Six months in Site- check!

Yesterday I officially completed 6 months in site!! 9 months away from home. I obviously miss my friends and family more than you know, but I wanted to write a list of not obvious things I also miss:

Our old blue couch

            Melinda bought this amazing couch our sophomore year that we used until senior year. It was so comfy and I seriously really miss sitting on it. No one has couches here. When we gather we sit on benches with really pretty knitted, but not very comfortable, cushions. Maybe it was the company as well but oh how my body longs to curl up on that blue couch and watch Parenthood with my main chicas.

Lamps

In my room there’s only one outlet that has one plug and it’s on the other side of the room from my bed. It really hasn’t been an issue but sometimes I do miss a bedside lamp. Sometimes I just sit in my room at night to read or knit and I have to have my very bright ceiling light on. That made me think of lamps and the fact that no one has them here. Weird. Every once in a while I’ll use a flashlight, but it’s not the same. Maybe I’ll check out the possibility of a battery powered lamp…

Baking

            Very few people here have ovens and if they do they use them for storage! This weekend I’m buying ingredients to make cookies in a friend’s oven that’s never been used cause she doesn’t know how. I miss the taste of cookie dough or half-baked-fresh-out-of-the-oven chocolate chip cookies. Also the convenience of heating up a pizza or meatballs. I never realized how much I relied on baking. Pretty much all my cooking skills involve baking; it’s hard to cook purely with a stovetop…

Drinks

            Hot water with sugar is not the same as a chai latte. A shot of traigo will never compare to Melinda’s margaritas. Pilsen beer tastes like pee water compared to Lagunitas’ Little Sumthin Sumthin. Give me that $2 Boba or a Strickland’s milkshake, I can’t drink “Inca Cola” anymore!

Breakfast

            - Soup of chopped up potatoes and noodles EVERY MORNING does not compare to the variety of cereal, toast, peanut butter, bagels, pancakes, scrambled eggs, and coffee. How I’d love to pop some whole wheat toast in a toaster or lather cold cream cheese on a hot everything bagel… I miss those simple breakfasts, their variety, and their convenience. When I don’t have time to eat hot soup, oh how I miss my quick stops at  Albertsons for my coffee and muffin before work. I should start a JavaHut business in our plaza for the people on their way to their farms and the students on their way to work!

Driving

            - It’s crazy to think I won’t be driving for 27 months! Am I going to remember how to drive? I miss the convenience of having my own car to go places, I miss driving buses at UCI, but also I just miss driving period. I’d drive that terribly boring stretch of I-5 or that dreaded 6am opening shift on Main Campus in a heartbeat if giving the chance! I also miss car rides with my friends. Not that I don’t enjoy awkward chats with the smelly man jammed in next to me practically on my lap, but I miss those road trips to Vegas or drives to go get tacos on Tuesdays. Melinda and Amy, I know we almost started WWIII deciding who’s turn it was to drive to Disneyland but when I get back, don’t worry, I’ll drive :)