My ex-pat friends get me..

We miss things at varying levels, depending on our attachment to them.

I couldn't care less about that football thing this weekend.

It's so not a part of any relevant, measurable reality.

I have NO use for anything they are selling.

I miss our great warm German house with the huge thick walls and capacious basement.

Our house here is Exactly the Right Size for us, and my best investment last year was a beautiful, efficient soapstone wood stove. This stove is right now keeping us a cozy 70F with virtually no effort and only a couple substantial logs.

It's so hard to talk about this displacement.

It's so hard to say how dishonest, how careless, how uselessly aggressive and stupid Americans seem, after participating in European society.

The vultures stink and hang about our house, and we have to find a way to banish them.

I have pretty much Had It.. it's bad enough, to get transplanted into rude society, without society being all kinds of intentionally rude.