Smoke signals., April 01, 2002, Page 6 And 7, Image 11

APRIL 1, 2002
Smoke Signals 7
New Zealand Offers A Look At Anothe
World For Foreign Exchange Student
april 1, 2002 Smoke Signals
ha
f ' V
1
f
U.., . .tffth C " ,f . 1
V.-'V V "" '" '
s- ' . I . "
n KV O'i '." ,
Av. -JV
' ' '
Continued from front page
dering what to expect. It was quite
possibly the best decision he ever
made.
"I was doing a lot of laughing
when I got there," he told me. "Es
pecially listening to their accents
the Kiwi accent. I was just walk
ing around looking at everything.
It was different. I mean... I grew
up in southern Oregon."
The Portland to Auckland flight
is, by the way, a 6,900-mile jour
ney, with a time difference of 19
hours. But those differences
counted for little, as Brooks soon
learned, for New Zealand or
Aotearoa as the native Maori's
named it, is a land of contrasts, not
only culturally, but also physically.
The distinctions weren't stark, like
arriving in Africa would be. But
nor were they undetectable and
subtle, like any American who has
been to Canada knows. They were
just unique.
"It's hard to explain," Brooks con
tinued. "I guess geologically New
Zealand is pretty new. So every
thing just has this new quality to
it, you know. The landscape seems
so uncut, pure. It's surreal. The
mountains just shoot up out of the
ground. There are big plants, big
trees. Everything just seems new."
Not only are the islands that com
prise New Zealand new by geologi
cal standards, having separated for
80 million years from the original
continent Gondwana in a land mass
known as Rangitata. Rangitata
would separate further into Austra
lia and New Zealand, and the rela
tive isolation of both places over
millions of years would produce odd
flora and fauna that would intrigue
naturalists and biologists for cen
turies. Settlers from Polynesia
didn't arrive until 950 AD, roughly,
which explains why the country to
this day still seems pristine. For
Brooks, however, just the diversity
of the land was no less fascinating.
"Scenery was just amazing," he
said. "I visited Castle Rock and I'm
99 percent sure that's where they
filmed part of 'The Lord of the
Rings.'
"New Zealand really has every
thing, if you want," he further ex
plained. "You want San Diego-type
beaches? Boom you go to the
East Coast. You want Oregon-type
beaches? You go west. Desert?
Just go to the Rotarua. All climates
are present."
Any place that can boast of hav
ing all climates should in theory be
able to host virtually every sort of
outdoor sport or form of recreation.
New Zealand does and Brooks did
them all: hiking, skiing,
snowboarding, camping and
kayaking. Even blackwater raft
ing. Blackwater rafting?
"Seriously, you take a raft into a
cave, there are underground rap
ids," he said. "You have to wear a
helmet because the cave is so low.
You also wear a light. It's scary
because sometimes you couldn't see
the drop-offs.
"But it was cool," he added. "One
time we went into a cave and shut
off our lights. All around the walls
and ceilings, you could see glow
worms. If you ever get the chance
to do it, I highly recommend it."
That's not the only thing he rec
ommends too. Unbeknownst to just
about everybody, New Zealand
hosts some of the best fly-fishing in
the world. Scratch that, the best.
"I'd say the average size of the
fish is 20 inches," he told me. "No
joke. You'd be out there fishing and
if you caught something less than
that they'd say 'toss her back.' The
water is so clear, you can see all the
fish."
Snowboarding and skiing are big
there, but without the overcrowded
slopes. Brooks' first-ever venture
with a snowboard was on a slope
lacking ski lifts. The Kiwi system
apparently consists of a rope-line
where boarders pull themselves up
manually. He wasn't kidding when
he said New Zealand was "rugged".
He had more than a thorough
look at the country, either through
doing the Abel Tasman walk, a
multiple-day trek through some of
New Zealand's more remote areas,
or through kayaking in mangrove
swamps. There was also hiking to
hot springs and geysers, as the
country hosts all sorts of geother
mal activity.
Brooks also had time to be certi
fied in SCUBA diving. And of
course the matter of attending
classes, many credits of which would
be transferred back to OSU and one
of his original reasons for coming
to New Zealand in the first place,
which was to develop an engineer
ing program for the University of
Canterbury. He had no problem
attending to all those matters, in
addition to having a rip-roaring
good time doing it. New Zealand,
for those who haven't figured it out
yet, is evidently a fun place.
Colloquialisms are in fact one of
the details Brooks had the greater
difficulty getting used to. Not only
do Kiwis like to swear, but one word
in particular that draws gasps in
America and Canada floats around
profusely in New Zealand conver
sation. Unfortunately, we can't
print it here.
"Kiwis have lots of little phrases
that you pick up," he said. "Like
'Good on ya' (a compliment), or
'Sweet as!' (The equivalent of 'Right
on' or 'Oh, yeah')."
He became so involved in Kiwi
culture that you can count him as
a convert of rugby.
"I just love the sports there," he
said. "They are so old-fashioned. It's
not like here where you have all the
big lights, commercials and the
Britney Spears half-time show. No,
when you see a match there, espe
cially rugby, its pure ball, 45
minute halves of playing.
"And rugby is a rough sport, I tell
you," he said. "They don't have the
padding like football here. Those
guys go after each other. You al
ways get to see blood. More than
football or hockey."
Brooks learned of New Zealand's
equivalent of Michael Jordan, and
to many Kiwis, a deity. Standing
six feet and seven inches, weigh
ing 270 pounds, and supposedly
sporting Olympic caliber speed,
Jonah Lomau is a living monument
to rugby.
"This guy is just massive," he ex
plained. "NFL teams have tried to
lure him over, but he won't come.
Kiwis would tell me that this guy
took three guys to tackle him. I
thought 'Oh right, whatever.' But
I saw him play. And sure enough,
0 CZ2BlHnFl 0 l&Utf II&MD
it takes three guys to tackle him.
"The guy is worshipped there,"
said Brooks.
Lamau is evidently of Polynesian
blood, which is interesting because
Maori's are descendants of the ear
lier Moriori people. And who were
the Moriori? They the first human
settlers in New Zealand, another
seafaring branch of the
Polynesians, who discovered the is
lands little more than 1,000 years
ago.
While Maoris possess character
istics unique to their own corner of
Polynesia, like a language for ex
ample, they also share common at
tributes that all their cousins
have dark skin, flat noses and
what Brooks doesn't hesitate to
verify, enormity.
"Maoris are huge guys," he ex
plained. "If the NFL could tap the
South Pacific..."
Brooks had the good fortune to
attend the New Zealand Jr. Na
tional Weightlifting Champion
ships, which for all purposes was a
display of the insane Maori phy
sique. . "God, man, these guys were
warming up with 500 pounds," he
told me. "Have you ever seen 500
pounds of a bar? It bends, man."
Funny then, that Brooks would
enter the contest. Funnier, even,
that he would win the contest in his
own weight division, which was
roughly the 160-pound class - he
bench-pressed 287, for the record.
Are Kiwis so laid back that they'd
let a foreigner, much less a pakeha
(Maori word for whites) enter and
win their own Nationals? Evi
dently. "Well, I wouldn't fool anybody
with my accent," he said, later
showing me his championship cer
tificate. "But honestly, even if I'd
told them they probably wouldn't
have cared."
Even if they had, it would have
been one less reminder of his time
spent there. Brooks continued ex
ploring New Zealand on different
levels throughout the course of the
year, making friends and even to
wards the end indulging in some
unexpected trips to places like Aus
tralia, Thailand, Vietnam and Fiji.
Kiwis and Aussies are rumored to
involve themselves in a playful sort
of rivalry, one eerily similar to that
of Canadians and Americans.
Whether that colored his expecta
tions for Australia or not isn't clear.
1 ' y J
Mil
But either way Brooks found the
land down under to be sub-par com
pared with New Zealand.
"I'd have to check my calendar,"
he said. "But I spent either two or
three weeks in Australia. I checked
out all that major places Sydney,
Brisbane, Melbourne. I went to
Byron Bay for the blues festival,
which you should really check out
if you're down there.
"But overall, I tell people if you
have the chance to choose between
A-
m 5
1 f "
mi t"
going to Aus
tralia or go
ing to New
Zealand, go
to New
Zealand," he
added. "It's
cheaper
than Oz
(Australia).
Your dollar
will go a long
way."
Vietnam
was not a
place Brooks
originally
planned on
going to.
And in hind
sight not a
place he
would return
to. He be
came buddies
with a Vietnamese fellow while on
exchange and this same friend in
vited him to come, for one month.
Brooks accepted, stopping along the
way in that sauna of a city
Bangkok, Thailand for four days,
the majority of his time there spent
around the Khaosan Road area, a
place famous as a haven for trav
elers. Brooks's experience in Vietnam
was a sobering one. He was ap
palled by the poverty, it being the
first Third World country he'd ever
set foot in. Everywhere, he ex
plained, there were either the poor
or constant reminders of the war.
Agent Orange, he said, has made
deformities commonplace through
out the country. Demilitarized
zones have become tourist traps,
"V
V I
i
t-
ft
V j
v.
Another World New Zealand offered Tribal member Dustin Brooks a look
at another world when he got the opportunity to participate in a foreign exchange
program while finishing his studies at Oregon State University. Brooks said he got
to see things that opened his eyes like Maori dancers (above), rugby (the na
tional sport) and sightseeing like no other place on earth (see front cover).
virtually museums. Saigon and
North Vietnam were immensely un
friendly. And everywhere, around
each corner, somebody is trying to
con you, rob you, or swindle you.
"People are always trying to get
money off of you," he said. "Of
course if you get ripped off, you're
only out five bucks.
"I liked Vietnam," he said. "But
I'm definitely not going back."
The austerity of Vietnam would
provide an unlikely stepping stone
to the last leg of his journey, which
was to be a week in Fiji.
"Fiji was the icing on the cake,"
he said. "I took 50 paces the whole
week. I was always sitting in my
hammock."
They say once the travel bug
bites one is infected for life. Brooks
is ample proof of that. He gradu
ates with his Bachelors Degree in
Civil Engineering this spring. Af
ter that, it's Europe for a month,
to visit friends in Denmark.
"I'm a changed man," he said. "I
could get used to this travel thing."
Tribal member Steve Hudson has a new lease on life
Continued from front page
at music by accident.
"When I was eight years old, my
brother broke the neighbor boy's
guitar, so my dad bought him a new
guitar," explained Hudson. "The
old, broken guitar sat in my dad's
closet. So I would sneak it out and
play on it. The first song I ever
learned was Your Cheatin' Heart'
by Hank Williams," said Hudson.
"Six or seven months later, I en
tered a talent contest at the Eagles
club and won. After that my dad
took an interest in my music."
But before he could realize his
true potential, drugs and alcohol
took over.
"That was the sad part of my
career. . .drugs and booze seemed to
be a part of the whole music scene.
Unfortunately, I got into that in
stead of going into it for the art,"
said Hudson.
After decades of drugs and par
tying, Steve hit bottom in 1998, and
was forced to sell his treasured
Martin D-28 guitar to feed his ad
diction. "She was a beautiful guitar,"
muses Hudson. "A hand-made Lib
erty Bell with abstract stars on the
fret board. I sold her to buy my
speedball for the next few days. I
didn't have enough money to buy
my daughter a hamburger, but I
had a pocket full of dope."
The memory of that time in his
life causes tears to well up in Steve's
eyes. He pauses, clears his throat,
and continues:
"Then I got arrested in 1998. I
like to say I was rescued, not ar
rested," said Hudson. "After I got
to prison, I finally asked the Cre
ator to help me to devote my life to
music and to help others get out of
their misery. I especially want to
try to reach out to young people and
tell them there's no reason to go
through what I did to find some
thing to live for. That's why I talk
out at Chemewa (Indian School in
Keizer) and Nanitch Sahallie (the
Tribe's Drug Treatment Facility
also in Keizer) to try and tell people
they don't have to suffer like I did."
After doing his time and being
released clean and sober, Steve
found that the way he perceived the
world around him differed dramati
cally. "Everything was different when
I got out, like night and day," said
Hudson. "Playing music was dif
ferent. I learned to appre
ciate the music and I be
gan to listen to the lyrics.
And I'm a much better
person because of it."
When asked who his
main musical influences
are, Hudson said Lowell
George (the king of funky
swamp blues) John Prine
(old school Chicago blues
man) and Tom Petty (well
known American rocker).
Steve calls his music
"message music" because
the intent is to communi
cate with the audience his
loss, suffering and ulti
mately, his rebirth.
The show is called
"Thursday Night Blues"
and Hudson's duo is
called "Blues by Choice"
which pretty much de
scribes Steve's life.
"People choose to live in
the blues, it's a way of
life," said Hudson. "But
I'm happy playing the
blues." O
' K U "1
n, ' . , '
jt 43 mem. L , . K mi I
He's Smiling NOW -Tribal member Steve
Hudson (right) and Richard Day-Reynolds have a new
show at Spirit Mountain Casino's Summit View.
"Thursday Night Blues" will feature the Hudson;
Reynolds duo called "Blues By Choice" as well as
several other blues acts every Thursday from 7 p.m.
to 10 p.m. Hudson wants young people to know his
story and use it as an example of what not to do.
His courage in telling his story is inspiring.
x