:)

I was once at a Rich Lister's house (job related) and had to stand there while a RL's wife drank champagne and complained long and loudly about beneficiaries who 'just take and take and take, they take everything'. My plitely uncomprehending (but career limiting) move was to ask 'So what did they take? ... Because it looks to me like it's all still here".

Yup, the past is another country, especially if your past was IN another country, (or in the more obvious passages of Eng Lit 101). It's always been oddly comforting to me to think that we leave a small piece of ourselves in every place we live. But don't we also take a little something extra back with us when we go?

As a returned New Zealander I am especially delighted that we are receiving home some of our smartest, funniest and most analytical 'diasporees' (that's you Jolisa) because you don't have to be blind to the faults of your homeland to love it.