The Accident Compensation Corporation

The Accident Compensation Corporation provides comprehensive, no-fault personal injury cover for all New Zealand residents and visitors to New Zealand. This means that almost all injuries are paid for. Apparently, until recently, if you were a robber breaking into someone's house and you got injured in the process, that injury would be covered as well. The flip side is that you are not allowed to sue for injuries covered by ACC.

For the most part I love that kiwis don't sue much. But I have noticed that certain things are not maintained as well as they should be. Notice the wire sticking out at eye-height from the cabin on the playground at Lazlo's school. I found this right after Liska cut her hand on a rusty nail sticking out of a climbing structure. Both were fixed after two phone calls to the school and a letter to the principal...

Liska's 4th Birthday

Liska had her 4th birthday on October 14th. It started out with waffles with whipped cream, followed by playing at Kowhai Park and a picnic lunch, watching Lazlo's first touch rugby game and dinner at Burger King (birthday girl's request, she has been eying the colorful Burger King play structure since we moved here). It ended with a princess castle cake and opening gifts. I surprised myself by falling apart- she isn't a baby any more. Once again, the grandparents, aunts, uncles and even great-aunts and great-uncles were wonderful- sending gifts, cards, getting the date right for the birthday phone call. Thank you!

Spring Break

I was planning lots of outdoor adventures for spring break, but it rained and was cold for almost the entire two weeks. Both kids got sick, though, so they were mostly content to stay at home. We read a lot, played hide and seek inside, played castle and legos, planted seeds for the garden, made these strange little waldorf-type yarn dolls, baked bread and went puddle jumping. On one of the clear days we went to the beach and watched people catching whitebaits. Whitebaits are tiny baby fish that are eaten whole. They are considered a delicacy in New Zealand and can only be caught for a short time each year.