It’s Been a Year…

Yesterday was Easter Sunday and also the anniversary of our first year in Moscow. The year seems to have gone by so fast!

I found adjusting to life in Moscow pretty easy and feel I settled in rather quickly. I can thank Paris for preparing me for “expat wife life” and my AWO friends for showing me the Moscow ropes.

I will admit there are definitely things I still miss about the US and things I find a bit strange about life over here. Now there are many things I miss about Paris too! There aren’t too many things I can say I like more about Moscow than Paris or the US. But I still am really enjoying living here.

Okay, things I still miss about the US (in random order).

• My mom, family, and friends
• Watching my friend’s children grow up and being a part of their everyday lives
• TARGET-just no substitute
• Window screens
• Going to Purdue football and basketball games
• Convenience foods (a few examples: bagged shredded cheese, canned Campbell's soup, canned broth)
• Good Steak (Ruth’s Chris), Good Pizza (Aurelio’s), Bob Evans, and Cracker Barrell. Okay, I sometimes think about White Castle and Taco Bell too. I’m not afraid  to admit that.
• Various food items that make me a nerd: chocolate chips, bagels, BBQ sauce,  canned tuna (sorry Cassie), grape jelly, normal honey, Hidden Valley Ranch dressing, Kraft Shells and Cheese, etc…
• I’ll add for Darron: zone bars, whey protein, Mexican food,
  I am sure there’s more…

Things I miss about Paris.

• Friends in order I met them: Elise, Christina, Janae & Erin
• BREAD. BREAD. BREAD.
• The smell of bread baking as I walked past the patisserie
• Smoke –free the last year we lived there
• American library, used English bookstores, and English WHSmith Bookstore
• My hair salon in Paris-stylepixie—LOVED Vicky! My hair will forever miss her.
• The numerous choice of transportation so close to our apartment (metros, several busses)
• The ease of traveling from Paris (flying, train, driving)
• Monoprix---LOVED that grocery store!
• No visa’s needed!
• Direct flights home!
• Reliable post office!
• Going out for tea and macaroons
• Quality of food in grocery stores
• Great neighbors (we have one set of neighbors here and we’ve NEVER seen them in a year)!
• I better add that Darron REALLY misses the inexpensive red wine. Not so much for me—I missed Dr. Pepper!

Things I find interesting or have grown to like on this side of the pond:

Ummmmmm, even though I am happy here, can’t really think of anything that I like more about Moscow than home or Paris. The friends that I have met here have made Moscow a super fun place to live.  Okay, I’ve racked my brain and here are a few things…

• The obvious—the AWO group. They keep me busy and smiling every week!
• Despite the recent event, the metro system is FANTASTIC here—much better than Paris!
• Darron likes the cheap, good quality vodka
• Banyas. It was quite nice being in a sauna while being beat with branches…see post from August of last year
• Our apt. here. I love it. It’s not as close to the city center as I would have liked, but still an awesome apartment!
• They do have quite the selection of yummy sour cream here! (you just have to be sure it’s not expired!)
• Among Skype, the webcam, and the Slingbox—we are able to keep up with most things at home.
• Things are open VERY late or all night. Big difference form Paris.

We don’t know where our next assignment will be, but we are thankful for the almost 4 years we’ve lived in Europe.  We’ve met some wonderful people and seen some amazing places.