| 1. Let's start this by keeping it real. Mayonnaise. Squeezing vinegar-tasting mayo out of a metal toothpaste container is seriously not fun. And it should be fun. Being able to huck a plastic container of mayo at your friend? Fun. Extracting the luscious gooeyness out of the plastic container with a knife? Deliciously fun. Squeezing mayo on bread, working so hard that you start to sweat? Not fun. Also gross.
2. And while we're on condiments. Free ketchup. Definitely miss that.
3. Driving....a car...you know, that we own...and that we don't have to rent...for like $200 a day.
4. Driving said car to grocery store and then sitting on my can while the groceries get transported to the house.
5. The baptist churches that I found on abandoned, tree crushed roads; built in fields and parking lots, strip malls and solitary hills. I miss the religiosity of America, the unabashed faith in something mysterious, unexplainable, illogical.
Things I don't miss about America:
1. Eating too much Mayonnaise. Because really! Mayo is not necessarily a major food group. Trading Austrian chocolate for mayonnaise is not officially a sacrifice in any real way.
2. And if I'm getting Free Ketchup, you know what else I'm ordering? Too many French Fries. Yes. I love those naughty little things. And if I'm ordering French Fries, you know what I'm not eating? Deliciously ripe, warm tomatoes, fresh asparagus from local farms, cheesy polenta, homemade northern Italian creamy mushroom sauce, basically REAL FOOD. Grown from real people, and sent to my local market. Which I love. And which I then expend effort to make. And which nourishes me and my brood on an entire different level than french fries.
3. My car. I love seeing the city on foot. I feel like I live the city instead of passing by it quickly on my way to somewhere else. We're thinking about buying a car. And I hate the idea.
4. Laziness canonized as 'efficiency.' There is almost nothing that Americans do better than marketing laziness to themselves and the rest of the world. Laziness is practically the national pass time. I'm guilty. And as I haul my groceries up five hills to get home, I often think of how much easier (read: better) it would be if I could just drive. But then I would miss yelling at my kids to keep up, every three seconds. I would miss being able to burn off the chocolate bar that I just ate as I was walking. I would miss being able to walk to a reform house which carries gluten free bread, pudding, pastas, cookies, crackers, bread mixes, bread crumbs, seriously delicious nummies for the celiac and non-celiac alike. I would be fatter if I had a car (scary...and true) and besides, I have no idea how/where/when to park in this city. It's a nightmare. My girlfriend spent most of our lovely visit to the Albertina Museum trying to 'pay' for her parking on her cell phone. How sad. And have you ever seen a woodcut by Munch? WOW. I think my favorite was Moonlight 1. She missed it. She was texting.
5. Public religiosity. The Catholic church bells I hear from my front windows and from my back windows call to a non-existent congregation. The churches are beautiful, lush, and empty. I love the quiet spirituality of a people burned by a long-ago war, a dislike for the commercialized and ancient religions alike, and an intense feeling that religion is something so sacred, that a private display is its only appropriate expression. Labels: The Move |
posted by Reluctant Nomad at 
