Job Discussion Forums

Capergirl · Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2003 2:38 am Post subject:

I tried Starbucks coffee when I was in England this past April, as I was missing my Tim's and all. Wow...I thought Timmie's joe was strong! Shocked

I'm not sure what they put in Starbucks coffee, but I do believe it would make a great substitute for jet fuel! Very Happy

Wolf · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 1245 Location: Middle Earth

MindTraveller · Joined: 13 Mar 2003 Posts: 89 Location: Oman

What's nice is, that after a few years, it's possible to have most of the bad things fade and the good things return stronger in memory.

Here in Vancouver on vacation from Oman, I found 'bubble tea' which I first drank in Taiwan back in 1995. Haven't had it any other place or time before last week.

I miss the cheap Korean public baths and body scrubs.

When I live in the USA, I start to miss being stared at. At 53 and being a woman, this lack of being stared at reminds me of the book, The Invisible Man. Back in the USA, I also miss being 'special' since I'm no longer an 'exotic, white, Western, woman foreigner' in a country.

I only cried ONCE when I left a town, and that was Al Ain in the UAE. In general, I had had a good life. Losing it was painful. I haven't felt that way about any other place I left, but felt that way twice when returning home to the States from Canada.

Responding to messages on this list today, and talking to a friend from 25 years ago and being on vacation, has made me a bit more philosophical than usual. I think people who live overseas, and those who don't, have fond memories of things they miss from places/situations they've experienced earlier in life.

Sorry. I'm just beginning to connect the similarities between two diverse cultural realities: those who travel and those who don't. Not everything about living overseas is 'exotic' or totally foreign to those who stay at home, IMHO.

Then again, what do I know? I haven't lived and worked in the West for the past 8 years!

Capergirl · Posted: Sun Jul 27, 2003 1:26 pm Post subject:

Cleopatra · Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2003 10:21 am Post subject:

I'm not really qualified to write on this topic as I'm stll here in KSA, but am due to leave in just under 2 months. So here's what I think I'll miss and won't miss when I go.

I WILL miss:

the weather (OK, not during the summer)

the easy life

no financial worries

my students (for the most part they're wonderful)

the handsome, charming men (yes, really!)

the cheap Indian food

the secretive, of-so-different culture

the kindness and appreciation of my students

I WON'T miss:

the isolation of being an ex-pat

the coldness of people in public

getting hassled by men in cars

the mercenary atmophere in most ex-pat circles

the stultifyingly boring weekends

the secretive management culture

All in all, it's been a great two years - for the most part!

Cleopatra · Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2003 10:21 am Post subject:

I'm not really qualified to write on this topic as I'm stll here in KSA, but am due to leave in just under 2 months. So here's what I think I'll miss and won't miss when I go.

I WILL miss:

the weather (OK, not during the summer)

the easy life

no financial worries

my students (for the most part they're wonderful)

the handsome, charming men (yes, really!)

the cheap Indian food

the secretive, of-so-different culture

the kindness and appreciation of my students

my abaya and headscarf (yes, really!)

I WON'T miss:

the isolation of being an ex-pat

the coldness of people in public

getting hassled by men in cars

the mercenary atmophere in most ex-pat circles

the stultifyingly boring weekends

the secretive management culture

All in all, it's been a great two years - for the most part!

Lynn · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 696 Location: in between

JAPAN
bath houses
repairmen removing their shoes in my apt
summers so hot and humid I felt like I was dreaming
Japanese food
customer service
trains that run on exact time
safety
konbini
Japanese friends
karaoke
izakaya
nama beeru
J-pops Embarassed

speaking Japanese
studying Japaese kanji
Japanese children
sakura (cherry blossoms)

Cobra · Joined: 28 Jul 2003 Posts: 436

Why leave? Go back to what???

chienkun · Joined: 18 Mar 2003 Posts: 16 Location: Southern California

After leaving a five-year stay in Taiwan over a year ago, I now miss:

Frozen dumplings
Speaking Mandarin
Shabu Shabu
24 hour 7-11s on every street corner
Hot Springs in the Winter
My gorgeous apartment (19th floor overlooking Taipei City)
My friends (travelers/teachers from different countries, we all had a good bond)
Riding a scooter (getting purposely lost in far off, unfamiliar territory, with the adventure of finding my way home)
Cheap taxis
Friendly people - yes, I did enjoy being a "novelty" to the locals
The live and let live Buddhist/Taoist attitude - easy going "mei gwan shi"
vegetarian buffets (so healthy, and I'm not even vegetarian)
Fun job
Freedom
Getting god-shots every now and then, thinking: what am I doing in this foreign, far away land? (even after several years)

Don't miss:

Lack of consideration of others and general un-civility in crowds/traffic
The overt "me first, me, me" attitude
McDonald's more often than I should have eaten
Dirty food, pollution, crowds
Lack of vegetation in urban/suburban areas
Too many gray, overcast days
Humidity
Lack of SPACE - Man, do I not miss that
The daunting task of going out and doing fun things

RachelA_Broad · Joined: 11 Jul 2003 Posts: 21 Location: USA

Its funny, when I look back at my 4 months in Kenya it seems that the things that I miss are the very ones that I am glad to leave behind...but just different incidents...but then, that is always what people say about Kenya, that it is unbelievably beautiful and disgusting beyond your wildest imagination at the same time. You can be admiring the amazing blue skies as a little monkey plays in a tree on a street in Nairobi one minute and turn the corner and be faced with a homeless person seemingly dead in a pit by the side of the road the next....anyway, ew...my list
What I miss
-Warm bucket baths within bushes sculpted to form a hollow square taken outside under the early morning warm blue sky with birds chirping above.
-Being the most beautiful/exotic/exciting woman in every room
-The hot dry weather of the hot dry season
-Meeting new people, great conversations, learning about the amazing and beautifully intricate culture of the Luo people
-Java Cafe in Nairobi (actually the best American food I have ever had...ironic no?) and eating myself silly on fabulous brownie sundays with the girls.
-Porcelin pit toilets that flush. Absolutely the best thing ever in a public bathroom. No wondering where everyone elses assetts have been but it isn't just a hole either. Its the best of both worlds! When I actually have a house of my own I'm afraid to say that at least on bathroom will have one of these little beauties!

What I don't miss

-Freezing cold showers
-Having "Muzungu" (white person, translated literally I think it was actually "one who wanders mindlessly" or something to that effect) screamed at me everywhere I go
-Always questioning why a person was talking to/becoming friends with me. At least in the U.S. no one is my friend because they think I am like the lottery. Let's tell 'em what they've won!
-Suka Maweki (kale) bathed in lard...actually, all foods bathed in lard
-Pit toilets that were really pits...especially ones that look like they might cave it, pit toilets that were missing a lot of mud in strategic spots on the wall, pit toilets that had all manner of bugs living in and around them. Eeeek!

Overall, though, the bad was just as much a part of what made my time in Kenya a real adventure and I won't trade it in for a "nicer" time. It made it real and textured and helped me to appreciate my nice shower with hot water that has pressure all the more!!!...I just don't hope for all of the woes of Kenya to follow me home to the U.S.

Lynn · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 696 Location: in between

Japanese shampoo and body wash.

After I left Japan, I actually carried back a large containter of body wash with me. It was so damn heavy, though. I see it for sale here at the Japanese supermarket, but it's so expensive. I'll just wait until go back to Japan and bring some back with me, no matter how heavy. Razz

foster · Joined: 07 Feb 2003 Posts: 485 Location: Honkers, SARS

Japan:

100 Yen shops
Yamaya in OCAT
280 bar
Kyoto
my friends there
Yasuko
my bicycle

khmerhit · Posted: Fri Mar 05, 2004 9:31 am Post subject:

Foster,

what is ocat

what is 280 bar-- and where/

kh Cool

khmerhit · Posted: Fri Mar 05, 2004 9:34 am Post subject:

Something I dont miss about Cambodia is----conversations with peopl that start off sensibly and slowly degenerate, usually due to one's interlocutor having does up on speed and other things.

Worse, however, was talking to men who, during the course of a convo, revealed themselves to be former criminals of various hues, murder not excluded. that did throw me for a loop a few times. Crying or Very sad

Hey, it's a hard-core place
full of pussycats and greenhorns
kh Cool

Joachim · Joined: 01 Oct 2003 Posts: 311 Location: Brighton, UK

From Indonesia I miss:Mie Goreng
How cheap everything is
Some friends
Becaks
The pool I used to swim in (double olymmpic sized, clean, outside and dserted)

From Indonesia I don't miss:
Dishonesty
Boredom
Being gawped at constantly
no escape from the heat
How filthy everything was
How expensive alcohol was
Being constantly propsitioned by prostitutes
Unavailability of English books
The company I worked for
My salary

From Thailand I miss:
Thai food (all of it)
my friends
friendly people
Chatuchak market
weekends at a gorgeous beach
Things being cheap
My colleagues
Tennis courts
my apartment
The BTS
space

From Thailand I don't miss
Traffic
Pollution
Being called a "falang"
Being propositioned by prostitutes
Patpong
Sex tourists
"Westerner" prices
My salary

Yet to make my Hong Kong judgements