What I Miss Most

Culture shock has set in. Scratch that. Culture shock set in about day one of my time in Taiwan. But lately, homesickness has definitely been creeping up on me.

I know this is normal. Experts say that culture shock becomes most acute after being in a country for about two months and generally gets better in month three and beyond. But given the shake-up at Shane, I am really starting to miss the United States. By this, I don't really mean my old home in the United States. I am unable to miss an apartment in Brooklyn an hour from anywhere I wanted to be, that made it impossible for me to be anywhere later than midnight, and where I preferred not to walk around at 2:00 in the morning.

No, I am missing the kind of middle American life I thought I had left behind forever when I moved to New York. Looking through American Hotline for my class with Mickey this week, I started to wax nostalgic about the kind of typical American teen life "Jefferson Road" seeks to show: the mall, the local burger joint, the quiet houses on what I can only guess is a suburban cul-de-sac.

Here are the things I miss most (I will discuss people I miss most another time--I am not presuming to put missing people in the same category as missing things), in no particular order:

1) Having books Amazoned to me. I miss being able to get a hold of just about any English-language book in existence, for relatively little money. I looked into ordering Amazon books to be shipped to Taiwan, and the charge for shipping was $4.99 per book plus $4.99 per pound. No thank you. I'll make due with what I can find at Page One in Taipei. And put off reading A World Lit Only by Fire and various books about slavery in the Old South until I get home.

2) Netflix. Similar fixation to missing Amazon. I miss being able to get Mildred Pierce or Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion sent through the mail to me. Man, I have a craving to see All That Heaven Allows right now.

3) Not being asked to give the "American point of view" on things, as if there is such a thing. Admittedly, this hasn't happened more than a couple of times since I've been here. But I find myself ill-equipped to represent 300 million of my fellow countrymen, even if I wanted to.

4) Tuna melts with really good cheddar cheese.

5) Cheese in general, and Murray' s Cheese Shop in the Village in general. I suppose the latter I will miss permanently, as my post-Taiwan plans will probably not involve going back to the world's (or at least America's) most expensive city to face an impossible job market.

6) Ugly Betty. I have so got to get the first season on DVD when I get back to the States. By then, maybe the second season will have been released.

7) Spaghetti without a fried egg. I have spaghetti regularly at the local internet cafe where I blog, but it always comes with a fried egg on top. This is a Taiwanese culinary peculiarity I have never gotten used to. I don't really understand the obsession with fried eggs and expect I never will.

8) Chocolate malteds.

9) Black-and-white musicals with Astaire and Rogers, Mickey and Judy, or similar.

10) Shower heads that don't attach to your sink. I'm actually not sure if this is a Taiwanese pecularity, or some kind of class thing, but the few apartments I've been in in Taiwan (my own, Ruby's, and that belonging to my friend Charles) all have showers as attachments to the sink.

11) Desperate Housewives. Sunday nights just aren't the same without Bree, Lynette, and Gabby. Susan I can take or leave.

12) Books about slavery and Jim Crow. I have an interest in the topic--always have, always will. Not an interest I can do much about on this side of the Pacific.

13) Comfortable mattresses. My mattress is as hard as a rock, and there's nothing I can do about it right now. What I find myself missing most about my apartment in Clinton Hill was the dream mattress my grandmother and parents gave me as a housewarming gift, that I had to chuck in order to come here.

Activities I miss from the States include, but are not limited, to:

1) Shabbat morning minyan. Mostly for social reasons. Getting to find out what Nos and Iris Sher are up to, whether Arye Barkai is in good health, how Avi Mowshowitz is enjoying his research work. Getting the advice and support of the people I knew there, whether the question is where to buy a red hat for my mom or how to handle legal wrangling with the landlord.

2) Walking through Park Slope on a Sunday afternoon, taking in all the pretty things in the windows on Seventh Avenue, before settling down for a coffee at the Park Slope Barnes & Noble.

3) Long telephone conversations with my grandmother in Missouri, even if nothing particularly noteworthy is said by either of us.

4) Not having to choose places to eat based on my ability to get what I want by pointing or directly taking it from a buffet.

5) Checking out DVDs at Barnes & Noble or Best Buy.

6) Seeing movies. I have yet to make it to a movie in Taiwan. Partly this is because movies don't get released in Taiwan until a good 2-3 months after their release in America, so that I've seen what's currently out in Taiwan that I would have any interest in seeing.

7) Discussing New York-related things with friends, like the Atlantic Yards project or the state of the subways. I do not, however, miss New York real estate conversations one bit. I don't care who might have gotten a better deal on an apartment than I did.