What to take & what do you miss most? .....

[joette]

It looks like my nephew & wife & wean will be off to the wilds of Spokane to join her family there-sometime next year.
Her Dad will probably off for another tour in Iraq so it will be a good time for James to offer a wee bit extra support to Mum-in-law.
They can't afford for her to be a stay at home Mum & buy a house in Scotland.The prices are beyond his salary.
The plan is that they will purchase some land off the in-laws & build their own.
James will be homesick & I know he will miss his folks.I am trying not to think about them being so far away.My wee sis will be in bits.
What are the things that helped you ex-pats feel at home there?
He gets on well with the in-laws & is best mates with Amy(his wife) brother.Our cousins/Aunt live a few hours drive away so he will have some family in the same time-zone.
What should he take to help him settle? They will have a webcam for the showing off the wean etc & phone calls etc.I was always ok when abroad & than a letter or phone call would arrive & I would be in tears& homesick again.
He is a stoic type & not one to share his feelings much.
What are the things YOU all miss most & what helped the most to help YOU feel at home.
I am hoping to spare him a few pitfalls.

[Anne H]

I wasn’t quite 20 years old when I came over here as a “domestic” on what was only supposed to be a bit of an adventure for a year. I cried my heart out all the way from Prestwick to JFK and just couldn’t be consoled. I wanted to go back home after a few months…I was so miserable and lonely. I lived with a nice family but they weren’t my family and I didn’t know a soul, but them. I remember calling home one Sunday and told my parents (who didn’t want me coming here in the first place) that I wanted to come home, but they advised, after coming all this way, to stay and give it a go for a year to see if I still felt the same way. Eventually I met up with a couple of girls from England and that made a big difference; one thing led to another, and here I stayed. I finally settled down and liked living here somewhat, but at the same time, didn’t really like it here …hard to explain!

I’ve gone back home to live on at least three different occasions but couldn’t settle down there either…for me, the old saying is true …you can’t go back home…it doesn’t stay the same. It took over 30 years before I actually felt at home here. It happened about eight or nine years ago when I was returning from a holiday back in Scotland. I was coming down the escalator in Orlando Airport and there at the bottom were two dear friends waiting to give me a big hug to welcome me back home…that was the first time I felt at home and it was a wonderful feeling! So now here in Florida when I talk about home, I’m talking about Scotland, and when in Scotland, it is Florida I call home.

I still get homesick though and miss my family. I miss being able to just “pay a wee visit” to family and friends but make do with the phone calls and the odd letter. To cheer me up, I have my Scottish tapes and CD’s, I get the Scottish radio on the computer, my wee comedies on Saturday, my Mystery with Miss Marples or other sleuth on Sunday nights, and my recent find, “Monarch of the Glen” on Monday nights, so now I even hear a couple of Scottish voices on TV, and quite often I run into a tourist from Scotland and many from England.

Joette, it will be different for your nephew having family, relatives and friends around, although I don’t doubt he will get homesick and miss all those left behind…you just can’t help it! If anything, my advice for anyone would be to embrace and accept the new country, make new friends, get involved in something, and just enjoy life, remembering the old, but not always longing for what was left behind.

I wish them luck and prosperity in the new life they are about to embark upon.

Regards,
Anne H

[HeatherH]

Hi Joette,
12 no make that 13 moves in 21 years I would have to say pictures .Whenever I got to missing home and the family I could always have a walk down memory lane.
Happy Hunting,
HeatherH