We have now just celebrated our three month anniversary of living in the UK. We are more settled into daily life. The novelty of everyday in England has worn off a bit. During our relocation process, our cultural trainer that advised us that about three to six months into an assignment, we would start to experience homesickness. It has been amazing how accurate he was about when homesickness would start to hit. We obviously miss our family, friends, and coworkers, but there is another aspect of homesickness that I had never experienced until living overseas. It is a homesickness for the familiar comforts that define home. The environment, the food, the routines, and the sights that signal to you that you are home...that is what I am starting to miss.
This past weekend, we became members of Costco UK! I had never been to a Costco in the states, because I did not feel like AJ and I needed giant-sized packages of anything. We definitely still do not need giant-sized anything and do not have the space for it, but we had heard that the UK Costco carries some items that are not sold in the regular grocery stores. Off we went with hopes and dreams of finding the items we wished for from the states!
When we pulled into the Costco parking lot, it immediately felt a bit like home. The parking spots were huge! AJ easily pulled the car in without any worry of getting too close on either side! I opened my door the entire way and just got out! While this sounds a bit silly, the reality of UK parking spots is that they are tiny. You never can open your door the entire way. There is often a short discussion determining if there is enough room on each side for each person to get out of the car!
After joining Costco, I went to get a trolley (cart) and instantly felt at home! The Costco trolley only had two swivel wheels versus the four swivel wheels on all other UK trolleys. More swivel wheels on a trolley is definitely not better! For the past three months, I have fought with trolleys in the UK. All four wheels swivel on all their trolleys, thus making them impossible to steer without constantly balancing the weight of the groceries in the basket.
As we explored the aisles, the anticipation of finding something, really anything, from the states was heightening! I think I literally ran down the aisle when I saw a box of Ghiradelli brownie mix. I can get brownie mix at a store in our town, but the texture is just a bit different, and they are much more expensive!
I then found a mammoth-size bag of chocolate chips. Two things excited me about this find. The first was the price per ounce was incredibly cheap...just like in the states. The chocolate chunks, which are sold at my local grocery store, are fairly expensive. The second was that the chips are shaped like American chocolate chips, and I love that!
We continued to hunt for American items we were missing! Krusteaz pancake mix was our next find. Our grocery store only sells crepe mix that makes four crepes...which do not satisfy the pancake craving! We bought the oversized bag of pancake mix, which will probably last our entire time in the UK. We also found maple syrup to go along with our pancakes! Golden syrup is the common topping for pancakes here. Frankly, pancakes and waffles are not the same with golden syrup!
With each item that we added to our cart, a bit of homesickness drifted away! As we were checking our, I glanced over to the magazine rank. In the states, I love to browse the magazine rank while waiting in line. I usually avoid the magazine rank in the UK, because it makes me feel like outsider. I still do not recognize any of the celebrities or gossip on the magazine covers. While gossip magazines are not high caliber reading, the celebrities and their stories in the states provide a sense of familiarity and comfort. The Costco UK magazine rank was filled with US magazines! I quickly grabbed a US Weekly with Joan Rivers on the cover.
Our trip to Costco was successful and cured my homesickness for a bit. As I curl up with my US Weekly and a brownie, remember the lights are always on!
~W
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