Although it has only been two months, I have a growing list of things I miss from home. Yes, I love living here in Germany and I am happy to be here for the next three or so years. Please don't misunderstand, I am grateful for this opportunity and I understand what a blessing it is for two travel loving people to be able to live in Europe. We are going to take full advantage of this opportunity, of that you can be sure.
Nonetheless, there are many differences, many adjustments, that make me ache for home. So here it is:
The Top Eleven Reasons Why I Miss the USA
(Why 11 & not 10?... Why not?)
11. Lower prices, i.e. Walmart & the Dollar Tree.
10. Pandora, although I've recently been introduced to GrooveShark and I am in love!
9. Instant viewing on Netflix....sigh....
8. Air conditioning.
7. The convenience of everything (Stores are open late & on weekends, fast food (because yes, sometimes I need food fast))
6. The variety of everything. Here we have 1-3 choices of brands and that's it. Love it or leave it.
5. The ease of shopping & obtaining goods. It's nearly impossible to find anything here.
4. Customer service (Yes, I know it can suck back home too, but seriously, try it out over here)
3. Fast internet. Ugh!
2. Friendly, open, forthcoming people. Not that the people aren't friendly here, but I'm from the South where people are usually friendly with a capital F. The fact that I have to drag details out of people frustrates me to no end. Probably this is because I'm a talker & I tend to divulge way more than you ever wanted to know. Life is in the details right?
And......
1. My family, friends and the familiarity.
3 comments:
I lived overseas in Asia for three years and at it was hard to get many Western items and at times I would be frustrated that I couldn't get a certain brand or that there wasn't more choice. When I moved back to the US, I was overwhelmed by the choices! I actually cried in the grocery store once cause I couldn't decide what brand of peanut butter to buy. I prefer to shop at the commissary because there aren't as many choices:) Too many options can still make me crazy, even after being back in the States for 5 years!
I agree with everything on your list. As someone who hates to love the Walmart, there are days where I just REALLY need to buy a pack of underwear and a watermelon at the same time.
And air conditioning. I never thought I'd actually miss freezing my bum off in a movie theater.
I lived in New Zealand a few years ago and missed many of the same things on your list. I would watch crappy American reality shows just to hear "American" English spoken! It was such a good experience though and it really made me appreciate how good we have it back home. Although I too was overwhelmed by all the commercialism and choices we have. I felt like Borat looking at all the cheese in the grocery store! :-)
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