Exactly 3 weeks from now, I will be in Detroit. I will probably be wide awake due to the time change and excitement. At that point, I will be on my 108th day away from life as I am used to it. While I have enjoyed my time here, there are comforts from America that just can't be replaced.
1. Food
Everyone misses the food they are used to, especially if it's something they can't get outside of the country. In my case, I miss so many things. I realize that a few items on my list, such as Arabic food in general, ice cream, and seafood, I can get in many places. But I'm specific about what I want. I want Arabic food prepared by Parker's mother. I don't just want seafood, I want a crab boil, and not even Haagen-Dazs can compare to my love of a Braum's banana split.
As for the items not on my list... Ranch dressing, barbecue sauce, barbecue in general, a GOOD hamburger, meat cooked well in general.... sweet potatoes... I can't wait to go home and just pig out. Maybe then I won't look like death.
2. "Normal" Household
I know that the definition of normal widely varies from person to person. You may be used to something I am not, and vice-versa, but I am just ready to be inside an American home again.
For starters, I would actually like to be inside a house. I know I would feel differently if I lived in different places, but this lack of homes just feels so wrong. I don't like hearing everything that goes on in the apartment next door/above/below. I don't want to deal with these poorly insulated walls. I would like a house, please. Not only that, but I would like some of the things I am used to about a house. Like a real shower. One that doesn't require you to only use the handheld thing. I really think I'm going to take a bath when I get back to the states, something I don't know if some people here have ever done. I would also appreciate a toilet that doesn't smell like a porta potty.
That brings me to my next point. I would actually like to see cleaning supplies. From what I've noticed these past few months, the mentality here is "if it looks clean, it must be clean" or "eh, I'm not cleaning it." While my desk may look like a tornado took over thanks to notebooks and papers being spread all over it, I am willing to be you, it is the cleanest surface in this apartment. Once a week, I clear everything off, wipe down the table cloth, and put everything back. The other surfaces... let's just say I sat down to take off my shoes and dust came up from the stool. I really think the only two things that get cleaned (really and truly cleaned) in this apartment are the entry and the kitchen counter. I am not the most likely to be motivated enough to clean something, but after three months, you would have thought something would have been attacked.
3. Driving and Feeling Safe About It
I know that the first time I get behind the wheel of a car will probably to drive around the block, but even if I have to go on the interstate after four months without driving, I will feel more comfortable than I do crossing the street here. Drivers here have NO idea what they are doing. I can't wait to go back to America and, while not everyone follows every driving law out there, the police actually enforce them. The only time I have heard a police siren while I have been here has been in this week, and that's only because of the increasing tourism for the holidays.
4. Music
The music being played here is either really crappy Russian pop, crappy European pop, or Western pop that the US has either rejected or been sick of a while back. And, while I'm sure they are perfectly happy with it, I am sick of the pop. I want something heavy. In the words of Becoming the Archetype, "Make it sound nasty." I actually got to ask a guy where he got his metal, and he only confirmed my findings. They get it from streaming radio from England or, if they are lucky, the US.
::sigh:: I will be happy to be home.
In other new, I finally was able to eat the one food I had been banned from. Cucumbers. It was glorious. After all, it isn't cucumbers that make me sick. It is Russian "cottage cheese" called Tvorog.
Ok. I need to get back to my papers.
1. Food
Everyone misses the food they are used to, especially if it's something they can't get outside of the country. In my case, I miss so many things. I realize that a few items on my list, such as Arabic food in general, ice cream, and seafood, I can get in many places. But I'm specific about what I want. I want Arabic food prepared by Parker's mother. I don't just want seafood, I want a crab boil, and not even Haagen-Dazs can compare to my love of a Braum's banana split.
As for the items not on my list... Ranch dressing, barbecue sauce, barbecue in general, a GOOD hamburger, meat cooked well in general.... sweet potatoes... I can't wait to go home and just pig out. Maybe then I won't look like death.
2. "Normal" Household
I know that the definition of normal widely varies from person to person. You may be used to something I am not, and vice-versa, but I am just ready to be inside an American home again.
For starters, I would actually like to be inside a house. I know I would feel differently if I lived in different places, but this lack of homes just feels so wrong. I don't like hearing everything that goes on in the apartment next door/above/below. I don't want to deal with these poorly insulated walls. I would like a house, please. Not only that, but I would like some of the things I am used to about a house. Like a real shower. One that doesn't require you to only use the handheld thing. I really think I'm going to take a bath when I get back to the states, something I don't know if some people here have ever done. I would also appreciate a toilet that doesn't smell like a porta potty.
That brings me to my next point. I would actually like to see cleaning supplies. From what I've noticed these past few months, the mentality here is "if it looks clean, it must be clean" or "eh, I'm not cleaning it." While my desk may look like a tornado took over thanks to notebooks and papers being spread all over it, I am willing to be you, it is the cleanest surface in this apartment. Once a week, I clear everything off, wipe down the table cloth, and put everything back. The other surfaces... let's just say I sat down to take off my shoes and dust came up from the stool. I really think the only two things that get cleaned (really and truly cleaned) in this apartment are the entry and the kitchen counter. I am not the most likely to be motivated enough to clean something, but after three months, you would have thought something would have been attacked.
3. Driving and Feeling Safe About It
I know that the first time I get behind the wheel of a car will probably to drive around the block, but even if I have to go on the interstate after four months without driving, I will feel more comfortable than I do crossing the street here. Drivers here have NO idea what they are doing. I can't wait to go back to America and, while not everyone follows every driving law out there, the police actually enforce them. The only time I have heard a police siren while I have been here has been in this week, and that's only because of the increasing tourism for the holidays.
4. Music
The music being played here is either really crappy Russian pop, crappy European pop, or Western pop that the US has either rejected or been sick of a while back. And, while I'm sure they are perfectly happy with it, I am sick of the pop. I want something heavy. In the words of Becoming the Archetype, "Make it sound nasty." I actually got to ask a guy where he got his metal, and he only confirmed my findings. They get it from streaming radio from England or, if they are lucky, the US.
::sigh:: I will be happy to be home.
In other new, I finally was able to eat the one food I had been banned from. Cucumbers. It was glorious. After all, it isn't cucumbers that make me sick. It is Russian "cottage cheese" called Tvorog.
Ok. I need to get back to my papers.
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