Things I (don't) miss

I just found a little folder on my computer called Things I won't miss. It must be from a few years ago, just after we moved to Portland. These are 4 things I thought I would never miss about living in Ukraine....
but now, I actually have a soft spot for most of them!

#1. Handwritten signs like this one. Miss!

After years of so-so Russian, somehow my language skills got better after leaving Ukraine. Now I could actually take on the challenge of understanding these words + deciphering that scrawl. (It says "self-serve; clean up after yourself.")

#2. The water truck. Miss!

Speaking of reading signs, the first water task was finding out when the water truck would be in the neighborhood.

Then, at the appointed hour, a line of neighbors would form behind the truck. Everyone waited with empty plastic jugs in one hand and coins in the other. D and I performed this ritual for 2 years until finally moving into a neighborhood with a water store.

It was time consuming, yes, but it got us outside in all kinds of weather + was a chance to meet different neighbors.

#3. Working in this elementary school. Hmmm....

Erasing chalk with a wet rag and waiting for the chalkboard to dry, not being allowed to turn lights on until 5 PM ("we need to economize!"), those bathrooms, and being scowled at every day by the lady downstairs at the front desk... wait, actually, I don't really miss this place. But I do miss all the students.

#4 doesn't really count, because I definitely don't miss it. This still belongs to the things I won't miss list. It's the ladies who sit in museum corners, watching you like you're a jewel thief. You know the type. Here's a couple of them on duty at a museum in Kyiv-

There's another folder tucked away inside the won't miss folder. It's the will randomly miss folder.

#1. Pizza. I even eventually got used to the mayonnaise-ketchup-combo pizzas.

#2. Everyone taking their shoes off everywhere and wearing slippers instead. This is the "outside shoes" shelf at a small IT company.

#3. People setting off big fireworks on weeknights.

#4. Playing Scrabble at Coffee Life every week with students, friends, and visiting tourists.

#5. The domofon! Best apartment invention ever.

#6. Street art. Portland has some, but it's not as colorful and not as present.

#7. Tall apartment buildings. In general, apartment buildings seemed to be very tall in Ukraine. Here, most apartment complexes top out at 3 or 4 stories. The taller buildings in Portland are home only to the very wealthy.

What about you? What do you miss about the last place you lived in?