Homesickness (Part 1)

I’ve made this part one because I’m sure that I’ll be writing about it again somewhere down the line.

It’s been just over 2 months since we left Australia. Most of it has been good, some has been difficult, some has been boring…

Homesickness is a natural part of leaving your home, it’s hard enough just leaving your hometown to move to a new place for work or something else – which I’ve done several times over – but leaving your home country is a whole other thing. The little things you wouldn’t have thought about twice in Oz, are glaringly obvious here. It’s strange how the human mind works.

I’ve been watching old episodes of the Australian TV show ‘Blue Heelers’ and every time I see the countryside, I dream of home. Trees, greenery, grass, rain… There is one yard we occasionally drive passed here which has a lawn and set of swings – it has to belong to an expat.

Missing friends and family has been hard too, especially because – as a female – I relied a lot on them for advice and just for a chat. Now I have to wait for emails, facebook and MSN, all with a 6 hour time difference. And don’t get me started on the postal system… Isolation is something that I have dealt with before, I had no choice but to deal with it and become independent but again, I was in my home country and was able to do things like walk down the street or drop down to the shops just to get out of the house. I know that I should get out more here but you know, I’m quite happy being on my own – so many people just don’t understand that.

But I’ve gone off track.

The hardest thing I have dealt with so far is not having animals around me. During my period of isolation last year, I had my two cats with me, Mish and Tom, now I have me, the TV and my laptop. I recently had my birthday and my sister-in-law who is taking care of one of my cats sent me this picture of him…






…When I saw it, I just cried! See what I mean about homesickness??

And whenever just the smallest thing goes wrong, all I want to do is go home or tell someone.

I read a website that said it can take up to 2 years for homesickness to dissipate entirely when you move overseas!! 2 years! That’s crazy! And the advice the website gives is to keep in contact with friends and family at home… I think I can manage that.

So family and friends, be prepared to be inundated with emails communique from me!