SIX THINGS

Because it's Friday, it's go slow and be lazy day.

So while I am relaxing, I was thinking about three things I miss about home and three things I do NOT miss.

Don't get me wrong. I love my life right now. And while I may not want to stay here in Russia, I certainly do not want to go home.

I have made only baby step improvements in my Russian language skills the last few weeks, so I feel somewhat incomplete by diminished expectations and unfinished business. But soon, I will be aux Etas Unis and my inability to squeak Russian will be inconsequential.

Miss (I feel somewhat pathetic that these material items are what I miss about life living here in Russia, but if I had them here, I might never go home. On the other  hand, it shows how we take things for granted without giving them due credit):

1. My big, comfortable bed. Take it from Andrea; I sleep just fine here. However, I often wake up with an aching back unlike my mornings at home. I miss my bed's height and width and suport. Plus, I know who has slept in my bed at home, and the sheets are 100-something count plush cotton. 

2. My big, powerful washing machine and dryer.  The machine here does a circumspect job of cleaning and is tiny, which is fine in itself because: a) we actually have a washing machine and 2) I don't know how or where the clothes would dry if there were more of them in a load. However, its size means many loads, and I really do miss having a dryer. Everything gets stiff from air drying, and it's so much "work" to arrange the clothing to dry. Then, I must periodically over the course of 24-36 hours rearrange them to maximize exposure to the air. Again, at least we have a washing machine.

3. My garbage disposal. Yeah. A garbage disposal. I wonder how many Russian apartments have garbage disposals. I know ours does not, and it creates problems and plenty of extra work. Vegetable and fruit peelings, egg shells (yeah, I know technically you're not supposed to put those in the disposal), Andrea's unfinished morning cereal, table scraps...cannot just go down the drain and with a push of the button have a clean kitchen sink.  Instead, we have a slow drain, regardless of how hard I try to prevent little things from going down and getting stuck in the pipes.

Do NOT miss:

1. Driving. Sure, I love driving, but I do not miss it in the least. That is especially true when I see the traffic here in Moscow. Putin and Medvedev recently stated they will work from home or take helicopters to events in order to prevent their 12-car motorcades from further restricting the traffic flow here. Plus, the metro, bus and train systems make getting from Point A to Point Z pretty easy and quick.

2. Schedules. Whether work, or bill-paying or household chores, I do not miss having to perform specific functions at a specific time on a specific day. No garbage to put out and bring in. No flower bed weeding or leaf raking.  No 8:30 am to 7:00 pm pressure.

3. Dog and cat hair. Enough said.