Day 4 – Walking and Legos

               When Liam first seriously considered coming to New Zealand with me, he had two very important questions he needed to have answered first.  “Are there toy stores there?”, and “Do they have Legos?”  A quick internet search revealed an affirmative answer to both questions, and he was satisfied.

               Legos continue to be an important subject of conversation here in NZ.  We have a ton of Legos in our room already.  Clemency’s boys let Liam borrow their entire collection, so our living space is packed.  Nevertheless, Liam has been carefully saving his money for months so that he’d have it here to buy something (namely, Legos). 

               Yesterday we took the bus again, headed back to the mall that we know, with the intention of shopping at K-mart (yes, it turns out there are K-marts in NZ) for Legos.  We actually found two shops!  K-mart sells Legos, and so does Farmer’s, a sort of JC Penny – like store.  Farmer’s had a Lego sale on, which was fortunate, as they are expensive here – roughly double the price that they are back in the states!  Actually, most everything is expensive here.  A 0.5L bottle of Coke in the gas station costs $3.50.  I have Coke-less for days.

               A discount was just what we needed, and Liam bought a Lego boat that really floats!  We raced home, he built it, and took it with him in the bath.  We’ll post pictures of the boat tomorrow.

Lots of Walking

               We walk a lot here – a necessary thing, I suppose, since we have no car.  Just getting Liam to school and back each day has me talking 4.4 km.  Add to that walking to teach my classes (usually in far away buildings), walking to the library, and to and from bus stops, and it adds up quickly.  Just today  Liam and I walked almost 2 km back from the bus stop to our room, plus walking around the mall while shopping!  I estimate I’m walking about 5 miles per day.  Together with the many stairs that seem to be in my life now (my office is on the seventh floor of the building, and everything else I need in the building is not), I suspect I may actually lose a few of the extra pounds I’ve put on lately!

How about a picture?

               I have no cute photos of Liam today (sorry!).  Instead I offer the view out of my seventh-story 

office window.  Given I've never before had a window, this is quite a step up!