YES! Please DO share with us (other Americans) what you've learned that put you off. I can really appreciate an American perspective on this matter! Regardless, we are moving in September to Christchurch because my husband is accepting a tenured position in the university there. We would have sooner chosen another place in the US to move to IF he had another job offer! That's not to say we are dreading the move...most other places in the world are worse! We have chosen to accept it as a challenge and I know we will have to learn to live without many of the things that is typical of an American lifestyle. I am ready to share just one car, take public transport, live in a smaller home not heated to American standards, eat out much less, go shopping much less.....