Gratitudes Part 3

#61 - I will miss snow.  I have loved the thick, multiple snows I have experienced here that we don't ave in the south.

#62 - I will miss the crowdedness of China.  Maybe not always but when I think of going to a place that is secluded or living in the country I wonder how I will respond when I go from there to living in a city with a population bigger than my home state.

#63 - I will miss the loud women selling things at the stores who use a microphone when they are standing feet away.  Louder is better!  I will also miss the random cart vendors that drive by with the same microphone or using their amazing voices that carry so far without any amplification.

#64 - I will miss seeing vendors on the side of the road and carts pulled by donkeys that sell items.

#65 - I will miss the warmness of my apartment provide merely from the government provided radiator heat.  I only had to turn on my heater when the radiators turned off.

#66 - I will miss the way I pay bills here.  Someone puts a bill on my mailbox downstairs telling me how much I owe.  There is no such thing as privacy!  Other bills involve someone coming to my house, hopping on one foot (so as not to get my floor dirty) to go check my meters in the kitchen, then they tell me the cost and I pay it on the spot.

#67 - I am grateful that I don't do life alone but am continuously surrounded by people who want to know more about me.  I love that I am so interested and people aren't afraid to ask me questions.

#68 - I will people thinking what I do, my stay at home mom job, is difficult.  In the states I feel that when people say they are a stay at home mom people think we sit on our rear ends and read books or watch tv.  Trust me, this is NOT what my life is like.  One thing about living in a culture where you are only allowed to have one child, when they see that you have more they assume you must always be exhausted.  To top that off it is normally the job of a grandparent to watch the grandchildren so the fact that I watch them myself gets me extra points.  Nationals are always impressed at me having two children and not looking crazy.  They tell me I am strong and fierce!  I appreciate their awe of what I do because training up children to be like our Father is a daily, exhausting job.

#69 - I will miss my huge apartment that I could never afford in the states, wood floors and all!

#70 - I will miss being considered the "pro" in my circle of friends because I have been married the longest and been in a foreign country longer.  It's hard going back to the bottom of the totem pole.