what we'll miss

I'm cleaning out the fridge, dumping little jars of things down the sink, and the kitchen smells like an Italian deli in IndoChina-
town: a mixture of red wine vinegar, fermented bean paste, and some chunky brown stuff called Gor Keri Pickle that makes me cough.

Lately we've been wondering what we'll miss when we're in Jakarta. Years ago when I spent a semester in the Soviet Union I brought curry powder, figuring I'd long for spicy food. But after a month, I was used to potatoes and cabbage and rice, and curry held no appeal. You may know what you love, but you don't know what you'll miss. For the sake of being able to laugh at it six months later, here's a list of things I think I will crave:

1. Drinking out of the faucet. I'm already looking forward to taking Tapwater Vacations in Singapore, the only place in Southeast Asia where you can stick your head under the tap and guzzle without fear.

2. Eavesdropping - my favorite hobby.

3. Blue cheese pizza from Rockits.

4. Snow.

5. Oatmeal. You may be able to get it there, but what about the milk and the maple syrup? As far as I'm concerned, it's a package deal.

6. Being able to buy something in a drugstore without a lot of pointing, pantomiming, and mispronouncing things out of the phrasebook.

7. The Monroe County Public Library.

Tomorrow we get on the plane and what I'll miss is fresh air, leg room, and the ground, not necessarily in that order. Then, a mere 34 hours later, we'll be in Jakarta. If I can only get all this stuff down the sink. If I can only get this other stuff into a bag. If I can only get there, at last.