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Sign up with Google Sign up with FacebookQ: How do expats deal with homesickness?
I know many of us try to keep busy but what do you do for your mental and psychological health? Do you call home? Web chat? What works for you and why?
12 years 30 weeks ago in Family & Kids - China
In all honestly, it was my choice to leave home, and I do not feel homesick at all. I do miss a few things to an extend, but it is mostly food, and since I do enjoy cooking, one of my pastimes is to do with local items what I miss from back home. I am still working on a good Gumbo, lacking good okra do.
I do enjoy traveling here to different cities, and since I do not work, I can do as I please, which is nice. Locally it is easy for me to buy cofee beans from abroad, at 30 Rmb for a 16 oz bag, so I can ghave all the coffee I want from beans from Hawaii, Colombia or Brazil. I can also get wheat flour here, and bake my own french bread, or hamburger buns.
On Internet I do get to see (and satellite TV) the football games from USA, and hold "tailgate" parties at my place with a few close friends.
No, I am not homesick, as I said, I left as a choice I made freely and willingly, and I am happy here.
Kolbol:
What's with the American hate? You guys got something to say? No? then shut it.
GuilinRaf:
Seems to me it is Sino-American hate. They cannot believe that anyone, Americans included, could actually be happy here....
I find oodles of beer with some scotch, a vpn, skype and NHL games live streamed helps me.
Staying busy though, is by far the best thing for me.
Skype and streaming a good movie or two. Plus cook for yourself at least once a week (enjoying a drink or few while cooking is an added bonus)/
I used to collect comic books, manga, italian fumetti,computer reviews which kept my mental ready for the next day... Here without it (no, I can't afford foreign version of it here, too expensive), I feel that my days are wasted.
I just keep one hope though: to find a job back to my home country and live there whatever problem there is.
I dont get home sick when in China
maybe because of the short stays or maybe that anything inportant to me is with me (Wife & Kids)
th internet satifies any info from home
I think it would have been harder if I couldn't speak Chinnese or no moden comunications to access
I am from the UK and used to get homesick but after working abroad for the last 6 years this feeling as yielded.
I have had a chinese girlfriend and we have been together for almost 1 year now. A most loving and caring girl, not like some of the wasters I met in my first year in China. I bought a little chinese dog thing who flew from Shanghai to Dalian. I also use QQ International for general chat and subscribed to UK TV on the internet.
We have a great import shop here in Kaifaqu although expensive but it enables me to cook UK, US food etc. I have a family life here now, gave up everything in the UK to be here, and enjoy my time especially at the weekends when we all get together at my girlfriends family home. OMG they accept me haha
Well, the only time that I get really homesick is when I read emails from my family, which I can't avoid. Sometimes I also get tired of eating Chinese food. Unfortuantely I live in a small city, so I don't have many options in that respect. I get online or watch TV for the English. If I couldn't do that, I'd go crazy. I eat dark chocolate almost every day, I don't think I could live without it here, since there isn't any cheese. But yeah, reading emails is the worst.
Three words: Peanutbutter & Jelly
Whenever I am homesick, that is my comfort food. After a few bites, all is right with the world again and I am ready to move on.
whenever i get home sick, i divert myself in some other things like hanging out with friends, watching movies, going to new places etc.... and thats gonna keep me good for next few weeks...
I listen to Edith Piaf and stuff my face with cheese
But it rarely happens, getting here as a teenager made it easier to feel at home.
I honestly have not felt "homesick" in years. I do miss my mom, and my dogs but I really do not miss my hometown itself.