What I Miss

What I miss

March 17

I’ve been here in Kitale for 10 weeks now and I must say there are things back home that I really miss. Aside from my family I mean. Things that I start thinking about and all I want to do is get on a plane and come on home. I never thought I’d miss things as much as this, and it’s not just things but it’s food as well. 

I miss my stuff. I know stuff shouldn’t be focused on but I’m being honest here OK. I miss being able to watch my TV. I know it shouldn’t matter, but TV here is so horrible. If you don’t have a satellite dish you get like 4 channels. Now the shows are either in Swahili or in English. The English shows are OK, but it’s nothing like NCIS or Hawaii 5-0. Then the actors here just don’t do it for me, if you catch my drift. Then there are some shows that are filmed in Mexico but dubbed in English, and those are sorta ok, but most of the time the plot is so easy to figure out. Then there is really no variety of shows to watch. There’s no Food Network, TLC, USANetwork, Discovery, and a host of others. It’s so sad really. Well for me it’s sad ok. I must say that if TLC’s What Not To Wear ever did a show here in Kenya it would be a HOOT!!! Up here in Kitale fashion isn’t what you’d expect. 

I miss my truck.  I know I shouldn’t but I do. I miss not being able to drive my own self where I need to go. Like today for instance. I needed to go into town to get some stuff printed, but I couldn’t go because it was raining. I get to town via a motorbike, and there’s no way on this earth I’m going to get on a bike when it’s raining outside. It’s just not safe to do so.  So I miss my vehicle. 

I miss the foods I like.  Pot Roast, Fried Chicken, Taco’s, Hamburgers, Potato Salad, Macaroni salad, Chicken and rice, Steak, Baked Potatoes, and the list goes on and on. I miss my favorites. Coffee Ice Cream, Chocolate Pudding, Cake with yummy frosting, most of these you can’t get here. I did find Coffee Ice Cream at the Coffee Shop, but it’s not like home. I would love a piece of cake, yellow with chocolate frosting, oh ya that sounds so good to me. You see, cake here isn’t cake at all. It’s yucky. I just don’t like it and I don’t see the point of eating it if I don’t like it. What I did find here are grapefruit. Expensive as all get out, but so totally worth the money to buy them.  In town, there are no Mexican, Chinese, or Italian restaurants to be found at all. Maybe in Eldoret there might be, but here in Kitale that would be a NO.  Then driving to Eldoret isn’t easily done because the road is crap and not something you do on a whim.

I miss my house. I miss my front window with my plantation blinds. I miss how the light comes through in the mornings. I miss my office where I can be surrounded by my books and my computer and printers and be totally content. I miss my Aspen Trees in my back yard and how the leaves flicker in the wind. I miss my books, I know silly, but it’s true. My books don’t just reside in my office, they are basically all over the house. They are like dear friends that will come along with me to visit another world in story. Love my books. Here in Kitale books stores aren’t what you would think, but that’s another story. I miss my shower!!! Man I miss my shower.  I miss hot water spraying down on me.  I miss my queen size bed with the pillow top and my down comforter.  Here in Kenya I don’t have a pillow top mattress, what I have instead is a really thick hard mattress made of foam.  I bought this mattress because the one that was there was thin and broken down so it didn’t provide any comfort between me and the boards supporting the mattress. Then today the faucet on the shower here broke so I’m not sure how that’s gonna get fixed. More than likely I’ll buy the parts and then have someone fix it.  I miss my kitchen and my sink OH and my dishwasher. I really miss my washing machine and dryer.  I did my wash today and it’s hanging here in my room, and not drying because it’s been raining. UGG    Man I miss HOME.