What do you miss most about your home country?

Good tidings to you all during the Holiday Season! We are far from home, and at times we feel a little homesick for our home country. Tell Germany's English-speaking crowd where you are from and is there anything special that you miss in particular? It could be something to do with Christmas, but it could also be something to do with culture, tradition or behaviorism...

Being able to buy food on Sunday. I'm hungry.

Speaking English and understanding people around me, authentic Mexican food, my cheap book stores/sales, yard/estate sales, people that know me, the convenience, bars, my crazy parents.

The sausages with bacon wrapped around them as part of the Christmas meal at lunchtime (3pm) that my Grandad makes.

I am from Germany but not currently there. I miss the Christmas markets and Glühwein (best thing about the Christmas markets), boring classes are so much easier to get through with some Glühwein. I also miss some of the German Christmas food (Lebkuchen etc.) but you could buy some of it here at Lidl and Plus so that was cool. And I'll be home in five days anyway. Also, snow would be nice instead of rain. Or just no rain or snow at all, but rain in the winter, blah. I also miss having heating.

After ten years of living in Germany, there's absolutely nothing I miss about living in the States and that goes for any time of the year.

You're in Freising, nip up to the airport, shops are open there.

Snow

Bowl Games! Ask me in three months and it will be March Madness.

Not the most missed thing but important for us women...Playtex tampons!

Barnes and Noble/Borders. And Sunday shopping.

even more missed...tampons with an applicator...only one place i can find them here and its 20 minutes away...grrr!!!

Where do you live? ob has tampons with a (cardboard) applicator, I think all drugstores should have them. Schlecker also have their own brand tampons with applicator.

Blimey... there are people here who miss tampons at Christmas?!?

I miss mince pies, stilton cheese, holly and crisp frosty mornings.

British food, as a country which is much more cosmopolitan the choice of food in terms of restaurants and even in supermarkets is far better than Germany. I might not miss the prices but I really miss the restaurants in London. Leipzig christmas market is on at the moment and it's just sausage, sausage and more sausage with some sauerkraut and a few stalls selling sweet stuff thrown in... yuk It amazes me Germany never get bored of their revolting food.
maybe that wouldn't be a problem but the restaurants aren't much better here.

I never thought I'd say this but I miss American filter coffee, the kind you can get at gas station mini-marts or Dunkin' Donuts. Usually flavoured with hazelnut or vanilla or something equivalently artificial tasting. Yes, I know I can buy a coffee maker and make my own. There's just something about the whole experience that I miss. I very rarely had this type coffee when I lived in the states, but when I go back now, I find that I can't get enough of it.

HP Sauce on a proper fry-up. Never thought I'd miss British sausages when I came to Germany, but they just don't seem to do a proper banger here. Luckily my Father in law just drove over and brought 6 bottles of HP with him, so at least I'm part way there!

I miss proper mexican food and the occasional junky fast food. I am happy that I'm sort of forced to eat healthier in a lot of ways, but you get those cravings...

I don't mind the language barrier but during stressful parts of the year or when job things are getting rough, etc, it just adds to the stress having to stumble through a language you don't know or hearing people all around you talking and not being able to understand.

Proper meat pies, beaches all to yourself, rugged landscape & proper houses with back yards & fire pits

I miss my family, the West Coast Mountains and the Pacific Ocean.

Waffle House at 3 in the morning. Hooters for Sunday football (or just for the beer, hotwings, and the tiny orange shorts!), Longhorn Steakhouse for dinner, going to Walmart in the middle of the night for shopping without the crowds, Bass Pro Shops for all my fishing and hunting needs, fried Catfish , Country Music Television as well as all the other great cable channels (discover, history, sci-fi, A&E), Philly Cheese Steaks

I'm sure I could go on all day. Sure, I miss them. But my life is here. My wife. My daughter. I haven't "lived" in the states since 1988. Hell, I'm almost afraid to go back (which I will have to do very soon when I get a final job offer in either NE Pennsylvania or Key West). We shall see how things go. But no matter how many of the above listed things I have in the states, it will mean nothing to me without my family. I'll be back to Germany as soon as humanly possible (meaning the first job I find in Germany after my 1 year requirement in the states is over).

china towns

crazy neighbourhoods where you can not dare getting out of the car in the broad daylight. (Southern parts of Chicago)

I miss Indian Food and all the different types of fruit, veg and spices I can get. I miss my 'ole mate' shop on the corner and Sainsburys. I miss TV, the stuff I used to watch with my mum like Eastenders and Casualty (don't take the piss, I know they're crap, but hey...) . I miss brandy mince pies and going to the pub at lunchtime with my colleagues and getting completely wankered then taking the tube home in Rush hour wearing father christmas hats and handing out chocolate to everyone, just because it's Christmas and we've had a few.

I miss fry-ups at the weekend and I miss the Indian jewellery shops that sell everything for a pound. I miss knowing where to get everything. I miss Portobello Road and Borough market...and to my surprise I noticed this week that I miss the Christmas songs blasting out through the speakers in all shops.

You can do fry ups here you know

bbq's, backyard cricket, the beach, it still being light at 10pm, road trips, camping trips, new years at rhythm and vines. Give me a summer christams over a winter one any day!

I miss absolutely nothing about Christmas in the UK - obscene excess everywhere nowadays. Here in Germany Christmas is still special, just as it should be imo.

but the bacon and the sausages aren't the same...

I miss most the big family breakfast we would have on Christmas day, with pancakes, bacon, freshly pressed orange juice and handmade pork sausages with gravy.

I don't miss anything - apart from fact that I used to phone my parents & they are both no more...

On 25th we do Christmas UK-style with turkey, sausagemeat stuffing, bacon rolls etc followed up by an imported pud.

I miss less and less from year to year. This Christmas things I miss (or think I miss) just ain't the same any more when I do go back.

Having been here for over nine years, there isn't much that I do miss, except being near an ocean and hot weather in the summer.

I miss my family, my mom's home cooking, the snow they just got, heck I even miss the tacky, blinking christmas tree lights my dad always put on the tree! Funny how this time of the year can make you say such things

True...you need to speak to Mik Dickinson about his bacon...tis tops. Bit stuffed for sausages tho I think.

Friendly, sociable British people. I'm using my xmas break to decide if I want to relocate back to the UK. Germany is an interesting country butI'm sorry I just can't stand the people. Everywhere I have been this year, and that includes Spain, London, the Czech Republic and France, the people have seemed more fun, smiley, alive, informal and most of all friendly.

I miss certain foods, open fires espically in a bar on a cold day, being near the sea and just the general liveliness of the place as compared to here.

Christmas in Germany wins hands down over other places, imho.
In general, the only thing I miss about Scotland, apart from friends and family of course, is the chips and curry sauce you get from Chinese takeaways. You know, the luminous greenish-yellow stuff with big chunks of onions in it. In a pan-bread sandwich, washed down with a glass of milk.

Christmas here is nice in the lead up but f*cks up the day itself. The decorating the tree, handing out the presents and having the kriskindle on the 24th is just plain ridiculous. And then nothing on the actual christmas day

Maybe it's a Leipzig thing. The people in Hamburg are, generally, very friendly. My only problem - ok, it's a big problem! - is the frustration caused by not being able to understand and use the language well enough.

My nephew's girlfriend just had a baby...and I am stuck here.

I have a two year old great-nephew by my niece who I got to see for the first time last summer for five minutes.

I miss my family and being a "there and present" part of their lives.

(p.s. I will clarify that I am hardly old enough to be an "aunt" much less a "great aunt"! )

Ok Ladies, please let me know who needs a care package of Playtex! How can you survive in those conditions!?!?!

What I miss:

Sunday shopping is a big one. After 20 months, I have still not adapted to that restriction;

24 hour shopping;

Taco smell, I mean Taco Bell;

Root Beer, or even as a desperate last resort, Dr. Pepper;

Good pet supply stores;

Aged Canadian cheddar cheese;

Celery in stalk form;

President's choice products;

My sister's cheese mouse. :-)

Good Chinese, Thai, Japanese and Indian food. It just eats me up inside when Chinese restaurants adapt their cuisine to German taste. And what's with people here not mixing it up when they order. 4 adults all ordering an entire crispy duck each? Bleh. I swear, duck is the only thing that Chinese restauranteurs can sell here.

What I don't miss?

Paying $5.69 for a 2 litre carton of milk;

That evil song, "Holly, Jolly Christmas";

Expensive chocolate.

It's funny, but it's only since the beginning of December that I have had any desire for anything from "home". And this is home now, so I suppose I will be getting used to missing those things forever. :-/ :-) It's the first Christmas since my Mum passed away. That's awfully hard to deal with.

putting the christmas tree up in time to actually enjoy it, not only have like 4 days of it. baking cookies for the neighborhood with my mom and sisters (family tradition) actually having all the family around at christmas or any holiday for that matter. the convenience of stores. if i get sick here i have to wait until i can go to the pharmacy, at home theres always a store open that i can get what i need even at 4 in the morning. being able to be my usual friendly self and not have people look at me like i'm crazy for asking how their day is going. Going out the night before thanksgiving and right before christmas to see all the friends who came home for break from college or wherever. some of the best nights out are those at the holidays. ha, hurricane parties.

being able to be my usual friendly self and not have people look at me like i'm crazy for asking how their day is going.

Me too.

What's stopping you doing that then, do you think there is a law against it or something?

Nope there sure isn't a law against putting an x-mas tree up early. We've been doing that now for 3 years without any problems. As a matter of fact if you wait too long to buy your tree then the selection isn't very good. Might as well put it up and decorate it instead of keeping it on the back porch for a couple weeks!

Just got back from shopping...what a joke here. Where are the SALES?
I actually miss seeing the line wrapped around the mall to see SANTA and hearing Merry Christmas from the clerks.
Don't even get me started about how everything will be shut from 10pm, Sat Dec 22rd-Wed Dec 26th. Stock up people.

I miss the sun blinding you after a good snow.
I miss forced air heat with a built-in humidifer..
I miss driving - I can't wait to get a car when we return. I've haven't been without a car since 1978.
I miss throwing the packages in the trunk and shopping some more. Now I have to come home or take a trolley with me.
I miss going out and cutting my own fresh 6 foot Christmas tree for less than 20 bucks. Then taking it home and decorating it. All my stuff is in storage.
I miss having an oven big enough to cook a real turkey. And a fridge big enough to hold it all while we're preparing for the big chowdown.
Going out and listening to a live local band any ole weekend night, some with no cover charge.
I miss the pot luck luncheon at work where everyone brings a dish.
Last but not least. I miss my friends and family. Oh and the Presents! All those presents...gone...this year...sniff...
**must stop now, will cry if I don't***

I could write a book on what I miss. Family and friends obviously. Friendly strangers (i.e. not gruff assholes). I was back home in a shopping mall and ran into a troop of middle-aged German guys in the food court. I stopped by just to say hello and ask them how they're doing; how their visit was going, etc. They were the rudest, unfriendliest bunch of turds I think I ever met. Like wouldn't even respond to me and I was speaking German. Got back to Germany a week later and the very first thing that happened was some rude idiot forces his way ahead of me in the line at the supermarket and then starts the whole "Ich war zuerst da" bullshit. MMan I reallly miss a country where that shit just doesn't exist.

Then there's bacon, and barbecue, and wide open spaces, and camping, and boating, and the sports, and the women, and...

Just for you China Town in Chicago from this past spring.

Definitely miss going to the mall with my friends to do Christmas shopping. Huge free parking lots, friendly people, having more than a Saturday each weekend to do my shopping, Egg nog (yes, i know but I miss being able to pick it up at the store next to the milk)... don't like alcohol in my nog either
The woman and I have both had enough of Germany, we want to own an affordable home and advance our careers so hopefully this will be my last x-mas here.

What do you miss most about your home country?

My mom. Mountain Dew. Cheap bars. and my old college roommate.

Wow, that pic of China-Town in Chicago took me home. When I was in Chicago a few weeks ago I was on the Dan Ryan expressway passing 22nd street near China-Town when I mentioned to my friend it had been about 4 years since I had gone to China-Town. Thanks for posting the pic.

M&S Sweet Chilli Chicken Wraps
Steak & Kidney Pie served with big chips and washed down with OP
Driving on the left
Pubs as opposed to Bars
Good Curry Houses
Mowing my lawn (yes, honestly)
Looking down my nose at fat tarts with blue legs in Tesco
My mates
The Grauniad in print, fresh each morning
Drizzle (no, not really)
The Lake District.