Here are some of the things that came to mind...
Things I miss about the US | Things I don’t miss about the US | Things I will miss about Arambol | Things I won’t miss about Arambol |
· Hot showers · Tools that work (Jacob) · My bed · Oma & Opa · US friends and family · Drinking water from the tap · Milk that comes in cartons, not baggies · The ability to cook easily · Set prices that don’t change based on the color of your skin · Homegrown veggies · Homegrown eggs and our chickens · Thrift stores and garage sales · Mexican people · Real Mexican food · Cheap but good peanut butter · Good bread and cheese · Clean meat · Restaurants with health codes · Trash collectors · Art supplies at a reasonable price · Food Josiah can eat · Food without preservatives · My washing machine · Fireplaces · Pine and cedar trees · The Sierras · A mirror that I can see my whole self in · Flower gardens · Mixing my own henna · Soap that’s not slimy · Internet that works · Being able to get a lot of things done · Trader Joe’s · Public libraries · Having a phone · Blenders that work · Freedom to go places by myself · Surfers · Bike rides · Backpacking · Mockingbirds | · People isolated in their own houses · Expensive vegetables · Snooty, mall-loving people who are so rich and don’t even think about the rest of the world · Hollywood media · Giant SUVs · Rap music blaring out of people’s cars · Brand name fashion · Cars and traffic · Over-regulation · US Politics · No one having enough free time to just ‘be’ together · Few people with similar ideals · The cost of living · Being so far from the beach · Cold oceans · Tons of soy-based food · Junkmail | · Pigs running free · Friends at every turn in the road · People hanging out outside all the time · Not a lot of TV · Cheesy billboards and misspelled English signs · Rosario yelling some unintelligible thing · Curry plants · Swimming in the warm ocean water · Going to the beach every day · Scooters · Royal Enfields · Feeling like you could do any crazy thing and no one would even look twice · Friends from everywhere · Always being warm · Being tan · Live music · Creativity flowing · Living in a circus · Wild parrots and kingfishers · Monkeys in trees · Samosas, Uttapam, Dosas, and Puri Bhaji · Talking to people from all over the world · Going to meditation here · Kids playing soccer · Bhindis, bangles, and saris · Jogging on the beach · Elephants · The sunset gathering · People to drum with (Jacob) · Chai chai chai for 5 rupees · Dreads and tattoos · Guys wearing lunghis · Cool clothes for cheap · People juggling · Toothless and bow-legged old people · Seeing construction worker women in bright saris · Not a lot of laws (at least not many that anyone follows) · Goan Catholic ladies’ dresses · Maria’s sweet idli · Colors everywhere · Talking about spiritual things with almost anyone · The quicksilver ocean at sunset · Never knowing who you will meet today · Funny things in English that non-native English speakers say · Coconut palms · Strangers who smile at you · Hermit crabs · Sand art · Jaya’s cooking skills · Geckos on our walls · Indian children · Our parrot | · Ants in my computer · Ants in my bed · Ants in my cooking · Ants in the sink · Ants in my clothes · ANTS · Power that turns off at any random time · Rosario yelling some unintelligible thing · Burning plastic smoke choking me · Trash everywhere · The inability to cook · Getting ripped off · “Mosquito Time” · Horns honking · Gypsies trying to sell you jewelry and sarongs on the beach every five minutes · Beggars, because you never know who is behind their begging · Sewage in the street · My kids being covered in dirt and sand · The chaos of a mob of children in the dirt and sand · Half-naked westerners and gawking Indian men · Cockroaches and rats and poisonous snakes · The putrid smell of Rosario’s bull · People trying to be ‘cool’ · Russian people arguing · Seeing construction worker women, because they work so hard for so little · Pollution · Corrupt police · Loan sharks and mafia controlling things · Idol worship · Having to bargain for almost everything you buy · Techno music · Cigarette smoke · Mold · Rampant fear and superstition · Beach dogs · Piles of poo · Cesspools · Being called ‘madam’ · Men peeing all over · The smell of rancid coconut oil · Speedos with thong backs on fat hairy men · Crows · Not being able to find what you need without going all over the state · Goan music blaring out of crappy speakers on full blast · Cockroaches in my bathroom towel · Starving, sick dogs · Friends that leave with your heart L |
