Positive Thinking

I feel like we've been focused a bit more lately on a few of the more annoying aspects of New Zealand (cold, lack of insulation, bland food, bad driving, difficulty in getting answers) and the things that we miss from home (family, friends, black beans, vegetarian foods, efficiency, our cat, central heating...). True, we are excited to head home in just a few months (we finally purchased our tickets, so we're really coming--in early March) but there are some wonderful bits about the land of the long white cloud that I know already I'll miss enormously. Here are some of those things:

-morning and evening bird serenades
-National Radio bird sounds and impressions
-ridiculous breaking news stories in a country far removed from anything resembling terrorism
-ease of finding Janet Frame books
-Grahame Sydney's paintings of central Otago
-gorgeous mountain, ocean, and paddock scenes
-amazing sunsets
-phenomenal clouds
-Fiordland
-lonely bush treks
-the stars and Milky Way on a clear night
-everyone from Southland Community College
-few and far between people
-DOC huts
-the accent
-ginger beer
-trim flat whites
-sunshine in Wanaka
-City Sanctuary B and B
-tea breaks
-Christchurch Arts Centre
-Queens Park
-singing in my choir
-EFTPOS
-pumpkin
-golden kiwifruit
-cabbage trees
-Thomsons Bush and Waihopai Canal
-pounami
-Maori words and culture
-British tv
-NZ sauvignon blancs and pinot noirs of central Otago
-cozy pubs
-Emerson's
-Nadja!
-flax
-the national anthem
-merino