Triggers

So I was thinking back to my early expat days last night remembering all the things that I used to avoid like the plague because I knew they would start me down the dark path of Homesickness.  Some of them I can handle now, some of them still get me down ever time.  And then I started wondering if there were any common ones amoung us expats.

For example, I know that hearing country music on the radio (not a CD, but from the radio, not that it happens often!), watching Seinfield, and certain movies still to this day get me missing home.

So I thought I'd ask you all -

What is it that you know will get you missing the USA?  And do you avoid these things?  Or do you save them up, and savor them when you are feeling strong?

A few others of mine are:

-- Making biscuits (about halfway thru I always think, some sausage and gravy would go great with these)
-- Blooper and Practical Jokes on rerun with Dick Clark.  Every now and then they show a clip from an American soap and it gets me missing my friends in Port Charles like mad!
-- The smell of the sea
-- Music is a big one for me.  If I hear country music that I haven't heard before on the radio, I start remembering how long it has been now since I was home and heard it all first (I'm from Nashville)
-- Overhearing colleagues or friends who have lunch dates and such things with their mothers.  Makes me realize it's gonna be a long time before I can just call up my sisters or mom and have lunch for no reason in particular.

Anybody relate to any of these or have your own??

C'mon!  Enquiring minds and all that.  

Good idea, Wishstar.    I'll think about this at work today. But in the mean time everybody.  Let's make this a LIST topic.  

I guess I'll put my 2 pence in on this one. I've been here 4 years, but like Mindy, some things do trigger a response of homesickness.

Yes, country music does it to me. Not all of it, but certain songs bring back certain memories of home (Amarillo by Morning for starters). That, and listening to the country station back in Dallas does it to me sometimes (especially when advertising of upcoming local concerts   )

My daughter must be constantly on my mind because when I see something that I'm sure she would like, pangs of homesickness and missing her kick in.

I'm sure there is more, but I was just informed I gotta take DH to the train station!

Well, it's not something I see/hear that sets me off, it's something that's missing.

It took me a L-O-N-G time to figure it out, but we'll be sitting outside at night enjoying the nice weather and someting is wrong.... I can't put my finger on it, but something is missing.

I figured it out a couple months ago.

Lightning Bugs / Fire Flies.

I miss them SO much.  So now when we sit outside I get kinda sad.

(I want to import them next time I come back from the states -- but mom says I could really be screwing with the ecology.   D*mn her for always being right.)

Sherry, Amarillo By Morning (and Luckenbach, Texas) get me every single time.  George Strait songs are definite triggers for me.

I miss lightening bugs too, Collington....and crickets.  When I was in South Africa recently, I got very teary when I was lying in bed and heard them.  (Hated the things before but now I miss them....figures!)  

I thought of a couple more today as well:

--Looking at my hometown news channel's website.  They have a video cam of Nashville from all angles and I love just watching it on a loop...watching the traffic go by (driving on the right!) and recognising places, but only when I'm feeling strong!

--Jenny mentioned this one to me today so I'm sort of stealing it but the scent of honeysuckles is definitely one for me too

Little things, but I know they both will get me every time!

Sometimes when I'm talking to my mom, I'll hear the dogs barking in the background (they have 3 basset hounds) and I'll get a pang of homesickness. Or when mom decided to make my kitty meow into the phone, that's so freaking mean.

Whenever I see a fast food restaurant (which is quite a lot) I miss all the places I would go to. Like Jack in the Box, god, what I would give for a Jack with cheese, buttermilk ranch and their fantastic fries. Oh and rootbeer...  :-/

And seeing names that remind me of home. Like Sky Harbor Airport, saw that when I was online a couple of weeks ago, it jsut popped up at me and I got misty-eyed.

I miss knowing all the names of the streets in the city. I think of that when I'm looking for a street sign (cause for some reason, they're freaking hard to find here.) There's one street in the city centre that I'll only refer to as Cactus Road (which is the street I lived on in the U.S.) only because I cannot find the silly nameplate, and it has to have a name!

Well, it's not something I see/hear that sets me off, it's something that's missing.

It took me a L-O-N-G time to figure it out, but we'll be sitting outside at night enjoying the nice weather and someting is wrong.... I can't put my finger on it, but something is missing.

I figured it out a couple months ago.

Lightning Bugs / Fire Flies.

I miss them SO much.  So now when we sit outside I get kinda sad.

(I want to import them next time I come back from the states -- but mom says I could really be screwing with the ecology.   D*mn her for always being right.)

On this particular subject, I received the following e-mail today regarding lightning bugs.......(I apologize in advance to any British readers as this was cut & pasted and includes American 'terms'  


BURNING BUG BUNS

What is the deal with Lightning bugs? I mean, here is
this rather ordinary looking flying insect, but wait...
it has a glow-in-the-dark rear end. What was God thinking?

I'm sure science has all kinds of explanations about how
this fluorescent fanny is useful for mating and other stuff,
but why did God choose to make the lightning bug glow?

There may be some crucial purpose for the Lighting bug I
don't know about, but I have a feeling it may be quite
simple. I wonder if, when God was creating all the animals
and everything around us, He came up with the idea of the
Lightning bug and said, "The kids are gonna love this."

We know that God loves us enough to create all the things
we need to survive, but does God loves us so much He created some things just to make us smile?

Just seeing Lightning bugs takes me back to those warm
summer nights of my youth. I'd be running around the back
yard with my empty Mason jar, racing toward the flashing
lights all around me. I can still feel the joy and hear
the laughter echoing through my memories. Lighting bugs
were as much a part of summer as fireworks, fresh tomatoes
and big, ice-cold slabs of juicy watermelon. (I also have a
theory of why God created watermelon seeds the perfect size
to spit, but that is another story.)

God created so much diversity in this world, much more
than is needed for mere survival. He made all of this for
us, and He wants us to enjoy it. We can get so busy
surrounding ourselves with man-made goods that we don't
notice the living tapestry God has laid out all around us.

I guess Lightning bugs do have a purpose after all. They
are a reminder of a creative God who loves us so much, He'd
even paint the rear end of a bug... just to see us smile.

Lightening bugs and crickets?  I had forgotten about those.  

Anyway, been going through a bit of homesickness lately (not bad just feel a twinge every now and then) and I've found that it helps me is to look at web cams from around my home town.

Bisquits and gravy?  Wow, I can make the down-home cream gravy but I can't for the life of me find proper buttermilk here to make the bisquits.  And the flour is just different...it's great for yorkshire puds but not for good old Tennessee bisquits.

**Sniff**  Anyway, I'll let you all know if I think of anything else.

I was talking to my FIL about the lightning bug thing, and he swears to me that they have them on the South Downs.  I think he's totally nuts, though.  But one of these nights Andrew and I will go for a walk and try to look for them.  (He says they're not as plentiful as they once were because of spraying.)   I'll let you know if I find any.

-Lisa-

what reminds me of home...silly but going into restaurants like KFC, pizza hut remind me...an english girl at work asked me the other day -- do you have pizza hut in america...i was thinking duh...we invented the restaurant...

when it snowed here a few months ago...it reminded me of home and i was glad for the little bit of snow..but in america most of the time i complained about it...

on sky news the other day..toledo, ohio was on there!!! i was so proud my city made the international news...he he...it was about a baby elephant being born there...

ahh this talk is makin me think of the hot summers in ohio and how i will miss that this summer and the chilidogs, the sound of the lawnmower - which i dont hear too often here becz of the shoebox gardens people have in this area...

re: flour ~ I've heard if you use what is called "strong" flour it is more like American all-purpose flour.

Lately it has been really warm in Scotland *whoo hoo!* and so when it starts to rain that smell of the land cooling... not quite the desert before the rain (or after) ~ but still... reminds me of home and I get all squishy inside.

Twilight ~ when it is still and quiet and warmish... my favorite time of day, but also bittersweet when I remind myself of sitting on the patio in Tucson after having enjoyed a bar-b-que and the company of good friends, strawberry margaritas and lots of laughter... and stars so close you can touch them.

Really ripe, fresh peaches ~ for some reason that really kinda set me off last week... they were really yummy!

http://www.cs.arizona.edu/camera/

I don't look at that unless I'm feeling strong... love to watch it when it is sunrise in AZ ~ the Catalinas are gorgeous.

Music is another biggie for me... I have been recording a lot of my musical stuff that I did in high school and college from cassettes on to mini-discs to make a CD for my mom for her birthday... and the stuff I've been listening to has just made be bawl ~ pretty much all week.  

Going onto another message board where the majority are American and the food discussions that they have. I miss some foods.

Another thread on this board did a 'Do you remember?' I had to chime in withh Sally Starr, Chief Halftown, Howdy Doody, American Bandstand.

Watching tv and something familiar comes on, be it a landmark or an accent

Hearing a new song from an American artist, knowing that I have missed much in the music scene.

The smells of summer makes me miss summer in hot and humid Jersey  

Holidays without family.

Hearing for the first time a couple of months ago, 'G-d Bless the USA' ,hearing 'The Star Spangle Banner', knowing that the 4th of July is just around the corner and my poor Stars and Strips will be hanging outside on its on.

Reading and writing this.

i have to agree with descartesmum...food is my main trigger, especially when i can't find a good mexican or japanese restaurant! even kfc tastes different, and no barbeque stuff and biscuits.

another thing was watching the olympics here in 2000. the coverage is so different to the american style, and it was kinda strange since of course i wanted to know who the american competitors were but had to just hope that they were profiled in addition to the brits.

at least john mcenroe does a lot of the wimbledon commentary. i think he's more interesting than the british commentators!

Hmmm, good thread.

For me, hearing crickets in films (last night), seeing the US flag anywhere, hearing the Anthem or any patriotic song (even the British anthem, as it's the tune we know as My Country Tis of Thee).

Once my mother tucked some Hershey bars into a package and I burst into tears when I opened it and found them.

Receiving new pictures of family I miss. One Christmas present I got was a calendar with family photos, I started blubbering instantly, which also got my mother-in-law choked up as well.

Those are the biggest things I guess.

I noticed that there was an American flag flying at the front of the audience at the recent Glastonbury Festival. Cool.   That did evoke some pangs too.

*sniff*

Well, it's not something I see/hear that sets me off, it's something that's missing.

It took me a L-O-N-G time to figure it out, but we'll be sitting outside at night enjoying the nice weather and someting is wrong.... I can't put my finger on it, but something is missing.

I figured it out a couple months ago.

Lightning Bugs / Fire Flies.

I miss them SO much.  So now when we sit outside I get kinda sad.

(I want to import them next time I come back from the states -- but mom says I could really be screwing with the ecology.   D*mn her for always being right.)

OH man, I miss those too.  Those and hummingbirds.  And roadrunners.  And bluejays...and cardinals.