Little things I miss

Living overseas is hard for many reasons. Obviously I miss my family and my friends but some days it goes beyond that. Some days I miss little things. Here is a short list:

1. Blonde people: Really I miss having physical diversity in general. I was struck once again at the lack of it again the other day when my class was reviewing physical traits. Brown hair and brown eyes? Got that covered. The other ends of the skin color, hair color and eye color spectrums are much harder to find. 

2. Eating at normal times: I HATE eating dinner at 9:00p.m., lunch at 2:00p.m. and having to have a snack just to make it so late without getting cranky. I am not sure my body will ever really adjust to this schedule. I am either ravenous or feel too full at odd hours. 

 3. Speaking in English: I am lucky in that I work with other Americans so I get to speak quite a bit of English during the day. Sometimes I feel burnt out when it comes to having to face life in general in Spanish. Running errands, asking questions, communicating with family and friends here, it can be draining at time. Even when reading, writing, watching t.v. etc. in English I feel like my native language is getting worse over time. There are moments when words will slip my mind or when a sentence comes out with the grammar all jacked up and Spanish sounding.

 4. Cereal: Actually I miss a lot of different kinds of food that you either can´t find, aren´t the same or aren´t as good as the originals back home. Cereal is a big one. Frosting, peanut butter, chips, red meat, grilling. 

 5. Watching primetime T.V.: We get a lot of re-runs and past shows but I am missing out on a lot of the trash I used to watch back home. We don´t have Bravo or We (or my favorite Investigation Discovery). Our weekly schedule includes the Big Bang Theory, How I met your mother (which I don´t especially like), American Dad, the Simpsons, and Two and a half men. I have seen every episode of these shows probably at least twice. I don´t even know what popular new shows are at this point in the U.S.

Obviously I realize that these are all completely first world problems. I can't complain about my life overall (I am very lucky). There are just some weeks that are harder than others, when I miss the little things more. Like fountain pop. I would kill for a Big Gulp. Or Reese's.

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