What's It Like Living In New Zealand (the short random version)

It is irritating to read that my last post was September 7, 2011.  Getting some more writing done is the main thing I regret not having done since we've been here.  I am SURE that is all going to change this week.  Sure, sure, sure.
Meanwhile, and if it doesn't, here at least are some thoughts I had about New Zealand in response to questions that were asked of an American friend of mine here by an American contemplating moving to NZ.  You can get a sense of what the questions were from my answers. 

It's more expensive

You need your own healthcare

It's way more sane politically, but New Zealand is not immune from the turn to the right that much of the world seems to be taking.  It is just not as crazy as in the U.S.  However, the policies of the National Government are in many ways similar.  There is a belief in the accumulation of wealth (for the few) and a belief that previous governments spent too much on the welfare state (which is not entirely untrue).  There is an enormous divide here between the haves and the have-nots.  Ultimately, there is no escaping the havoc that the U.S. is wreaking on the rest of the world.  It is all too connected now. 

It's incredibly frustrating not having the consumer choices you have in a big country, but it's not that big a deal

Of course people should save for retirement (duh)

Primary education is better here than in the U.S. /secondary education not so much

People here tend to have both a wider and a narrower world view in my opinion

It is really hard to leave your friends and family.  Her husband must know about that though, on his end. 

People are definitely friendly and easy-going.  There is something really appealing, too, about the sort of "frontier-y" Kiwi mentality that persists in the people and in much of the country. 

We have loved living here these past 2 years and even with the things that bug us, like the lack of organic food, or the high price of books, those are small things.  It's a great place, and if it weren't so far from our friends and family, we'd like to stay.  But it is, so we're going home.

Oh, but there's one thing we HATE HATE HATE!!!!!  In the movie theatres, you have to stand in the same line to buy tickets as to buy concessions.  This is not a problem in small movie theatres, but it is incredibly annoying in multiplexes.  If you live in New Zealand, you will have to learn to go early to movies and to stand in stupid, slow-moving lines there.  Buying your tickets online will often not help because you will have to stand in the same stupid line to pick up your ticket.  But at least movie theatres mostly use assigned seating for crowded shows.  So there you have it -- the worst New Zealand has to offer!  

I need to write something more about the whole wider/narrower world view thing.  That can be next.