today I miss

[DeliveredByKiki]

Windswept norfolk beaches that are freezing and lash you with salt spume spray and the sea is tempestuous and raging the slipping over wet pebbles as you bundle up to get greasy fish and chips

I may or may not have been reading too much John Masefield today

Horses, blackland prairies, prairie dogs, tumbleweeds, and even the requisite hayfever that I don't have in the UK.

But most of all somebody send me an authentic corn husk steamed Tamale.

Today I missed having a dryer. Yesterday we had a torrential storm and flooding. We were very fortunate and we survived unscathed, my 20 min journey home took 3.5 hours. Anyway I've spent all day doing laundry for people on our compound who were flooded, the water rushed through destroyed everything and then collapsed the garden wall and damaged the villa behind. The good news, no one was hurt and we all had the day off school today. I spent all day doing laundry for those less fortunate, everything needed the mud hosing off before it could be washed. And as ŵhave 362 days of sunshine every year I don't have a dryer so I just couldn't get everything dry today. I've driven out and about locally sharing out the laundry, imagine everything you own being coverd in mud and destroyed :-(.
Anyway so today I missed my dryer.

I have an 8hour time difference with the UK so my 7am is never the Today Program, I still stream Radio 4. On Thursdays it's the Ramblers program, and they were following a school in Dorset that has a walking club run by the local farmer - all those little English accents, made me weep when my own two came home with their weird hybrid accents.

It made me miss the English countryside, wellies, hot chocolate, community spirit and gaggles of kids that don't sound like disney characters on speed

InvictusVersinium I'm not from Mexico or the USA but I know a Mexican-American that makes tamale's to die for. I would melt a thousand melts of pleasure if someone sent me a few a thousand home-made tamales right now!

tamales why does my computer mess with my apostrophes?

gaggles of kids that don't sound like disney characters on speed

Oh dear. That does sound awful. Sorry you are so homesick. Must be awful. Will you be coming back to the UK?

Seeing the raccoons, bald eagles and beavers every day in the park across from our old place in Vancouver.....

made me weep when my own two came home with their weird hybrid accents.

I think I literally cried when DS said "Mom, can me and X go trick and treating to get candy" Arrrrrrrgghh!

Nothing as we moved back last year and don't miss a thing about our host country

When we were there I missed

Radio 2
Farm shops with proper butchers
Wearing tights
Pub lunches
Walking anywhere at all
Seasons
Crisp, winter days

My friends. Not been "seen" for a couple of days as one of my DC is sick and I've not had one friend asking after us. That's because I don't have any here. Waaaaaaaa!

I used to love going for drives through our beautiful countryside or over to the coast and stopping off in a quaint little village or a little sea-side place. Sauntering around the little village shops or having a walk on the beach then going for a delicious home-made pub lunch. That to me was a perfect way to spend a day.

Oh and all of the above

The cool change after a run of hot Victorian summer days - the violent summer storms that light up the whole sky.

Clean air....that's about it.

I miss charity shops. People use things till they fall apart here, or give to orphanges which is great but there are no bargains to be had anywhere!

Walking to the pub.

We have no independent pubs - all in hotels - and none within walking distance. I'd love to stroll out, have one or two, and stroll back home

I hear you tomatodizzy my hobby is going to charity shops.
I dearly miss waitrose too, supermarkets here are a joke.

Being able to buy lamb and decent anything other than chicken meat joints in a normal supermarket.

Space! Our apartment is a third the size of our UK home, and has no garden.
Family, friends and their kids..
My car. That was the biggest wrench apart from leaving our lovely London home that we spent time and money on getting it just the way we like it.
The tenants are loving it...
Waitrose. although we can get waitrose essentials here which sort of makes up for it.
In fact I miss all UK supermarkets. Lidl I really miss.
My cooker. The one we have now is a table top one and whilst cute, it's tiny.
Waking up to radio 5 live.

Taking DS back for Easter and then again in summer and am sooo excited!

to all those feeling homesick.

I would be meeting up with sister and niece now and maybe doing some shopping.

Argh online food shopping bloody delivery. I miss that today

The right to work without a visa.

Oh TerrorAustralis that does suck - I went through 3 years of it and lost all sense of self worth and it's a real struggle to get it back. I think my lowest point of wanting to go home was two months after I got my green card and the realization that I still couldn't get a goddamn job.

It's been a year since I got my emolument authorization card and everything about being abroad has improved a million fold because I'm working again - do you have a work visa coming to you?

I'm getting sick of visitors - I miss living in the same country as everyone else so they don't all come to stay with me for weeks and months at a time!!!

Kiki I'm working freelance at the moment which has been good up to a point, but I miss having a stable job and income, not to mention real live colleagues to interact with. I'm trying to take the advice of the employed expats I know and use my network, but it's only getting me so far.

I do have an interview next week, but I don't really understand the role yet (so it's hard to get excited about it) and the pay is literally half of what I would ideally want to earn. But it would be a foot in the door with a good company, so a huge step forward in that respect.