These Days

So, I brought Teri to the airport and she flew flew flew away home on Monday.  And now I am staying with Henry and Marion, a 70-something couple who live in Thames, New Zealand.  They are pretty much the nicest people that I have ever met.  I promised Henry that I would help him all day today with whatever chores he needed done, and so later we are going to build some pallets and I get to use a nail gun!  Marion really likes to make sure her guests are comfortable and so she's always asking me tons of questions, like, "Would you like Pork Steak or Beef Steak?" and I don't know what to say!  What if Beef Steak is twice the price of Pork, or what if Pork is Henry's favorite?  What if I choose wrong?  I can't live with that kind of pressure and so I say, "Oh, I don't know Marion, anything is good for me, whatever is fine, you choose."  In New Zealand there is a phrase for this type of attitude and it is, "Please yourself."  Which I don't like saying.  Because it sounds too much like "Suit yourself."  Which kind of means, 'Your decision is the wrong one and we both know it but go ahead because you're too stubborn to listen to me.'  But people say "Please yourself" to mean, 'hey, do what makes you most happy, I'm proud of you.'  Or something like that.

Anyway, Henry built this house in the 60s and it's really cool.  It's situated at the top of a humongous valley and there are zillions of windows so you can see the whole valley from the dining room, the living room, and all the bedrooms.  He purposely put all the bedrooms along the valley so that they would all have sun.

Henry loves The Far Side.  Marion makes me eat breakfast and make solid decisions about my next phase of travel, which is the South Island of New Zealand.  She drives me to the post office and the information center and we collect millions of tourist books and we go through them and try to figure out the cheapest way to get to Christchurch.  I think I might really miss it here.