I miss...

I, of course, miss all my friends and family. That's a given. But there are some other things...some small and some large...that have been on my mind a lot recently. Here they are in no particular order...

I miss...
-Having a conversation with someone without hearing "how you say in English? Ahhh..."
-Being able to jump into my car and just drive somewhere...preferably to 7-11 where I could easily pick up a huge variety of things that have English descriptions. I never thought that simple shopping could be so tremendously dificult when you can't read.
-Having a huge variety of stores near by that sell all kinds of things. Around here, in the closest town, it's a real crap shoot. I got my phone from the Post o
-Being able to communicate with my friends easily. This time difference is a killer.
-Being with peers. Yes, we are all students after the same goal...but everyone is much younger than I am. Some are very intelligent and mature, and some are painfully not.
-Being able to say "football" without prefacing it with "American". Being able to say "soccer" without getting dirty looks.
-The ability to do laundry easily. I didn't think this would be a problem...but add the complexity of some strange pay card (that is not as simple to use as you'd think) along with a German washing machine...it makes things annoying. The first time I tried to wash my clothes I put the soap in the slot for fabric softener...that did not work out well at all.
-To sort of mix with the other "misses"...being able to undertand the purpose of everything at a glance. Some things are just oddly complicated...even when they are something that appears to be rather simple. I'll go on more about this later.

Having said all that...there are some things that are desperately missed...

Things I would punch someone in the face for...
-Beer. I don't mean pilsner...or this light as water lager...but a REAL beer. Give me an IPA, a Pale Ale, a Stout or a Porter. Everyone is so excited about Corona. Bah! They don't even put limes in it...just lemons.
-Ice. You'd figure in the land of snow that a cold soda in the summer would be a treat...but usually the bottle is only cool and they will give you a glass for your bottle...but rarely will it have ice. Who doesn't like cold drinks?
-A cheeseburger. These people cannot make a cheeseburger to save their lives. The bread is thin and too hard, the burger is thin and almost sausage like, the cheese is white and totally lacks flavor, and they give you ketchup and mayo but no mustard. No onions. No pickles. A cheesesteak would be fantastic too...but they don't even know what those are.
-Hot sauce/salsa. Their idea of salsa is a spoonful of blazing hot thai style chili sauce. Where is my pico de gallo? Where is my salsa verde? And guacamole...forget about it. Even their chicken wings have no power to 'em. And not like I could even get ranch to cool 'em down with.

Having ranted enough about bad things...here are some good ones...

Things I don't miss at all...
-Commercialism. You just don't see signs (at least, not that many) for "buy this!" around. No big billboards, no signs on busses or cars, no telemarketers. If you want to buy something...you go buy it. In some ways it seems they discourage consuming...but that could just be the American in me freaking out.
-Traffic. There is simply no traffic around here. None. Of course I am in a town...hell, a village of roughly 1000 people (including the entire school). But even in town there are no real crowds and definitely no traffic jams.
-Trash. This is one amazingly clean country. They keep it all very neat and clean...even the flowers have all the dead bits picked out to make them look pretty. However there are a ton of cigarette butts all over. This is a country...a continent...of smokers.

Soon...Students, School and a massive amount of pictures.