Join the New Zealand American Association?

Why?

This morning I was on the State Department website belatedly registering our family as living abroad, and it prompted me to try to figure out why when I put in my residence country as NZ, the dropdown box next to the country only had "Auckland" in it for "local embassy/consulate" when my local embassy is here in Wellington.  In any case, I was therefore looking around on the U.S. Embassy Website for New Zealand, and I discovered links to some local organizations, including the American Women's Club (apparently defunct), the Wellington branch of the American Chamber of Commerce in New Zealand (not my peeps for sure), and the New Zealand American Association.  On first glance, I took this third organization to be aimed at providing socializing opportunities for single Americans in Wellington, or perhaps to be set up to help those pining for good old American holidays to properly celebrate Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July.  But on second glance I noticed photos of a lot of older people (men mostly) and saw that they give grants and scholarships to young Kiwis to study or pursue career goals in the U.S., which doesn't sound like it would be something a group primarily aimed at after-work drinking and socializing would do.  So then I notice that they have a "Ladies Auxiliary" which has "Coffee Mornings" on a monthly basis. What?  Are "ladies" only auxiliary Americans?  I suppose there have been more American men working here in Wellington than women, what with the head of gov't here and things like U.S. State Department jobs traditionally being held more by men (even now the State Department gives its stats as 60% male/40% female, and that includes all 25,000 employees), but come on.  The goal of the New Zealand American Association is to promote "mutual understanding and goodwill between the United States and New Zealand."  Can women only be auxiliary to that?  I am tempted to attend one of their coffees just to grill them on this organizational structure.  Then again . . . .

I did find, while on the U.S. Embassy website for NZ (and Samoa), that the American Ambassador does maintain an interesting and informative blog. Apparently he just returned from a trip to Antarctica where he visited McMurdo and Scott Base over a couple of days, and he had to leave quickly in order not to get marooned there for several extra days by a big storm that was heading that way.  I wonder if he writes his own posts, as a "lesser ambassador" to a smaller country, or if he has a media person that gets that job.  I'd sign up if it meant I could fly to Antarctica every once in a while . . . .