That’s us and a few hundred fellow travelers in the big auditorium at Westlake Girls High School.

While many in our Facebook feed posted their proud participation in a No Kings rally this weekend, we were preparing to pledge allegiance to an actual king.

After a few opening remarks, we were welcomed by some of the members of the school’s kapa haka (Māori traditional song and dance) troupe. It’s a Māori tradition to have welcoming ceremonies for just about any occasion, and this was a nice one. Here’s a snippet of their school haka… a ritual challenge put to guests in any number of contexts. It happens before every big gathering and especially before a sports event. I always interpret it as “you’re welcome here, but don’t fuck with us”.

And here’s the other side of a traditional welcome, some lovely singing.

Then a few more (pleasantly short and upbeat) speeches. There were multiple mentions of “rights and responsibilities”, and the challenge of the haka resonated with me as I heard that … going back to pre-European times and right through to today: you’re welcome here, but don’t fuck with us. Especially now that you’re part of the family.

Next we all took the oath / affirmation, administered in English or Te Reo Māori. Ok, Charles III, we’re on your team now, keep up the good work, steady as she goes please.

And then, just like in graduation ceremonies everywhere, we lined up in order and filed across the stage to receive our certificates of citizenship.

That part took about 45 minutes, which is a long time to keep up the applause. But it was pretty upbeat anyway and it’s always fun to hear your name called out. The presenters seemed very smooth at pronouncing some pretty diverse names.

Candidates were encouraged to wear their national dress. We went with a bit of red white and blue (works for both countries). The Filipinos did the best, especially the ladies in their big-shouldered blouses. There were also a few gorgeous saris, one lady in a full burqa (I don’t think I’ve ever seen one in person here), and a Brazilian family in shorts and soccer jerseys.

At the end, they gave us one more chance to clap as they called out each of the 59 (!!) countries of origin represented. The biggest contingents were from England, China, South Africa, the Philippines, India, and possibly Brazil (or were the Brazilians just better at cheering??). Israel and Iran are alphabetically next to each other. Pakistan and India were there. The US and the Russian Federation. All of us keeping it celebratory as we imagined a new voluntary unity down here on our island at the bottom of the world.

In another example of just what a small country it is, we each knew someone else in going through the process but didn’t have any idea we’d be seeing them there. That was great… maybe we really are part of the family of 5.5 million.

Our next step is to apply for passports…. although our next trip flies via the US so we’ll use the American ones there.

There’s a lot of feelings right now about the meaning and importance of citizenship, and particularly USA citizenship. As the MC said last night, this was a choice we were making voluntarily, as opposed to it being something that just happened at birth. Yes, ma’am that’s right. We choose this. We aren’t renouncing the US, or our ties to it. But we do live here now quite proudly, and we already felt a great sense of belonging and comfort. Taking this step seems like the right thing to do… so we did.

Yay!! 🇳🇿🥝🏉