I love new zealand

I love our little country. Totally. The reason why I am making this comment is because this blog: http://bettysblog.blogspot.com/ has had me stewing . I kn ow I shouldnt read it. i know I shouldnt care. I know that the hatred she has shows in this blog portrays her to the general public in such a way that all sentiments towards her would seem anti American. But still.
Thankfully I know a lot of terrific Americans who absolutely do not agree and loathe what she is saying. They LOVE it here. They LOVE us They love that there isnt Walmart, big highways, big roads, zillions of people and God (and I say this as a spiritual faith believing person) isnt pushed down our throats so that words like HELLS pizza arnt scorned, that tv advertising isnt PC. 
There is a lot I like about America, Americana, the quilts, the over the top behaviour (sometimes) Green Day.. And if I lived there I certainly wouldnt spend time writing about all that I percieved was different and therefore wrong. yes we are Nz, we are not America, we DO have a different culture that we will not change. We DONT want to be a mini America. Just as other countries dont want to be a mini somewhere else.
So with my mini rave, and signing off forever from the above blog I shall list some of the things I adore:

The countryside the beauty
The small roads, the dusty antiquidated, bumpy windy un processed roads.
The way we can be free. We can be free to hang washing outside, no matter where we live in NZ.
I love that I can go to hospital anytime and not be sent away due to lack of money. That i will get top treatment, no bills and free care. I dont get off in slamming the free hospital system here, and I have had to rush off there with myself, my hubby, my brother my aging Mother, my (late) father  and my precious children many many times.
I love our old fashioned backward ways (as seen by other countries..big ones mainly)
I love that we have hardly any one living here...long may it last.
I love that we are so isolated..but then I love isolation. I will retire when the girls are independant adults to the far North (Kawa kawa) under the kaweka mountains or the Chatham Islands..
I Love that wherever we live  it can be only hours to the snowy beautiful mountains or to the long golden beaches, or half an hour or less in our case!
I love that we have our own accents, our own grammatically incorrect language (not my words but that from another blog..) with our own sayings and our own way of saying things..now so often misted with Maori language.
I love that my children can trace their whakapapa back beyond 1000 years and that their ancestors were navigators long before any other and that that strong leadership trait is still in them and my GHIU today. I now proudly call myself Nga Puhi. I love too those ancestors of mine who jumped ship to get here, who arrived with nothing and made their lives here amidst hardship and poverty along with other pioneers and that that spirit of can do get along with anybody exists today.
We have social welfare for all those who need it and YES it is totally used wrongly in some instances but everyone has the opportunity to receive help when down on hard times. And despite that some people absolutely rip it off I AM GLAD IT IS HERE.
I have lived in other countries and have enjoyed what they have to offer but I always return here, it is my home I LOVE IT.
And I apologise to any Americans who read this and think What the??? As I said I know so many wonderful Americans Infact all of the ones I know are great, but sometime when your stewing you just have to let it out!!
Cheerfully yours and so glad to never again read the blog in question again
Cherr