000 in New Zealand. It’s in Hutt Valley with a few snow-capped hills at the moment. It’s 40 minutes north of Wellington. I’m fortunate to visit and stay there many summers. But since NZ is south of the equator seasons are reversed. Accordingly when I go in June or July it’s winter and cheaper. Usually 40-70 degrees, not terrible.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     Many years ago while a Peace Corps volunteer in Western Samoa (now Samoa) I befriended a fellow ...let’s call him Heinz.  This Heinz is Samoan/German. He’s a true blend of both ethnicities. He speaks fluent English, Samoan and German. Tall, 6 feet and muscled. He smiles and chortles. Wears what I call a U-boat captain’s white beard and goatee.  Just had his 61st birthday. Doesn’t look it of course.

    Handsome too. Once upon a few decades ago he and I sat in one of Samoa’s only hotels. A movie was being shot there. Heinz and I sat in the background. The filming director came over and asked me to move. But wanted Heinz to stay.   He’d made the grade – but not me.

    Heinz and his clan emigrated to New Zealand long ago. He harbors a positive view of the big ole world. He’s travelled much of it (as Samoans are inclined to do) His family threw his daughters 21st birthday dinner in the Eiffel tower. He perpetually wears a joyous grin on his face.  He laughs all the time. Is quick to chuckle and is a mild trickster. But don’t think he’s loaded, he’s not. He cuts lawns. He cuts them a lot.  I help him cut a few this winter (When it doesn’t rain we cut grass.)

   So that is when I got to see him in his glory. He loves people. And they love him. He assists the elderly all the time, a Samoan cultural thing. If his customers need this or that he helps them. He talks to them. Introduces his Yankee friend. Do they need groceries?  How about the mail? Is that a flat tire? He remembers names. He laughs with them and he makes them matter. He invites them all to watch his son play piano which the son does professionally.

    Oh and he’s a Samoan chieftain. So there’s a never ending parade of Samoans visiting. When we go anywhere if he suspects someone is Samoan he uses Samoan and they warm up like the sun hitting the reef in the morning.  The end result is everyone knows him wherever he goes.

    In my month there we visited so many elderly folks. This one in a rest home. That one alone. We just check on them. We spend 10 minutes here or there. They love it .

   We also go to the cemetery, bring flowers. We visit his mom and his older brother – they were also laughers.   We place our flowers on the graves and reminisce. Last time I saw his mom she said, “Poli (my Samoan name), you look very, very old.”  She laughed and slapped her thighs. We laughed too. Kids and old folks tend to be unrestrained and they speak the harsh truth.  His deceased brother used to break out in a smile as soon as he spotted me. He’d shake his head in disbelief. “Poli, the first time you told me you ATE peanut butter and jelly I couldn’t believe it. Normal people eat vegemite!”

   Everyone loves Heinz and that’s why he’s the unofficial mayor of Upper Hutt. It’s also one reason I visit. After all how often do you get to travel with the mayor?

   Oh, and next time I go I want to leave a small present at his brother’s grave. A small jar of peanut butter.  He’ll smile.

 

• Vegemite is a yeast extract  - a Commonwealth food staple. Nasty.