Chapter 2

Vinnie offered to pick me up from the motel the next day, but it seemed like only a ten or fifteen minute walk, so that’s what I decided to do. My motel is in the suburb of Papatoetoe, which Vinnie told me is named after the native toetoe plant. The main street, in contrast, is Saint George Street, with as English a name as you can get. But you would struggle to find signs of Englishness here. Small shops selling fabric and clothing feature designs that make me think of Hawai’ian shirts. And some of the people on the streets are dressed in a way that suggests Pacific Islands to me unlike the images I had seen of Māori. Various shops have signs indicating they sell kava, which my phone tells me is an intoxicating drink traditional in the Pacific Islands. There is also a clear South Asian presence, with Sikhs wearing turbans and a sign indicating the NZ Punjabi Academy. There is a variety of fast food available including Chinese and Fish and Chips sometimes from the same establishment, Indian, and a Fijian version of Chinese food. There is also a funky looking cafe. There are numerous barbers and hair salons. One in particular catches my eye where I could get hair braiding, straightening, cornrows and spiral perms. None of those services are really for me. The street is down-market but absolutely real. There is no American fast food in this stretch though I had caught sight of some elsewhere.

Eventually, I reach the university. The oversized parking lot seems even dustier than I remembered but entering the imposing front entrance is a little reassuring once again. Vinnie is waiting and takes me to Human Resources who are eager to be welcoming and helpful but the whole procedure of signing on seems to take forever. Finally, Vinnie picks me up and takes me to my future office “to see how they are getting on”. It is in one of the temporary buildings, but, as Vinnie puts it, “a posh one.” Indeed it appears to be lined with natural wood even on the raked ceilings. Vinnie says it is a ‘Lockwood’ and the walls are in fact solid wood. The building was designed as a three bedroom house, so we have our own bathroom with a bath and a shower, and our own kitchen with a refrigerator, a coffee machine and various supplies. The living area is for the IT support team, two guys plus a third desk for a woman who is the administrator, but is often away at meetings, I am told. The accommodation isn’t what I expected at all but has a pleasant, holiday cabin kind of feel to it. I meet the IT guys and then my two other housemates, who both do some teaching in Gender Studies: Marion who is English and a social psychologist, polite but a little shy, and Carolyn in English Literature, a ‘pākehā’ as I understand New Zealanders of European origin are known. She is not shy at all and invites me to dinner at some time to be agreed, checking for dietary requirements.

The office still doesn’t have a desk but, as we are about to leave, two guys arrive with a large triangular grey desk in two bits. Where do I want it? There were some options, for my office was clearly the‘master bedroom’ of the house design and of a good size. When that is all set up, Vinnie wanders down to the IT guys to ask them to install my computer. Then we go to the School of Arts ‘tea room’, located in a shabbier temporary building. It seems to be tea time, for there are various people in groups. What appears to be a group of secretaries are sitting together. Vinnie introduces me to McDuff, a distinctive looking man with a large head topped with curly red hair, which joins seamlessly with a curly red beard. He doesn’t admit to owning a first name. “‘McDuff’ is my moniker,” he says. He is from media studies and seems to be on good terms with everyone. As people come in, he waves them over and introduces them, not that I really take in all the names and personalities. McDuff himself is quite enough to take in for one day. While of Scottish origin he had grown up in Bangor, North Wales and has some fluency in the Welsh language. He is interested in me being from Finland and clearly has some knowledge of linguistics, for he knows that Finnish is part of the Finno-Ugric group of languages. He has been in New Zealand for just over ten years and arrived at the University not long after its first intake of students. I think it is time to return to my office. As a parting piece of advice, McDuff tells me the place to buy lunch is Sammy’s pie cart directly behind the main building.

The IT guys had installed my computer and left me a note to give them a shout if I needed help getting started. I take advantage of that, though I don’t really see the need for both of them. But, as well as being very competent, they form a kind of comedy duo. The young Indian guy, Vijay, is a fast talker while the older Pākehā guy, Eric, has a kind of quiet dry wit.

Vijay pretends to talk up the merits of the computer they are installing. “Professors get the latest in cutting edge technology you know,” he says as he invites me to login to a rather ordinary looking Dell computer with a modest sized screen sitting on top of it. ‘Professor’ is a very senior rank in the British system, which New Zealand follows, a point emphasised to me in the appointment process.

“Yes,” says, Eric, deadpan “and, if it freezes, try turning it off and leave it for 20 seconds.”

It is impressively non-hierarchical, but still a little odd. With everything up and running, I head for Sammy’s and try the green curry pie with Thai salad. It is really very tasty. Sammy is an unusual character. I can’t place him at all. Perhaps he looks white, but maybe a little Polynesian. Slightly Asian perhaps. He greets me by saying, “Tjena”, which is Swedish, a language I speak well not only because it is required in school but also because my mother is Swedish. But on learning I am Finnish he immediately says, “Moi,” a Finnish greeting. Curious! Back to the office for a while but then a walk back to the motel as I am still very tired.

Lying on my bed I reflect on how the institution is improvised and undeveloped. On the other hand, people are friendly and it is all a novel experience. It is also a fresh start. I need to put my previous work troubles behind me, go about my business, develop research collaborations with scholars at the established New Zealand universities, apply for research funding, as I promised in my interview, and generally avoid controversy. I need to keep a clear professional focus.