Kiwi As

Here's something interesting about New Zealand: Shoes are optional. Not just optional in summer, when it's warm, and the weather is nice, and you are not at work or school or in the mall. I mean optional. As in, you can go shoeless in any situation, and it is 100% socially acceptable. Cold, rainy days, you'll see kids at recess playing soccer or walking home from school with no shoes (or adults walking down the main street to have a coffee at the cafe with no shoes...). You're in the bank getting cash from the ATM, and the guy in line behind you has no shoes. People go to the grocery store with no shoes. I was at a cultural training at work for an entire day and at least 3 women took their shoes off and spent the day shoeless. Patrick said one kid at the school he volunteers at had only socks one day and when he asked why he told Patrick that he had worn non-uniform-regulation shoes, so they made him take them off. Because, clearly, shoeless is much more appropriate. This photo was taken when we saw the paragliders at Te Mata Peak. This guy was running around, adjusting their shoots, holding them up, going through this fence into the brush and back...all without shoes. And I had a jacket and a scarf on. (New Zealanders also have no perception of cold.) If they are not going completely barefoot, you will find a majority of them sporting their gumboots or jandals. Click here for a site that features more Kiwiana. (You will note gumboots and jandals each have their own category. Kiwi as.)