It starts slowly, maybe two or three months after you’re settled into your new culture. You smell something that smells like a favorite food “back home”, or worse, smells extremely “foreign”. And, you say, “Wouldn’t a pizza taste good now?” Then, somehow your new surroundings, after painfully accustoming yourself to them and making them familiar to you, look unfamiliar, once again, “not like home”. A plane flies overhead, and you say, “ Boy, wouldn’t it be great to surprise everyone back home!” That word “home” keeps creeping into your conversations and thoughts every day, until….you’ve got it; homesickness. And, yes, sometimes it can make you literally sick; headaches, stomachaches, general malaise, fatigue and the like. The question is, what do you do about it?
Of course, you can plunge into the blues, playing your favorite tapes or CDs, over and over again, feeding your melancholy and generally make yourself and those around you miserable. Some do that, and just groan through it. Then, there are the alternatives. You don’t really want to keep feeling gloomy and glum, do you?
One alternative, did you bring with you that stash of “home” food? Some favorite chocolates, peanut butter, dried foods? I know some that go for Kraft Macaroni and Cheese in a box! Just sit down, get comfortable and savor your goodies!
You could also try getting in touch with your family back in your native country, if you don’t normally do it on a weekly basis. But, I would suggest that you limit your call to 10 or 15 minutes. The longer you stay on, in your present state of homesickness, the harder it’ll be to get off the phone, and the more you’ll feel homesick! I’m sure that there are those out there who would say,” But, I need to talk longer than 15 minutes!” Well, do what is going to help you to pull out of your “down in the dumps”, not what’s going to encourage it.
On the Internet there are many expatriate forums that you can enter and share your feelings with others who have gone through the same thing. “Misery loves company” may be true, but it’s also true that sharing your feelings with those who can understand them is a big help. A couple of examples: Tales From a Small Planet, www.talesmag.com, under its Expat Resources section, has an e-list called Spouseview, for expatriate spouses. Then there’s ¡Agora,com, www.iagora.com, which has a section called ¡people, where you can meet other expatriates.
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