Monday, June 20, 2011

Things We Didn't Think We'd Miss

When we decided to move to Africa, there were many things that we knew we'd miss. We knew we'd miss our family, our friends, our church and we knew we'd miss Target & McDonald's too.  (Oh, how I've missed McDonald's)  But we've been surprised by some of the things we've found ourselves craving so we've been working on a little list for you.

1. Pickles
2. Milk that doesn't smell like a barn
3. Good deli meat
4. Street signs
5. Jif Natural Peanut Butter
6. Kraft Olive Oil Mayo
7. Traffic lights (or at least traffic lights that people actually obey)
8. Home Depot
9. Being able to call a repair person and having him come out and fix the broken item correctly the first time.  (Nevermind - that didn't happen in the US either).
10. Being able to go places without having people stare and laugh at us.  (Who knew we were so entertaining?)
11. a reliable internet connection
12. Rotel

All joking aside, there are certainly things we miss about the US, but there are so many things we've grown to love about our new home. 

1.  We love Chai time - not just because of the chai, but because it is a time to slow down and fellowship.  Now Erik is not a big fan of chai time because that means people just walk out of the operating room during a case, but in most circumstances Chai time is a really good thing.
2. Mandazi - We don't have Krispy Kreme here, but mandazi are the next best thing.  They are a Kenyan fry bread that are not sweet, but we top ours with Nutella, honey, powdered sugar or whatever topping we can think of and they are a fun weekend treat.
3. Fresh passion fruit juice.
4. A slower pace of life.
5. Our new friends and our little family away from family.

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