Some days I just get a little nostalgic and start daydreaming about things from the US. Recently, a client sent me a package that was wrapped in a bunch of circulars from his Sunday newspaper, and it triggered a whole storm of nostalgia. Brands that I love, prices I recognize, just silly little memories inside a wad of crumpled paper.
Things I miss from the US:
Cheap, unlimited broadband
Heinz 57 Sauce
Being able to choose from 40 brands at the supermarket
Those stupid desserts-in-a-box from Betty Crocker (I think).
Burger King
People who sound like me
Being able to complain about something without silently thinking “Back in America…”
Perdue Chickens
Houses without walls
The NFL
Of course, there are other, more significant things that I miss, but those are just a few of the little things that make me miss home every once in a while. This was made obvious by my stupid overjoyous reaction to finding Willy Wonka candy at the store the other day. I just had to buy some, even though I never ate it as an adult when I had unlimited access to it back home.
If you left your country for another, what little things that you associate with your country would you miss?
ETA: By houses without walls, I mean around the perimeter of the yard, not the structural, “keep the weather and bugs out” type walls.
bagels
used book stores
burritos
avocados being readily available and not costing a fortune
modern heating
insulation
Herdez salsa
cheddar cheese
artisan breads
grass
green trees
decent sushi bars
yum cha (aka dim sum)
houses without walls (yeah, it drives me nuts too! Oh, for a house with a normal front garden!)
real book stores!
Turkish pide
Free refils for coffee
Muffins
… basically any other “diner” food - hash browns, hotcakes, you name it.
Sandwiches with humungous amounts of meat
Gigantic bookstores
Cheap DVDs
Subways (the public transport, not the restaurants)
Snow
Now that I think of it, mostly I miss Manhattan. Oh well.
It means a house with a fence (or nothing) around the outer property boundary, rather than a huge 7-foot high concrete/brick wall, designed (at least in this corner of the world) to stop prying eyes from looking at the delicate flowers of women who can only release their burnished tresses from their head-scarves in the privacy of the zenana!
I would never volunta rily leave England, never in a million years.
However if such a move became unavoidable the things I would miss are:
Soccer, in particular my own beloved Manchester City
Fish 'n Chips
British TV
The softness of English rain
A beautiful summers dawn when all is quiet, mist drifting across the meadows
The sound of church bells from a distance
…other things to numerous to list
Hot water,
Not having to worry about malaria
Slurpees (they have them in Singapore, though)
Shoes large enough to fit my feet
Autumn and winter
Driving
My dog
My stuff (most of it in storage)
Broadband
ETA no BK here, but that’s okay and
Salsa
Mexican food
cocktails
be able to legally consume wine and beer
Doctors I feel I can trust (e.g., those not in the habit of prescribing a bunch of unnecessary antibiotics, because their other patients would be disappointed if they didn’t go home with a bagful of medicine for the common cold)
Dentists I have no complaint, I’m catching up on 10 years’ worth of dental work now that I’m back in Taiwan. US dental coverage sucks, even assuming you can get it.
I can understand that conditions might not be the same in SE Asia, though.
Marmite
Public libraries
Used book stores (English language)
Health care (i.e. doctors that say ‘you have a virus’ rather than ‘you sat in a draft, that’s why you’re sick’)
Marmalade
Pork pies
OTOH, when in the UK I miss:
Pickled garlic
The fact that every car on the street is a potential taxi
Book stores (Russian language)
Georgian food - all those walnuts and aubergines and spices
Things I miss:
Dentists that don’t suck or take 6 months to get an appointment
Nurses (especially those who take blood) who are actually skilled and don’t leave you with bruises lasting for weeks after taking a blood sample
(more) Affordable housing
Less population pressure (i.e. less crowding)
Friendly people who actually talk to each other in public
Fewer hugely drunken assholes on the streets on a night,
Especially like the charming young lady the other night on the bus who started a fight with a random other person and ended up spitting on the woman just behind me for some obscure reason and then decided my girlfriend was ‘eyeing’ her. I so wanted to beat her ass, but had to settle with laughing at her when she got off the bus
Fewer acts of random violence (generally stopping short of murder), usually alcohol fueled
Lower taxes
Cheaper cost of living
Mountains
Snow
Clean air
Room to breath
Things I don’t miss
Complete strangers telling you their entire life history, including diseases, miscarriages, divorces, etc… and then getting upset when you don’t do the same back
Arrogant, rude, ignorant people who don’t understand there is life outside the borders of the United States and that sometimes the US is not the guys in the white hats
Cops with absolutely no sense of humour who are also heavily armed
Too many murders
it was a huge deal here that 21 young black men were killed from January 2007 in South London; that’s like a sixth of the murder rate of young black men in NYC and that didn’t even make the papers.I love the fact that a murder, especially a gun murder, is still a BIG deal here
Paying for medical and dental care
Piss-poor news that stops at the borders of the US
Expensive travel outside the US
No, or not enough, holiday time (two weeks? You must be bloody joking!)
Should start a new thread - things I will miss from England if I ever leave. Your list will be pretty close to mine, except British TV I won’t miss much and couldn’t care less about Man City or any particular team, I just like to watch the games.
I’d add in:
4 discrete seasons - gentle rain and cool (spring), little rain and warm and sometimes sunny (summer), lots of rain and wind (autumn), rain and cold with beautiful mists and fogs (winter) - that are all temperate and lovely
The ocean never more than 70 miles away
Pubs, especially lazy Sundays in them
Beer!
Travel is so easy from here
British Seaside Towns (no, not Blackpool, but lots of others are wonderful!)
English Eccentricity - I especially love the people dressed up like mountain climbers walking along footpaths in London’s parks (especially Richmond and Bushy Parks) right beside families with pushchairs
I hear you on the damn shoes. Not even like my feet are that big (10-10.5 US), but also pants that fit. I’m a typical american. So, I’m taller and fatter than the general populace of Brazil.
Oh, add to the list: people that obey traffic laws.
Hershey’s, and Reese’s
any peanut butter, really
maple syrup
gas service
courtesy
