Musings...

I am including some interesting and random tidbits that don't really deserve an entire posting on their own:

• When I tell Kiwis I'm from Boston, one of the first things most respond with is about the TV show Boston Legal...I had no idea that show was still on, let alone so popular! (I have actually started watching it here, and it is quite good)
• The country pitches itself to the rest of the world as being an attractive place to come live and visit basically because its like England 30 years ago...while that is pretty much true, its a rather interesting way to market your country
• The lack of corporate competition really does hurt consumers...not just financially, but I think it makes the quality and customer service suffer
• I love that lives here revolve around pursuing hobbies and genuinely pursuing happiness instead of money and fame and fortune
• There is one limo in Wellington, and its really old, it's rather nice to not have such excessive displays of wealth like NYC, and you really do get a sense that Kiwis have a sense of obligation to help each other out in terms of welfare support...but the taxes are pretty horrendous, and their council budget is not something to be proud of
  
• You cannot really appreciate economies of scale until living here (cell phones, internet access, electricity...all much more of a hassle here)
  
• There is an enormous amount of pride in the country, but at the same time a humbleness that is sometimes a detriment...New Zealand is losing thousands of desperately needed talent to Australia, something that they recognize and are trying to fix with extremely generous hiring schemes...but I'm not sure that's what's needed, I'm still trying to figure out what would work
• The national obsession with the All Blacks is more intense than Red Sox nation, but the recent loss to France in the quarter-finals of the Rugby World Cup is going to have very interesting repercussions for how this team is glorified in the future (already a number of the commercials featuring the All Blacks in the world cup have been pulled)
• Speaking of the All Blacks...there is more pride in the All Blacks than in the country...for example the All Blacks flag is more commonly found around here than their own flag.
  

The more I travel, the more people I meet that tell me stories of places they have seen, and that only makes my list of places to see longer. I have developed an extremely expensive addiction to traveling, but I find it so rewarding...the amount that I learn from the people and what I see almost always exceeds my expectations.