Epitaph: A game of "Miss / Don't miss"

What we'll miss:

P: The scenery. Probably the number one thing we'll miss. Scenes like this,

and this,

and this.

The flatlands and soulless suburbia of West Chicagoland are its antithesis.

P: Roundabouts. They keep the traffic moving. Great idea!

P. Good booze, cheap. From the grocery store, right across from the chips and crackers. 'Nuff said. ;)

P: Crossroads Church. The community of believers we participated in that made living over there even tolerable. We couldn't have done it without them. A church made up of English-speaking expatriates from all over the world, headed by a mensch of an American pastor from Wisconsin. The maturity of their faith, missioneering and dedication to friendly community, combined with the sheer necessity of banding together in the face of an indifferent if not hostile foreign culture made the whole experience unique in our lives. The church experience in our native culture often pales by comparison...

P: The possibility or promise of tourism. Unfortunately it was hardly ever realized, one of our enduring regrets. Kids and budgets made visiting all the places we wanted to see next to impossible.

P: Exotic vehicles, and the annual Geneva Auto Show.

P: The vibe and buzz at CERN, hanging out with all these other physicists and wanna-be physicists from all over the world. Fermilab is a lot quieter place.

K: I'll miss the daily walks with the kids to one of the two scenic parks.

K: And the temperate climate - I'll miss the quality of sunny days in France.  And the clouds wafting over the Jura or Mt. Blanc on a brilliant day.

P: ...absolutely. The weather was never unbearable. We were glad to miss last year's winter in Minnesota!

K: The Farmer's Market!  One of the most fun things of all!  Sight-seeing there and snacking were fun - as was going to the park in Ferney-Voltaire with the kids.

K: I'll miss praying with Lorraine and Jenny, my prayer partners there, my Women's Bible Study on Tuesdays and helping to lead worship with Katya at Crossroads.  I'll miss my dear friend Rowan (also an ex-patriate from New Zealand). 

K: I'll miss meeting people from all over the world and zoning out listening to the buzz of multiple languages being spoken in the playground.

What we won't miss:

P: The Geneva stoplights. Roundabouts give way to stoplights in the city center, and boy do they bring traffic to a standstill. Everything about travelling into Geneva by car says, "Don't! Stop! Forget it! Turn around! We don't want your car here!"

P: 19.7% sales tax. 10% tax in Chicago is bad enough.

P: $7/gallon gas. $3.50/gallon in Chicago is bad enough.

P: $20 movies in the theater, $8-9 for renting one DVD for 24 hours.

P: Inconvenient store hours. Nobody's open on Sunday afternoons. Many offices aren't open on Mondays, and often offices are closed for two hours over lunch.

P: Having to keep track of three currencies all the time. Our budgeting will be so much easier now!

P: Narrow parking spaces. Any wonder why our car looked so dinged up?

P: The sense of isolation, being 6-7 hours of time zone difference away from family and friends.

K: Having people look *through* me or ignoring me when I was shopping.  I do so love hob-nobbing with the populace - if only they'd hob-nob back with me!  I soon realized that even if I had learned French, people generally don't indulge in hob-nobbing there to the extent that I enjoy it here in the USA.

K: The non-inclusive mentality towards people who are "different" - and lack of services for children like Benjamin.

K: Tiny, skinny women.  By contrast, I felt like a huge, white American everywhere I went, even at my skinniest! 

K: French, the language.  I tried four times to learn it and it was so tedious that I just gave up.