Missing Home

[PsyGuy]

Was reading the going home thread, and wanted to ask what newbies and veterans miss most about where they are from originally?

[heyteach]

Mexican food! And my good friends to share it with.

I brought six dozen tortillas with me so I can get a fix.

[seashell]

I'm going home for holiday in 3 weeks time. I haven't been back to Seattle in about 18 months. I am not getting to excited about it yet. Just hope mom meets me at the airport with Reeses Peanut Butter Cups and we stop at Taco Bell on the way home (Hi I'm 12).

[koda]

I've only been overseas since August, so I don't miss too much yet other than convenience/snack foods. But I know I'm eating healthier now, so I don't mind too much. I will probably do an airport stop at the dunkin' donuts once I hit DC though.

Apart from that I haven't found anything that I miss so much that I'd want to go home just for that. Everything is just fleeting cravings and then they are forgotten later. Perhaps it's only because I haven't been over here long enough yet?

[stellalocal]

Seasonal events, sometimes events are arranged overseas but they aren't always the same. I miss the run up to Christmas, although I don't miss having the shops going Christmas mad from September.

THere weren't too many concerts in Egypt, it varied year by year, but then there was generally at least one summer festival in Europe that I could make it to during the summer hols. So it wasn't all bad.

[scribe]

In no particular order: Awesome grocery stores with organic produce grown at least quasi locally; the little shop where the owner is a coffee nut and sells freshly roasted beans that make the best coffee anywhere; the paper copy of New York Times delivered Sundays; planting perennials-especially spring flowers- and being there to tend them so they multiply and take over the lawn; fall leaves and corn mazes and pumpkin patches that sell hot apple cider and tacky crafts and homemade caramels; an occasional snow day (if only it were available without the rest of winter); being there for all the little as well as the big extended family get togethers; the small town libraries as well as the city ones; season tickets to the theater; the wildlife and bird feeders; and so much more....... but the lists of experiences we've had and those little quirks of our school year home which made/make it special are also long lists. (the pre-dawn call to prayer interspersed with a competing rooster, and so it goes.....)

[overseasvet2]

Football games....high school, college and professional - all available in person. Shopping all day with my mom.....calling my sis over a silly little find.....niece and nephew graduations, weddings, etc.

Ease of life - laundry done in 30 minutes and the towels are fluffly. Knowing how to take care of the beauracracies of life......knowing a million ways to get around in my home city.

A life outside of school - I never socialized with work colleagues at home. It's really hard in some countries to find a life outside the school.

Live concerts, community festivals, farmer's market.

Maybe I just need to move? :)

[ChoirGuy]

The family, pure and simple...being Filipino, family gatherings are what we live for, and with most of us in the same area of the country, they happen a lot...without us...

Oh...and Buffalo chicken wings...but real ones.

[nikkor]

[quote="seashell"]I'm going home for holiday in 3 weeks time. I haven't been back to Seattle in about 18 months. I am not getting to excited about it yet. Just hope mom meets me at the airport with Reeses Peanut Butter Cups and we stop at Taco Bell on the way home (Hi I'm 12).[/quote]

I'm also from Seattle. I really miss NW beer and wine. I miss Metropolitan Market and Trader Joes. I miss Zoka Cafe. I miss going out on Capital Hill and Ballard, or going to see live music at the Croc. I miss skiing at Alpental. I miss Steve Sherr on NPR. But most of all, I miss my dog.

I don't really miss the rain, long commutes and politics that don't address what's really important to everyone. I'm relieved to be away from Chase bank and their outrageous fees, and dropped calls with AT&T.

[lightstays]

What I miss in order of importance:

Civil society

An intellectual appetite in the society at large

Atheism

Craft beer

[buffalofan]

Real Mexican food, fresh from a taco cart or a little hole in the wall. I can cook it myself, but it's never quite the same. Hard to think of anything else - my list of stuff I don't miss would be massive!

[JISAlum]

I'm a little backwards- I grew up a teacher's kid in an international school and then moved back to the US for college. So here's what I miss of what I consider home in SE Asia:

-living in a community where people didn't see ethnic/racial/faith-based differences.
-living in a community that seemed to value teachers/learning.
-going back to the US in the summer and being the only one who thought sidewalks were awesome.
-going back to the US and enjoying pasteurized milk (or any milk).
-the feeling you get when the electricity finally comes on.
-playing for hours with kids that don't speak your language and it doesn't matter.
-looking forward to my next trip.
-looking forward to going back to the US for home leave, but then longing to get back home in early August.

[Overhere]

1. clear air
2. hiking in the Pacific NW
3. Trader Joes
4. College Football
5. Sane drivers

[one2many]

.isr

[Mathman]

Cricket, but that will be fixed at my next job
Beer (budweiser is not a real beer)
Decent sausages and other butcher delights
Obviously the summer barbie (BBQ)
cheese
Clean air
Cycling without risking my life every few seconds
Having dinner by the beach

I suppose I could get the crcket, beer and the food when I was in shanghai, but it's not the same.