Conspicuously Absent

I know that I waxed poetic about the lack of peanut butter, but I've really been noticing the things that are conspicuously absent here. Like, for instance, there are NO drive-throughs. In a country where there's a drive through bank, restaurant or dry cleaner on every doggone street corner, it's hard to imagine a place with none. Not one. Nada. It's no wonder that they park on the sidewalk here. That's kind of a 'poor man's drive-through', isn't it?

There are no granola bars. Not a single brand. If you want a granola bar, you've got to make it yourself. All the raw ingredients are available. When I get my kitchen set up, I'll be making some. I didn't realize how much I would miss those.

No Jello. Apparently, only Americans like Jello. There are local brands of pudding available, and some packaged mixes that appear to be local equivalents. But no gelatin based products at all. Try to imagine the number of linear feet of grocery store space devoted to Jello in the US. Here, no one has even heard of it. The other ex-pats joke about it. None of the import stores stock jello because they are keeping the Brits and Scots happy. And the UK folks don't eat Jello.

There are no clothes dryers. Everyone here hangs their clothing out to dry. It's a desert--I get it--wet clothes will dry. But what if I WANT to put my clothes from the washer into the dryer and then put them away? What if I don't choose to hang up all my items and then have to fetch them a couple hours later? No choice.

You can't super size anything. There is no "large". In restaurants and bars, if you order a coke, it's one size. You get a can and a straw. If you ask for one, they'll give you a glass with two ice cubes. There is no option to get a 'large' sized anything. Drinks are tiny. And there are no refills on anything. You get charged for every cup of coffee, tea and water you drink.

And ice is a commodity much like gold. They parcel it out in tiny quantities treating you like you're wasteful for using it.

I recognize the fact that some things are culturally distinct. Like cookies. There is a huge selection of cookies and snacks. I'm randomly trying some of them. I've found one brand of ginger snaps I like but the rest have been gross. You know those 'wafer cookies' that are thin layers of crunchy waffle cookie with a thin layer of sweet icing between them? Those are WILDLY popular here. Shelves and shelves full of 'gaufre' which is French for waffle. I'm not sure what it is specifically, but whether it's taste, sweetness or consistency, all the cookies are strange. Sometimes you just want a chewy cookie, or a chocolate chip cookie, or oatmeal raisin. But no. None of those are options.

I've whined before about not being able to get cranberry juice. That's another void in my expectations. I didn't even realize how much I would miss cranberry juice (Cape Cods!) and granola bars.

Until something is missing, you don't know how much you like it. DH and I were talking about this at lunch. At one point, he reminded me we'd be back in the USA this time next week. His first inclination was to list all the places he wanted to eat when we got home. All I wanted to do was try to figure out how to get peanut butter, granola bars, cranberry juice and chocolate chip cookies into my luggage for the trip back.

--Sandee Wagner