Something to Look Forward To

We have just two weeks left until we leave for the US. We are heading “home” (I call it "home" because Phil and I both grew up in the same city) for nearly a month of time with our families. When you live in one of the most beautiful places on earth, and you miss your family terribly, central Ohio can sound like an exotic, desirable vacation destination. And we are thrilled to be going there.

I will totally give away my "american-ness" with this list. My love of all things convenient, fast, and large. These are things I cannot wait to experience as "normal", because for the last eight months the things on the list have not been my "normal". And I can't deny it...these things really, really annoy me about living in a different culture!

1. Parking Lots. Oh, to just drive to the store and be able to get in and out without having to do circles around the block, parallel park, balance two wheels of the car up on the sidewalk, or maneuver through a parking garage built for mini-coopers.

2. Customer Service. The people living in the South of France are not known to be extremely kind or friendly--other French people have told me this. And they bring their "don't bother me, and I won't bother you" attitude with them to work...like in retail shops. It's super annoying and I have wanted to strangle a person or two when I've really been looking for something and need help finding it.

3. Huge glasses of ICE water! Refilled whenever I want them to be at any restaurant. I thought I didn't miss ice. But that was in winter. No air conditioning in the house and hot, summer days equal major cravings for huge glasses of ice water. At a restaurant, I'm served a 3 Euro Perrier. It just doesn't cut it!

4. I'm going to call it convenient food. We do have McDonald's here. (Phil HATES McDonald's). But on days when I don't want to cook, when we are running errands out in town, or life is just busy there are no real choices other than McDonalds for a fast, relatively cheap, quick dinner solution. I'm pretty sure I've lost those last five nagging pounds of baby weight due to this fact, but man, I cannot wait to drive into a Chipotle, Panera, or Five Guys when the mood strikes me and feed my family for under 30 bucks in under 30 minutes!

5. The twenty-four-hour-ness of instant consumer gratification. I can go to WalMart at 3am and buy motor oil, milk, bandaids and diapers if I want. Not that I will...but WILL BE ABLE TO!!! Grocery stores here are close at 8pm everyday and are closed on Sunday afternoons. A lot of stores are closed for two hours during lunch EVERYDAY. We have a little convenient store by our house, which closes for three hours for lunch-which is so not convenient for me!

I will post a list of "Things I Will Miss about France While In the US" this week. Truly, there will be things I will be sad to leave even for just a month! But the countdown for the "grandes vacances", as Lily now calls it, has begun, and we are giddy as can be to hug our Moms, shop with our sisters, drink a beer with our brothers, and run wild with our cousins.