by Pam Mandich

When I opened up my Facebook page the other day I saw snow. 

My friend Natalie had posted some pictures of Stouffville’s first snow. She had taken the pictures in the reservoir while out walking her dog. And when I opened up each picture - beautiful photos though they were - I was sad.

It is almost a year since my DH (darling husband) and my DD (darling daughter) set off for an adventure, leaving our wonderful home in Stouffville and getting on a plane for Abu Dhabi. And while I have no doubts we made the right decision, there are times when I just really, really miss the home we left behind.  Seeing those pictures on Facebook, the first snow, the reservoir we used to walk our dog in really made me miss home. So what do I miss?

I miss wearing a nice cozy sweater and walking in cool, crisp air at the reservoir with Kiki, my dog.

I miss 220 volt electricity. All the electrical outlets here require three prong plugs. Problem is some small appliances only have two prong plugs and others have three prongs. This means you need to plug in an adapter before you can use any two prong appliance plugs. I am constantly having to switch between using adapters and not using adapters. Quite frankly, it’s annoying. I miss the simplicity of one outlet fits all!

I miss the smell of laundry hung on the line. I do not have a dryer here and was really looking forward to that great smell clothes get when you dry them outside. But when I took down my first line-dried clothes and went to smell them - nothing. And I mean nothing. I think to get that smell, you need cool air and pine trees. Apparently you cannot substitute hot air and palm trees.

I miss buying peanut butter, the natural kind, just peanuts. Western food like that is really hit and miss here. Sometimes they have it in abundance, then it disappears off the shelves for months. DH and DD are both big peanut butter fans, so it drove me crazy when I couldn’t find it. Finally I had to resort to using my kitchen (something I generally try to avoid) and I now make my own.

I miss shopping in a grocery store where I know what everything is. It takes me a lot longer to shop here as I have stop and examine things and try and figure out what they are. And while I am pretty good now with all the fruit, I still don’t know what 75 percent of the vegetables are.

I miss knowing that the guy three lanes over will not, at the last minute, decide to turn left and then proceed to cut across two lanes of traffic to do so. Yes, believe it or not, this happens here with great regularity.

I miss seat belts in the back seats of taxis.

I miss walking around at night where the ratio of men to women is about equal rather than a hundred men to every woman.

I miss Schell Lumber, a real lumber and hardware store. Here we have an Ace and a True Value, both fake hardware stores where you can only buy nails and screws pre-packaged in limited, preset sizes.

I miss Candlelight and Memories, a place to have tea with friends and pick up a lovely present. Most of the coffee and tea shops here are chains, familiar, but not all that warm and welcoming.

I miss Chic Thrills. There are really no second hand or consignment shops here - my own personal cross to bear. Strangely, though the women here love clothes and fashion and keeping up with the latest style, they never, never throw anything out or donate it to charity. I have been told they just keep buying more wardrobes to store their things in.

But more than anything, I miss my friends. I miss Ruth’s laugh and Pat’s smile and Jan’s paintings and walks with Kathy and her dogs. I miss having Kathy over for coffee in the afternoon and planning things with Sue. I miss Kathi’s enthusiasm and talking with Renee when she does my nails.

I miss working with Wayne and Kate’s sense of humour and Sue’s Christmas cookie exchange (remember I did win the decorating competition last year even though I was gone!). I miss you all. So, Natalie, please stop posting pictures of snow in Stouffville - it makes me sad.

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