What I Miss the Most

On the What I'm Going to Miss the Most link above, I wrote a list of what I'm going to miss while I'm in Samoa. Now that I've lived here for a year, the time has come to update the list. I've copied and pasted the list below. The text in italics are new comments, and the list near the bottom is new.

• My family. YES! I miss them so much! Luckily I'm able to communicate with them a lot more frequently than I thought possible. Frequent communication doesn't substitute what I've missed, though. Over the past year, I've missed important family occasions, such as my sister's wedding, my niece Jayde's dance classes (and eventually performances), and my first nephew's birth, which will happen in two days.
• Missing two years of little sister Bek’s life (age 12) and niece Jayde’s life (almost 2). In the short time I've been gone, my sister and niece have grown up so much. Bek is almost 14 years old and Jayde just turned 3 years old. 
• My sister Bek's NDI dance performances. She's going to be a professional one day. Seriously. I miss going to Bek's dance performances! 
• My niece’s “terrible twos.” She doesn’t turn 2 years old until September, but she's already giving everyone a glimpse of what's to come. Haha. From what I've been told and seen/heard via Skype, Jayde is very sassy. Also, she's now able to hold a long conversation. The things that come out of her mouth are quite amusing. 
• Dance sessions with my sisters and niece. I miss these so much!
• My friends. I miss them terribly. Luckily I'm able to communicate with them on a regular basis.
• Spurs Basketball. I'm a BIG fan! YES! I miss watching every single Spurs game. It was heartbreaking (yet very exciting, of course) when the Spurs made it to the 2013 NBA Finals because I'm 6,000 miles away from my family (if I was in America, I would have been watching the games with them). Game 6 will forever haunt me. On a positive note: I'll be back in America in time to see Duncan play once more before he retires! I look forward to that San Antonio trip.
• Downtown Santa Fe, particularly the Plaza. Downtown Santa Fe is still one of my favorite places in the world. It's so beautiful and relaxing.
• Fiestas de Santa Fe. If you don’t know what Zozobra is, look it up on YouTube. It's one wild/interesting/great tradition us Santa Feans have. I miss Santa Fe's wonderful traditions. Unfortunately I'll miss Fiestas next year, as well. Come to think of it, my Fiesta days may be over... for many years, anyway. :(
• Green chile. Most New Mexicans eat green chile with everything. It's going to be interesting not eating it on a regular basis. And by regular I mean at least once a week. Yep, I still miss green chile! Read my previous post, where I talk about my first experience with green chile after one year.
• Santa Fe’s weather. We experience all 4 seasons here. It’s great. Santa Fe's weather is lovely. I miss having four seasons. 
• Fall and Spring. Still my favorite seasons. 
• Snow. Wow, it's been a year and a half since I've seen snow! 
• My family’s Christmas Eve tradition of opening up our gifts at midnight, which is technically Christmas morning. I miss this wonderful tradition. 
• Halloween (and Halloween costumes) with my cousin Ashley, who's my "twin cousin." Haha. Last year I was in PST (Pre-Service Training) during Halloween. My group and I tried to make the best of it by dressing up in costume (I was a hippie, of course) and we bowled on the beach. We used bottles to serve as bowling pins and coconuts to serve as bowling balls. This year I plan on dressing in costume and spending time with some friends. I'm glad to be able to celebrate Halloween because it's one of my favorite holidays, but... I still miss spending Halloween with my cousin Ashley! We've had some great Halloweens together.
• The view on top of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. It's breathtaking, and also one of my favorite places in the world.
• Cold drinking water. I don't miss this because if I want cold drinking water, all I need to do is plug in my refrigerator and stick my water bottle in the freezer.
• Being able to download and listen to any song, at any given moment. Yes, I miss this. I have a phone that enables me to get on YouTube and I can download music off my laptop (tethering from my phone). Unfortunately, these things use up a lot of data, so I've only been on YouTube and downloaded music while in my village a few times. If I'm in Apia, I'm on WiFi, so I go crazy and download a ton of music. Thank you iTunes Top 100 for semi-keeping me in the music loop.
• Seeing beautiful hot air balloons in the Albuquerque sky. Especially in October for the Balloon Fiesta. There's literally hundreds of hot air balloons flying at once. It's breathtaking. Balloon Fiesta is happening right now, and I miss it. If you've never taken a hot air balloon ride, I suggest taking one!
• Hot cheetos with lime. The flavor. I don't add lime to hot cheetos. Haha. I don't miss hot cheetos. This is a surprise, I know! I don't miss hot cheetos because Apia carries them from time-to-time. They're the regular flavor, though, not the lime ones, but I can't complain. Please note: Hot cheetos are not always available in Apia, so they're still greatly appreciated in care packages! :)
• Breakfast burritos. Gosh, I miss breakfast burritos.
• Green chile enchiladas (cheese, chicken, and beef). And I miss green chile enchiladas even more than breakfast burritos. Actually, I miss all New Mexican food. 
• Breaking Bad. I'm upset the final season has been broken up into two halves. I don’t know if it's Season 5-Part 2, or Season 6. Regardless, I will miss it. Yep, I miss Breaking Bad. Unfortunately, I saw a spoiler on Facebook so I know how the series ends, but I still want to watch the new episodes. My friend Nick is sending them to me. Thank you, Nick!
• Breaking Dawn-Part 2 midnight premiere with my sisters. I miss going to midnight premieres with my sisters. 
• Vegas. My friends, cousin, and I love taking trips there. Vegas is a city that I'll always love. I miss going several times a year. When I move back to America, Vegas will be one of the first trips I take!
• HLN, Fuse, Bravo, and E!. If I had to choose, HLN is the network that I miss most, but I see a lot of HLN updates on Facebook, so not having access to that network isn't a big deal.

• Watching movies at a theater, and getting kettle corn popcorn. Apia has a movie theater that plays current American movies! I'm so excited that the Hunger Games 2 will be premiered soon (I know, I'm such a kid, haha). The theater doesn't have kettle corn popcorn, but it has regular popcorn which is good enough. A new habit I've picked up is adding peanut m&ms to my popcorn... a tasty treat!
• Twitter. I’m kind of obsessed. I have a phone that enables me to get on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram everyday. Like I've mentioned above, data is expensive, so I can't check these social media sites every other second like I used to in America, but I get on them frequently enough. 
• Working with my close friends in the summer.  I miss this.
• Ice cream. Especially Blue Bunny Banana Split flavor. Samoa has ice cream! My old village in Savai'i has a shop that sells ice cream, so I used to get this treat whenever my heart desired. My new village in Upolu doesn't sell ice cream, so the only place I can get it is in Apia. That's good enough for me.
• Pizza, particularly with black olives as a topping. Pizza is available in Samoa, so I eat it on a regular basis. I never thought I'd join the Peace Corps and have access to pizza (with black olives!).
• Coachella. I've only gone once (2012), but it was one of the best times of my life. The friends I went with will be going to 2013's festival. I'm bummed I won't be able to join them. I miss music festivals, and live music in general. I'm planning on going to Coachella 2015, and will be buying my pass next summer when the pre-sale tickets are released.
• My iPhone. I miss my iPhone. I have an Android, and it doesn't compare. The Android gets the job done, though, enabling me to communicate with America, so I can't complain.
• Drinking hot chocolate during the Fall and Winter months. I've been drinking hot drinks since my first day of PST. My favorite is koko Samoa, which is like hot chocolate, except richer, with chunks of cocoa. It's delicious.
• Wearing scarves, hats, mittens, coats, and boots. Winter attire is another obsession of mine. Yep, I miss winter attire. 

UPDATE:

• Sink. I miss having a sink to wash my face and brush my teeth. At night, I go into my host family's shower, fully clothed, to wash my face and brush my teeth. I usually end up wet. I know, I should get undressed, but it's such a hassle, and usually cold.

• Having indoor facilities. I share a shower and toilet with my host family, located in a separate structure behind my host family's house. I miss having these facilities indoors
–especially when it's raining or late at night.

• Washing and drying machine. Refer to my previous post, explaining why I miss these great machines.

• Being sweat-free. Samoa is hot. I miss going from Point A to Point B without breaking a sweat. I will add, the evenings are nice and cool, sometimes even cold! I love it.

• Texting all day. My friend Andrea and I used to text each other all day long. I miss being able to do this with my friends back home.

• Wearing whatever I want. I miss being able to wear whatever I want, without it being offensive. Such as shorts. I'd LOVE to wear shorts in the village because like I've mentioned above, it's so hot here, but shorts are not appropriate village attire, and I respect that.

• Living insect-free. I miss living in an environment where insects are practically non-existent. I'm getting better at accepting ants. Frequent readers of this blog will recall my frustration with them when I first moved to Samoa.

• Having food-free dreams. I've never dreamt about food until I moved to Samoa. Now, food (even junk food) has made several appearances in my dreams. Just last night I dreamt that I was shopping at a wholesale store, and for some reason I grabbed several large packages of Reeses Peanut Butter Cups. Funny thing is, I don't care much for this candy. I guess I'm subconsciously missing things I don't have access to in Samoa.

• Having a car. Being able to go anywhere, at any given moment, is a wonderful thing.

• Privacy. Oh the days of feeling like I'm not in middle school! I miss being able to come and go as I please, at any hour of the day and/or night, without having to report my whereabouts, and without people caring that I'm not home. When you join the Peace Corps, you give up a lot; privacy being one of the biggest things, for me anyway. I look forward to getting my privacy back next year. 

I'll update in the coming months!