Kiwi National Dress

Today was one of the 'big' days on the ISKL calendar - International Day! I know that good old Rangi had international days when I was in high school, but it really doesn't compare. At ISKL we have 54 nationalities of children ranging from Angola to Zimbabwe with pretty much everything in between (Kazakhstan and Qatar anyone?). The vast majority of students dress up in their national dress for the day, and even the most annoying child looks like an angel. The range of hanbok, traditional Colombian dress and elegant Thai outfits is just stunning. However it always leaves me a little baffled - what exactly is New Zealand national dress?

Whilst I would love to have a pui-pui, and other traditional Maori trappings, I don't. I also have that little thought that it isn't really my cultural dress. So what do I do? The last couple of years I have warn my All Blacks jersey. It is definitely recognisable to most as belonging to New Zealand, but it makes me wonder about the depth of our 'kiwi' culture - is it really just rugby and beer. Partly because of this, and mainly because an AB jersey designed to wear to a night game at Eden Park in the middle of an Auckland winter is damn hot on a sunny Malaysian day in March (we hit 39 today!), I decided to do something a little different this year. I looked through my wardrobe, and those of you who know me well know that this is hardly limited, and was stumped. I have several NZ/Aotearoa t-shirts - koru designs and cute outlines of NZ all over, but once again not exactly national dress. In the end I decided to go for something truly iconic - the classic black singlet and jandals, topped off with my koru pounamu to add a bit of Maori culture. All day I have been asked if I was off to the gym/beach, but truth be known, I felt kiwi. Admitably as I stood next to students and colleagues in glamorous saris, kimonos and kilts I did feel like a bit of a scruff. But then perhaps that is the essence of Kiwi culture - we don't really care what other people think, we are comfortable being us bare feet, black singlets, board shorts and all.

So tomorrow I am off to celebrate all things Kiwi again, it is International Fest. I am running the NZ booth, tattooing (moko) small children and teaching them how to make poi and say Kia Ora. Perhaps we have some culture after all. At least I don't have to spend the day teaching line dancing like my American colleagues!