Appreciation

Yes, I am homesick. I never knew I´d miss American food so much. Bagels and cream cheese, crunchy peanut butter, REAL green salads with spinach and not white iceburg lettuce, Wisconsin cheese, homemade cookies, my beloved veggie burgers...oh, how I miss these things. I miss cooking and baking so much. (Note to loved ones back home: I WILL be using your kitchen to satisfy my cooking urges when I return.) I miss the comforts of home. I miss having a comfy, quiet place to just sit and read and drink REAL drip coffee, not instant. I miss my kitties, and my friends and my family. I miss taking care of myself instead of being cared for like an 8 year old. (My host family cooks my meals and a lot of the time even serves me at the table, does my laundry, and even insists on washing my dishes.) I miss the calmness and order of Minneapolis. This is my lame analogy to compare them: whereas Lima is a ferocious tiger in its chaotic-ness, Minneapolis is a harmless little kitten. I miss being able to go for a run and not have to worry that I just may get run over by a car or twelve. And being able to run without having at least five obnoxious construction workers, truck drivers, and/or watchmen whistle and make disgusting kissing noises at me. Hello, people! I´m not running to show off my legs! I´m running for exercise and because it helps me stay sane! But apparently anyone who wears shorts or a skirt at any time in this city, ESPECIALLY a gringo like me, is asking to be whistled at. I do admit, though, that bare legs are a rare site in chilly, cloudy, misty Lima. In Minneapolis, nobody bothers me. And in Duluth, only the wild animals look at me funny when I run. :) I miss the relatively quiet vehicles in the U.S. And that people generally respect traffic laws and cars have working seatbelts. And that pedestrians always have the right of way. I miss clean air and clean buildings and clean parks without dog poo everywhere (no, no one picks up after their pooches). Although my rant may not make it seem that way, I am good humored about everything and there is so much I love about being here, including that my host mom´s cooking is delicious and plentiful, that my Spanish is improving tenfold, that I live so close to the ocean, that everything is soooo cheap, and that I´m making really awesome friends: peruvians and other Americans. However, being here also has made me appreciate so much about where I live. We have so many luxuries that so many people here could never even imagine. It´s hard to imagine how some people live the way they do here, in such a chaotic setting and having to work so much to earn so little and just scrape by. Yes, I am spoiled. Americans are spoiled. I have so much, but now, more than ever, I appreciate all of these things. I think that this is one of the greatest things I´ve learned here.