An expat’s frank thoughts on what’s missing most after moving to a foreign country

It’s hard to think about how other people feel when they leave home. There are many of us. And scattered us all over the planet: who went to Europe, who to the States and God knows where else. For some, it was a volitional decision, and for others, life simply left no other choice. I noticed it didn't matter which one wave He left 10 years or 2 years ago. We all miss the same things.



Unsplash I left at the beginning of 2022, and during that time I managed to meet many expats. It's easier because they're not local either. We all have the same sadness. She comes to someone immediately after moving, and someone catches up only a few years later. There are those who do not miss, but this is very rare. There are many who look back on past days and say: "And remember...". The waves of emigration do not matter. Everyone has that longing. I want to share with you what people here on the other side of the border think about most.

What unites all waves of emigration Childhood. For some reason, far from home, the yearning for childhood, sometimes very early, is aggravated first of all. Suddenly I remember the smell of cutlets in the dining room, dusty school locker rooms, mother's violets on the window, football gates in the yard. The ones with which the paint slicked with flakes are so hard that you can cut yourself against it. You remember everything in such small details that you wonder: how did it even survive in your head?



Most of us. homesickness. And if buckwheat can still be found in special stores, then kvass can be forgotten. Sometimes you want a crab salad! Try finding these crab sticks in Europe. I did, by the way. Imagine that, but many never forgot. glazed. And salinity? Wet apples, cucumbers, sauerkraut tomatoes and Korean carrots. Some of the craftsmen I know have learned to make them on their own, so much missed.

This list can go on endlessly: dried fish, jelly, porridge of all colors, condensed and seed, grandmother's twists and cakes, white people. And food is half the trouble. We miss our people very much. barbecue. It is at home you can go somewhere in the undergrowth and make a fire. And then God forbid to put a tent somewhere outside the special parking lot - immediately a fine soldered.



You should know how my countrymen miss their hairdressers and manicurists. Yes, and I was bored at first, I could not get used to the fact that I just can not afford a hairdresser. Therefore, I found a friend, also in exile, and learned to level the tips of each other. It's hard here with beauty-business - expensive, and most importantly not qualitatively. But our masters, who went abroad, are very popular with locals.



Unsplash Things That Are Priceless But You Get used to Food Quickly You get used to other dishes and spices. But much more than I, like thousands and millions of others, miss things. which cannot be bought. Sometimes, it’s funny to say, I miss what I used to hate or just didn’t pay any attention. I'm not the only one.

For example, for grandmothers in transport with short crimson and purple hair. Miss me. saleswoman From a kiosk with bright blue shadows and a chimzaviv. For some reason we all lack trolleybuses with their long horns, which occasionally drop sparks on the roadway.



Some people (and many others) miss their garden. Some even have street cats and dogs, which in Europe during the day with fire can not be found. But most of all, we all miss simplicity.

When he just took and shared what lies on the heart, not constrained by the intricacies of a foreign language. Just went and went to friends on a street familiar from childhood. I just took care of the tax issues. I took and arranged with someone to buy or sell. When everything is simple and ordinary, because it is native, and not when every day lived is a feat. The waves of emigration have changed that simplicity.

What people in exile feel is very sad with our communication. You see, alive. communication Many people search for years and never find. At home, it can be difficult to find friends and like-minded people, and away from home it is a task with two stars. That's how to sit in the evening and nastalgia about a chubble on some avenue. Or remember the prices of the products. It seems that it is incurable: go to the supermarket and count everything on your own money. Just for fun.



Unsplash people miss nature and familiar horizons. Some in the fields, others in the forests. And they move, usually, not focusing on such trifles. And even if they do, favouriteThe forests and fields are different. What about family? Not everyone moves in families, especially now. Not all families survive such tests. Therefore, for most of these people, life is even more clearly divided into before and after.

Someone is emotionally very difficult to move and generally loses all the joy of life. They miss their hopes, grandiose plans, and old version. And thousands of small things: flowering linden, villages, girls in fur coats, a jam bowl, an amusement park.



But most of all, we miss a world without war. The saddest thing for our man is that it will no longer be. And that there are things that really can not be returned, even if you return home. We are. Not without joy, of course, but sometimes we meet when fate brings us together at the same table, and we miss. What do you miss?