Things I’m going to miss

It’s just starting to dawn on me that I’m leaving the country for a long freaking time in two weeks. Aside from the obvious family and friends (which is so emotionally big that I’ll be dealing with it for a while), here are some things that I’m going to miss about the good old US of A:

--running whenever I feel like it. This is one of the perks of living in rural Oregon I suppose—if I want to go for a run at two in the morning because the moon is full and it’s beautiful, I can. Something tells me that harsh winters, unfamiliar surroundings and my horrifically bad sense of direction will keep me limited to lots of sit-ups.

--forensics. I love speech and debate to the point where I’m pretty sure that I’ll end up coaching somewhere someday. Ever since I stopped growing at 14 and basketball was no longer an option, forensics has been my life and it will be hard for me to walk away, even for two years. I’ll probably try to start up a debate team wherever I land—how do you say “turn” in Ukrainian?

--eating crappy food. I’m a notoriously picky eater so I’ll miss the ability to not wonder what’s in my double-decker taco or double-whopper instead of staring at borsht for half an hour and deciding if it’s edible.

--great movies and television in English. I probably see half a dozen movies a month, so this will be a big step for me. Time to dust off the “save until I delete” feature on that TiVo for Grey's Anatomy!