Today is Cultural Day at the Adorables' primary school.
Kids were encouraged to dress like their country of origin, and at dropoff I saw Pacific princesses with beautiful floral skirts and head-dresses, little girls in Japanese kimonos and Chinese cheongsams, little boys in Indian sherwanis and elaborate, colorful outfits, one Scottish kilt and about 50 kids wearing All Blacks jerseys.
The Adorable Girl, one of three American kids in the school, made her own USA t-shirt and paired it with a Washington Nationals baseball cap. The boy was happy to just take some American candy to share with his class. (I think his country of origin is actually a flavor: sugar.)
The school, like the city of Auckland, is multicultural, with kids from all kinds of countries coming together to learn. In that way, it's a lot like the schools our kids attended in the Washington, D.C. area, where they were surrounded by kids from Russia and Ukraine, India and Pakistan, China and Vietnam, all sorts of Latin American countries and so many more.
I've always loved that about our kids' lives, that from a very young age they've befriended kids just like them who don't look a thing like them. That physical traits and language differences have never stood in the way of friendship. That they never saw one way of looking and acting as the best or only way.
Their lives have been filled with incredibly diverse characters, and I have to think that's a good thing -- for them, for the future. It's also got me thinking about what else our move to New Zealand has given our kids.
One thing I've noticed is a pride in their differences. The girl especially feels proud of her Made-in-America status. She's unique among her classmates, the way she talks, the ways she spells certain words, the experiences she's had. She likes that about herself and it's given her a confidence she didn't always have in the U.S.
For the boy, pride comes in a different form. He's proud of being "a Kiwi kid." He definitely sounds more like a Kiwi than the rest of us, using more of the slang and intonation. He doesn't wear shoes at school or to the market some days, and he loves the All Blacks hat his friend gave him for his birthday. Today, instead of dressing as an "American" at school, he chose to wear the color red to represent his "house" (Harry Potter fans should know what that means ;), Whero, which means red in the Maori language.
Both kids see our move abroad as an achievement for our family, a goal we set and accomplished -- and they take pride in that. We speak often about our gratitude for this opportunity, and we speak glowingly about the beautiful country of New Zealand that has granted it -- and they have picked up on those feelings, too. Though I hear complaints about missing Panera or Chipotle or Greenbean's house every now and then, I think they're generally very happy to be here.
In my view, our move abroad has given them many gifts they'll never be fully aware of or able to appreciate. The gift of time is one of those, as I'm home with them in the afternoons giving them space to relax, create and pretend that would have otherwise been spent in a structured after-school program.
The gift of community, as we've invested in our friends' lives in the same way they care about ours. It's not uncommon for us to have two or three extra kids in the house on any given day as a favor to a mom who has a dentist appointment or a late business meeting. And the first call I made when the girl got hurt was to my good friend, asking if she could watch a hysterical little brother while we took his sister to the hospital.
The gift of safety, of the kind of childhood a child deserves, free from school lockdowns and the threat of gun violence. This is a big one for me, one of the primary reasons I wanted to move out of the U.S. I hated the way our American schools had to be locked at all times, parents treated with suspicion if they visited the campus. I hated the fear and anxiety I felt sending my child to school, and I hated that she felt it too. We don't have that now. The school campus is open and happy and safe -- and we're so lucky to be able to give our children that.
The gift of outdoor adventure, the joy that comes from exploring a new place, hiking a steep mountain or swimming in the wild seas. The world is full of wonderful adventures, and our kids get to experience so many of them here.
So has moving abroad been a good thing for our kids? Undoubtedly. They are happy. They are safe. They are thriving. And whether they decide to stick to their American roots or become full-on Kiwis, they will be better off having lived life on the opposite side of the world.
