Things I'm going to miss

So a friend just went to Japan to visit some expat friends, and was surprised by all of the things they'd asked her to bring with - is it really impossible to get proper porridge oats in Japan? (Apparently, yes) - so she suggested that I write a list of all the things I think I'm going to miss about Britain, and then see how it matches up with how I feel in 6 months time.

Well, I needed some way to write an introduction and this is as good a foray into my psyche as anything else ~

1. Tea. I don't want to be stereotypically British but TEA. I know - I know that there's green tea there in abundance and I'm up for a matcha latte as much as the next Japan-obsessed 20 year-old, but where am I going to get my proper stand-a-spoon-in tea from?!
2. Porridge. Specifically, instant porridge. What else do people eat when you get up on a winter morning and it's dark and cold and miserable, and you have to be in uni by 9am *gulp*?
3. Knowing what brands are best. I am such a consumer. But it's true - there's a comfort in knowing, for example, that supermarket-brand cleaners are basically water so it's best to fork out and get some Domestos, or, the other way round, that you don't need to spend £2 on some fussy biscuits when the 55p custard creams packet is delicious. That's all a kind of rug that's going to be pulled out from under me in a new culture.
4. Being able to read. 2 years of kanji in, I still have to stand squinting at labels in Japanese to work out what it is that I'm buying. I'm going to guess that this will get better very quickly, due to necessity, but still, that's going to be a painful process...
5. Christmas. My New Year's break starts on the 26th. Just digest that for a minute. No Christmas.  (Still, at least because of the time difference, I'll be able to skype my family just as they're sitting down for Christmas dinner, because it'll already be the evening for me) But still - for me, the most gorgeous thing about Christmas is the food! Maybe it will taste even better in 2014 if I miss ut this year...? (That's no consolation.)
6. My friends and family. Sure, there's skype, but everyone knows it's not the same as really seeing someone. (Still, at least there's skype. Imagine doing this kind of year abroad even just 10 years ago!)

And because that's going to bum me out if I just leave it there, I'm going to write a few things I'm really looking forward to about Japan. Then I can write what I'm really going to miss when I'm about to leave Kyoto, and we'll see how it matches up ~

1. The FOOD. Takoyaki, okonomiyaki, most things ending in -yaki...
2. The new friends I'm going to make. Not only the new Japanese friends, but all of the people from all over the world that will be on my course. Of course, SOAS is pretty international too, but I'm really excited about making friends who don't speak English at all - I like the idea of Japanese being our connection.
3. Kyoto. It's just so pretty! I like the architecture of Japanese suburbs, the equivalent of London's terraced houses. And from what I can glean from Google Streetview, my new neighbourhood looks just like that.
4. The nature. So I love living in London, but I've never lived somewhere so close to the edge of a city, where you can actually walk out and be in the mountains within half an hour.
5. Learning Japanese. The level I can speak now is about the same as where I got with French and German before, but I've never been truly fluent in another language. Well, we'll see about truly fluent, but I'll definitely be better than I've ever been ~

So, next time I write it'll be from Japan! Wish me luck!

~Miranda~