Missing

The power is out while I write this (January 7). What a good time to catch up on my thoughts:

I'm starting to miss fast food. Yep. Maybe it was the power of suggestion, I don't know. But Derrick posted a pic from Niger where he had a thick (presumably) beefy sandwich with cheese (and he made it himself, clearly I am falling behind in the "game"). Then I watch a movie ripped from Tivo and there was a McDonald's commercial and IN the movie there was a scene where they were eating mexican fast food.

We have been in Cameroon over a month now. It is finally beginning to sink in that we aren't going away anytime soon. While previously I have been out of the USA for up to five weeks at a time, we have now passed that. Trixy has been gone for as long as six months before, so some of this isn't new to her. From my perspective though she is also missing some of our usual foods and snacks.

So, the cravings have started. I am craving Del Taco's chili cheese fries and breakfast burritos. I am craving Taco bell menu items. I am craving a Culvers' Butter Burger and flavor-of-the-day ice cream. While Trixy has made excellent banana pancakes, I am craving the Bibbler and/or Le Peeps experience. I miss Don Pablos (even though they left before we did). I miss bottomless chips & salsa. I miss cilantro (I swear I saw it here in April, but can't locate any now).

We are still getting to know the people here. But lets face it, American English is different from other "English". While the same words may be spoken, cultural meaning can't be overlooked. We miss our friends. We miss the easy manner of conversation. We miss the spiritual insights, we miss the humor.

Still as I reflect, we are getting to know Buea gradually. We did the same with South Bend. We are just doing it very differently.

I miss jumping into one of our two cars and going for a drive, camping, sightseeing, exploring - WITH the dog. I missing having EVERYTHING in Google Maps. Want a restaurant? Look it up on Google. Want a church? Look it up on Google. Want to service your car? Look it up on Google. Want a certain type of store or product? Look it up on Google.

You didn't need to know anyone, just Google. Here, Google is of little use and people know people; people know places to go and things to do.

So, I saw a kid eating what looked like ice cream "Hey where'd you get that?" "Out front". I was in a shop having some letters printed. No one was out front, but a woman called out from inside, "The man with the cart!" Looking left and then right - ah there he is. For 100 cfa an iced cream-of-some-sort-of-flavor (I've never had before) in a cone. It was cold and sweet.