In no particular order
I'm looking forward to:
1. My house in Goa with its funky peach-striped marble floors.
2. My kitchen.
3. Talking to the fishermen on the beach in the morning, peering into the boats to see what they brought in.
4. The vegetable stand I love and the vegetable guys who are always so kind.
5. Riding the scooter along jungle roads in a last ditch attempt for sanity during a busy day, or on a writing day when I need head-clearing and inspiration.
6. Lunches together in our community rooftop space.
7. Meditation and other community rhythms.
8. Peaberry coffee from Karnataka, the next state over.
9. Getting stuff made by the Nepali tailors.
10. New community members coming to join us.
11. Chatting with our neighbors, Maria and Rosario.
12. Our landlord, Cypriano, dropping in.
13. Masala Dosa from the Kamat Hotel in Panaji. (Best dose in the world!)
14. Drinking chai with the man at the fabric shop. (If we were in North India it would be almost every shop owner, but it's not as common in Goa.)
15. Using my horn when I drive.
16. Other drivers using their horns when they drive.
17. The fresh coconut seller on the beach. He rides by on his bicycle and we buy coconuts from him and drink them right there.
18. Color, color, color, color! And just India itself. I'm enamored. (but in a realistic way)
I will miss:
1. (Mostly) Clean streets.
2. Going for nature walks and finding no litter.
3. Thrift shops and garage sales.
4. The Public Library.
5. Everything working (mostly) all the time.
6. The feeling of the air here.
7. Good chocolate.
8. Absolutely, without a doubt, my family and friends, it goes without saying, except it doesn't, and here I will say it: It's the biggest heartbreak of living overseas.
9. Renee. She's not coming back this year.
10. Being anonymous in a crowd. Okay, mostly anonymous.
11. Water pressure.
12. Shade grown coffee from Guatemala.
13. Blueberries, blackberries, raspberries.
There are some complicated things too, like the fact that I am half adventurer and half domestic, half chaotic and half orderly. So the orderly part of me will miss well-ordered stores here, while the chaos-lover exults in diving back into a tangle of Indian shops and emerging with what I need held triumphantly above my head. And then I love and despise choices. I will miss the abundance of options of things to buy and I will breathe a sigh of relief at the forced simplicity.
1. My house in Goa with its funky peach-striped marble floors.
2. My kitchen.
3. Talking to the fishermen on the beach in the morning, peering into the boats to see what they brought in.
4. The vegetable stand I love and the vegetable guys who are always so kind.
5. Riding the scooter along jungle roads in a last ditch attempt for sanity during a busy day, or on a writing day when I need head-clearing and inspiration.
6. Lunches together in our community rooftop space.
7. Meditation and other community rhythms.
8. Peaberry coffee from Karnataka, the next state over.
9. Getting stuff made by the Nepali tailors.
10. New community members coming to join us.
11. Chatting with our neighbors, Maria and Rosario.
12. Our landlord, Cypriano, dropping in.
13. Masala Dosa from the Kamat Hotel in Panaji. (Best dose in the world!)
14. Drinking chai with the man at the fabric shop. (If we were in North India it would be almost every shop owner, but it's not as common in Goa.)
15. Using my horn when I drive.
16. Other drivers using their horns when they drive.
17. The fresh coconut seller on the beach. He rides by on his bicycle and we buy coconuts from him and drink them right there.
18. Color, color, color, color! And just India itself. I'm enamored. (but in a realistic way)
I will miss:
1. (Mostly) Clean streets.
2. Going for nature walks and finding no litter.
3. Thrift shops and garage sales.
4. The Public Library.
5. Everything working (mostly) all the time.
6. The feeling of the air here.
7. Good chocolate.
8. Absolutely, without a doubt, my family and friends, it goes without saying, except it doesn't, and here I will say it: It's the biggest heartbreak of living overseas.
9. Renee. She's not coming back this year.
10. Being anonymous in a crowd. Okay, mostly anonymous.
11. Water pressure.
12. Shade grown coffee from Guatemala.
13. Blueberries, blackberries, raspberries.
There are some complicated things too, like the fact that I am half adventurer and half domestic, half chaotic and half orderly. So the orderly part of me will miss well-ordered stores here, while the chaos-lover exults in diving back into a tangle of Indian shops and emerging with what I need held triumphantly above my head. And then I love and despise choices. I will miss the abundance of options of things to buy and I will breathe a sigh of relief at the forced simplicity.