What I miss

Being back in Arizona makes me miss a lot of parts of life in Eastern Europe and more specifically Ukraine/Latvia. I'll make a list for you to enjoy!

1. I miss public transportation. Having to drive for about 80 minutes everyday to work and back isn't as fun as riding a bus or marshrutka!

2. I miss the food. Puzata Hata. Narvessen Hot Dogs(LV). Felichita. Val's mom's cooking. Even the pizza at Tam Tam was good!


3. I miss the language. As hard as it was to function in Ukraine not knowing Ukrainian very well. I love hearing it, learning it, studying it, and being immersed in it


4. I miss having my own authentic Soviet apartment. Eventhough it had crappy old furniture, I miss the feeling of a small cozy place. Now that I have a wife, I yearn for it even more!

5. I miss the unpredictibility. Everything here in my home town is so predictable and boring. Being over there, it was new all the time. That may fade in the future, it may not last long, and if i moved to another state here in the US I may have the same thing, but I still miss that feeling.

6. I miss ministry. I realize this is one I can do here. But I miss it there more than here. Ministry outside of your culture has the most potential to be either a disaster (which I have seen) or a huge success(which I have seen). It seems this is less pronounced in your own culture. Ask me the same thing in 5 or 10 years and I may have a different opinion though

These are just a few I am sure. Hopefully I can come up with later the things I don't miss.

Michael