What I miss…who knew?

It’s funny how you think you are going to miss things and then in the moments you realize how off your estimation really was. This morning I woke up thinking of pumpkin pie and blueberry Pop Tarts. Who knew?

Aside from missing the people I love, which seems to have escalated since all my school friends flew home, I miss some of the strangest little things.

I miss the food. There is little diversity here and once you’ve had pasta for just about every meal for months you just want a damn California Roll! A little sushi place just opened up and I’m saving the experience for when I am really homesick. Good think I ate my weight in sushi at Goshi’s before I left.

I miss listening to my car radio and singing out loud. The music here is funny in a good way and there are American language stations but some of the songs I haven’t heard since the early 80’s. It’s good to clean house by but I feel like I am very much out of the loop now.

I miss my stuff. I know it’s not very Buddhist like of me but I do. I miss my comforter, and my movies. Thank god for Chris or I would have lost my mind by now. I realized that in order for me to “produce” I need something running the background and it was usually a movie. Who knew? I can study and do notes so much more efficiently when I have a little background noise going on. I think it might occupy a part of my brain that holds imagination and then I can get the other parts to work without interruption. Whatever it is if it wasn’t for Chris keeping me in movies I don’t think I would have gotten the grades I did. (The final grades aren’t out yet but I think I did okay.)

I miss internet and my cell phone. Enough said there…

The things I don’t miss are just a numerous. I don’t miss driving. I had a feeling that it was entirely overrated and it is. I actually like walking around even though on cold days like we have been having I do feel like a bundled up baby and is sweating under all the layers, but it’s still good.

I don’t miss getting bills in the mail. I had them all forwarded to my Mom’s house which is really genius in a way. They aren’t getting paid but I don’t have to look at them either!

I don’t miss the big grocery stores. The food shopping here is like an Olympic event that everyone comes away with a gold medal. The sights and smells are just gorgeous even if pasta does get old, the cheese never does.

I don’t miss TV, since I consider HBO separately which I do miss, but the standard TV not so much. Since I was never an avid news program watcher that seems to have slid under my radar.

I do miss salad dressing a little. Some blue cheese or ranch would be nice right about now. I have one of my school friends bringing me back a packet of ranch dressing mix. I know…that is bad huh!

I know that this experience will change even the very small details of me, and how I live which might be scary if I were the type to think about it. But since I’m not and I’m more involved in the how-to every day it is just happening on it’s own. So many things will be new again when I get back to the states.

I wonder if my friends will recognize me, because some days I don’t recognize myself.