Homesickness

Last term I had a terrible spell of homesickness. That combined with general frustrations of being here caused me to start planning for an early return home. Luckily, I had a really good friend who helped me through that period. It was probably the worst homesickness I've ever had even when I was in Korea.

When you are an expat local friends are incredibly important. But, they can also be incredibly difficult to make and keep. Right now, I have about a dozen acquaintances and one actual friend. Sure, people call me once a month or once every other month to go out to dinner or play sports or go for a walk, but I really don't consider that actual friendship. It was worse in Korea. It was just an endless parade of people who I was friends with for a month or two at a time and then it was over like nothing ever happened.

Believe it or not I have actually discovered benefits to this seemingly lonely lifestyle. I pretty much have no choice but to seriously try to integrate into this society and see what it really feels like to be a local here. And, it has finally helped me to overcome the mental barrier I used to have about language study.

With this lifestyle nothing is permanent and everything is short lived. It can be unbelievably lonely, and incredibly liberating all at the same time. I feel another wave of homesickness coming on but thankfully I am taking a short vacation to 桂林 Guìlín with my friend in just a couple of days.