Last July and August, I posted a list of things I missed from my US life in India. When we moved to India 3 months ago, neither Josh nor I had plans to come back to the US in the near future (if ever). But last week we bought tickets to PDX and have been enjoying this American life very much so. During the last 6 days of our stay here, I have been experiencing many of the things in the lists I made.
From Part I:
- My cats
- Avocado ✓
- No bugs in my house ✓
- Cleanliness ✓
- Privacy ✓
- American grocery stores ✓
- Washer and dryer ✓
- Movie theaters ✓
- Dance class
- Comfortable desk chair
- Western toilet ✓
- American roads ✓
From Part II:
- Guglhupf: my favorite bakery/cafe/restaurant back in the US.
- Extra sharp cheddar cheese (Cabot Extra Sharp too be specific. I seriously recommend it.)
- Quiet sleep. ✓
- The trash trucks that pickup your trash every week. (The things we take for granted, right?) ✓
- Baby spinach.
- Berries (strawberries/blueberries/raspberries…)
- Bagels and cream cheese.
- Having a closet. ✓
- Kraft Mac & Cheese
- Parmigiano-Reggiano (I guess the secret is out: I am a cheese lover). ✓
- Wine (The ability to find cheap good wine very easily). ✓
- Canned tuna.
- Better chocolate (Cadbury is alright but I am spoiled with Lindt Sea Salt Dark Chocolate which I could find easily in the US). ✓
- A better camera (We had to give up our DSLR before coming to India, and for now, I am stuck with my phone and a used point and shoot).
- Our reclining sofa where we used to catch up on shows and snuggle with Simba, the best cat ever.
From the two lists there are three things that won’t be possible: my cats, Guglhupf, and our old sofa. I still miss my kitties.
But so far I feel a little bit in heaven with the awesomest bed and quiet sleep (no traffic or train noise), and all the food we have been eating. I joked one time by telling Josh that I felt like going to an Indian restaurant, I think he wanted to punch me. We love Indian food, but after having it every day for three months, we are not having any Indian food until we go back and we have no choice.
Also, we’ve been to the movies twice already, which is our favorite leisurely thing to do, and where we live in India, the closest cinema that plays movies in English is 2hrs away.
I just now opened a bar of dark chocolate with caramel and black sea salt from Trader Joe’s. I abstained myself from eating the whole thing in two seconds. So that allowed me to check “better chocolate” off the list.
A couple of things that we’ve done that weren’t in the lists but I was over the moon about, was having sushi, and having a burger and fries. I could live without burger and fries but it doesn’t stop me from enjoying them. I am surprised sushi didn’t make it to my lists, though.
Also, this is silly, but I have been totally excited to be able to wear normal autumn clothes (boots, scarfs, sweaters, skinny jeans…) It’s my favorite kind of attire and season, which doesn’t go with India at all. In fact, India made me so careless about apparel and appearance that I even wore socks and crocs together. I can’t believe I just admitted that. In a way, I guess it’s great to be careless, and not have to “physically compete” with everyone around you, but I do love my boots and scarves.
Finally, we are free! We can hop on the car and go wherever we want whenever we want! In India, that is not possible. We don’t know the roads, we don’t know where anything is, and we don’t speak the local language, so we are dependent on Shekhar to take us on the scooter or Adinath to drive us with his car.
I have never appreciated the US like I do now.
Things I look forward to doing:
- Go see a ton more movies.
- Eat more sushi.
- Eat more chocolate (and pack a ton).
- Drive along the Oregon coast.
- Maybe visit Seattle.
- Have Game Night with friends.
- Try out new beers. (Apparently Portland has awesome beer and in India the choices are crappy and limited.)
- Buy a better camera if money allows.
- Buy a new laptop since mine is 5 years old and slowly starting to die. (this one is a long shot because I have owned Mac all my life I don’t want to switch, but Mac is so expensive.)
A New Life Wandering 
Ok.. I have to say something here!… How do you know.. that being here isn’t the place you are suppposed to be?? You were plucked up and dumped in India where it hasn’t been much good.. Then.. God intercedes and drags you back here..you don’t think that is saying something?
I think you are wrong about being in India.. if God wanted you there… he would have made you Indian!! Josh too.. you are not listening!!
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Well… If it was a matter of nationality then I would have to be in Mexico not India or US. Also, I don’t believe life has to be all good and happy, I think suffering and hard times are essential for spiritual progress, especially if they are provided by God (instead of self-induced). I do believe God wants us here right now, because we wouldn’t be here otherwise, and he also wanted us in India in the last three months, because we wouldn’t have gone otherwise. We are not set on a date or a plan, we don’t have return tickets, so we are taking it day by day, following God’s plans, and who knows what will happen next.
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I go through cycles with the food in DF, it’s like ah yeah i love the food here. 1 month and about 20 gringas later I need to get away. Thank god for Sushi Roll! If only fedex were up for sending food I’d love to get an exchange going with you! We could swap tacos al pastor for curry!!
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Wouldn’t that be great? A food penpal. I’m here in Oregon for about a month, I hope I can find some close-to-authentic Mexican food before I go back to India. I don’t think gringas exist here, that would be great! I flew through London with about 2 hrs of connection, and I got to have some pret a manger, which used to be my favorite lunch place when I lived there. So that was cool. Last time we talked about it, I had zero plans to leave India, and a few days later I stopped at London and I’m here in the US.
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This is such a good idea! Maybe I should try making a list similar to this. I’m sure it’ll go on and on…
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I’d like to see it!
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