Owlspotting

I am boarding my flight to Romania in a matter of hours.

Below are a few of the things I will miss about America (43 is also the number of months I’ve been away from home). Although this is a numbered list, it is not a ranking. I hope that one day I will return to add to this list. Until then, goodbye.

1. Being here.
2. Being Bufnita to the Huhurez.
3. My friends.
4. American breakfast, complete with pancakes, big omelets, bacon, waffles, grits and coffee refills.
5. The rooftop of my Washington, DC apartment.
6. The “thump” sound the Sunday NY Times made when it dropped outside my door.
7. My other magazine subscriptions: The Atlantic, The New Yorker, Esquire and Wired among them.
8. Thursday Night Fights in Boston (Bang the nut, bitch!).
9. Tuesday Night Margaritas in Columbia, Mo.
10. The American dinner and a movie date.
11. Biking the trails of Missouri in the summer.
12. This American Life.
13. The “light as a feather” bureaucracy.
14. Being responsible for little else but myself (aka “Having a savings account”).
15. Spending hours in coffee shops with wireless fired up to the max.
16. The smell of New York City.
17. Thanksgiving dinners (more mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce, please).
18. Going to shows of bands large and small (I heart The Decemberists).
19. Feeling safe on the streets.
20. Talking about American politics (especially presidential contests) and the culture (wars).
21. A functioning media landscape.
22. Small art-house theaters (big up to the Ragtag).
23. My soccer teams: The Church of Soccer (in CoMo) and Powder House (in Boston)
24. Everyone who put up with my pestering self and was there for me regardless of it.
25. Discovering roads, cities, places, people, food (I want oatmeal raisin cookies!)
26. Putting on a non-iron shirt and looking serious.
27. Dissecting football plays during playoffs (pass interference, damn it).
28. Speaking English.
29. Writing English and getting paid for it.
30. Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
31. My bosses and my mentors–they’ve taught me more than I learned in 20 years of school in Romania.
32. Micro-brews and not so micro-brews (I heart Blue Moon beer).
33. Goodwill and The Salvation Army (always the best collection of furniture).
34. Using and abusing the word “awesome.”
35. Saying: “Our nation’s capital.”
36. Doing a strong Romanian accent to entertain the troops.
37. Waking up to NPR’s “Morning Edition”.
38. Being this other person called “Cristian”.
39. Learning and anguishing over becoming “a writer.”
40. Explaining America to the less understanding Romanians.
41. Toilet bowls–high water level is what the whole world needs!
42. Making lists about it.
43. Did I say all of it?