Lilac Colored Glasses

Luisa, blogger of Novembrance and author of Comfortably Yum (amongst other works)asked me:

Are there any things (food, tools, magazines, etc.) from the States that you absolutely have to have? If so, how do you go about getting them?

And seriously, there really aren’t that many things that I haven’t learned to live without.  I’ve never “cheated” and used American rulers or measuring cups or scales here. I’ve gotten used to knowing about what temperature it is outside or what to set the oven to if I want to bake certain things. I can convert kilometers to miles, grams to ounces or pounds to kilos relatively quickly in my head and if I can’t I just write it down and convert it later. And while I can list a ton of things, especially foods and beverages that I miss, I don’t absolutely have to have them. You’d be amazed how much you can appreciate a gourmet hamburger or a bowl of chili or a peanut butter sandwich when you only get to have it once a year.

There are two, possibly three things that I do have to have from the US, however, and there really is no super easy way of getting it. First, and I’ve mentioned this one before, is my chewing gum. I MUST have my 5 chewing gum from Wrigley’s. I will chew no other gum, especially not the nasty, eucalyptus or menthol flavored, little hard bits they sell here. My mother is kind enough to ship me several packs of gum every couple months, cause I’ve never seen it in Belgium.
Second is shoes. I like shoes with thick, wide rubber soles and lots of support. The shoes here are crap, in my opinion. They’re over priced, fall apart fairly quickly, and usually have very narrow, very thin soles. I bought a pair of shoes here in Gent last year and they were awful. My feet hurt constantly and the soles started coming off within 3 months of buying them. Overpriced, evil foot manglers, those were. So my solution thus far is simply to buy a couple pairs of shoes while in the States. The ones I have now will definitely last me until October, when I visit for a friend’s wedding, and the ones I buy in October should get me through till next May when we’re there for the wedding.
The possible third is a hair stylist. I am very picky about who cuts my hair, only because I’ve had several haircuts that end up in me having a giant fro where my only option is to pull my hair back, lest the monster on my head begin devouring small mammals. The woman who cuts my hair is a friend of the family (my mom’s best friends daughter) and is the only person I know who cuts and layers my hair so that I can wear it down and not look like a big angry poodle. Unfortunately I can’t have my mom ship her here every few months and I’ve been dealing with a haircut once a year for the past two years when I go to the US, but my hair grows fast and I end up going through a lot of conditioner and shampoo because of it. So, I might suck it up and look for someone to cut my hair at the end of the summer. I just have no idea how to find someone good.

But other than that, I really can’t think of anything that I direly need that I can’t find here or compensate for with something else.

Except my family, of course, but I don’t think they’re quite ready to move to Gent.

Yet.

Related posts:

1. Ask And ye Shall Receive Some More
2. Ask And ye Shall Receive
3. Some Things Are Still Better The American Way
4. The Hardest Part of Being an Expat
5. In 13 Hours
6. Music Monday – Music From The Lowlands Part Deux
7. The Power of the Sparkly Purple Comb, and other preschool sensualities