I was actually supposed to begin the challenge yesterday, but I was only home for a couple hours, and my internet decided to work at snail speed and refused to load Blogger. So, I'm starting a day late. Oops!
Every day for the next ten days, I will answer a question about my time in Dominica. I've only been here for a month, so keep that in mind. Maybe when I leave in another 15 months I'll do the challenge again and see if I change my answers!
Day One: What do you miss most about home?
Well, first of all let me say that I'm not nearly as homesick as I worried I might be. This is in part because we'll only be in Dominica for a total of 16 months. I know I will be back in the states in no time, although it does seem far away. Then again, I don't have many obligations here, so if I REALLY wanted to, I could buy a plane ticket and leave the day after tomorrow.
That aside, let's see. There are a number of things I miss about home. One-stop shopping trips to Target/Meijer, delicious restaurants (and Taco Bell!), pumpkin beer, the ability to watch the Tigers in the playoffs (even though I hear they got creamed yesterday). The most obvious is all of the lovely people I left behind in Michigan. Skype is pretty nifty, but not the same as real face time. But "people" is probably my number two answer. So, what's number one?
AIR CONDITIONING!
Just kidding. People are more important to me than a/c. I don't think you can overestimate how precious a commodity it is in Dominica, though.
Okay, for real now. The thing I miss most is not a person or object. It's an idea. I am in a foreign country, and a tiny one at that. At home, if I suddenly wanted to go shopping for a cute dress, eat dinner at Pizza Papalis, visit a friend, or drive down to Cedar Point, I could just jump in the car and do it. I'm not saying that I regularly did these things, because I didn't. I'm not a spontaneous person at all, really. But every day I had an endless number of possibilities of things I could do, and here I don't. It's sad for me to think that seeing my friends from home just isn't possible today. I can't go see a new movie, it's not possible in a country with no movie theaters. I want to eat some Chex cereal, but it's impossible for me to do that today because it doesn't exist here. In America, all things are possible! Isn't that cheesy? But really, I miss having options, and I miss the option to not choose any of them.
I don't think I'm making sense. I can't think of a better way to describe what I miss most, though. Maybe the readers of my blog who have spent some time out of the country can relate anyway?
Chris is studying at school right now, so I can't tell you what his answer would be. Here are my guesses to his possible answers though: Family, U of M football, cool weather, Redcoat Tavern (or sushi), and having free time for new adventures. Hmm, maybe I'll see if he will answer these questions once I'm done.
Stay tuned for day two's question, tomorrow or whenever my internet connection allows it!
PS: I just proofread this entry and I have to add, sometimes having few choices is great. Should I swim in the pool today or at the beach? Should I eat at the beachfront restaurant, or the one on the mountainside with the view of Picard and the Caribbean Sea? Sometimes it's twelve of one and a dozen of the other, and it's all good!
