JoanNadia
Hey everyone!
So the time is upon me. I am moving to Bali in less than two weeks. On Many 14th, my flight arrives and I will be there for a year teaching English. Needless to say, I'm excited, nervous, scared and all the above (it helps that I spent this past summer living there however.)
Anyways, I was wondering if anyone has had tricks about dealing with homesickness? I've lived abroad before, but never for this long of time. My fiance and I will be having a long-distance relationship during that year and wondered if anyone had any tips with making it work, dealing with the distance, etc.
Oh yea..and any advice about the move would be appreciated! I'm not stressing out too much, but you know, its a big change!
Jimbo
Long distance relationships suffer especially if you do not see each other at all during that time but good luck there. As for loneliness well that depends a lot on you. If you actively seek to make friends and have a social life you will be fine but just sitting by yourself will not do a lot of good.
It is much easier now with Skype and the internet to keep in touch so start off with that. Enjoy your work and try and get them your work mates to introduce you to Bal and most of all get involved with the Balinese and the culture and you wont have time to be home sick. Good Luck.
spicyayam
That's good advice from Jim. I have seen people move to a foreign country and they got so homesick and just worked and spent the rest of the time in their room. They counted down the days before they could go "home".
If you get out meet new people, locals, expats, learn the language - you will have a great time and won't be thinking of home too much. We are so lucky now we have services like Skype, email, chatting to keep in touch.
I always enjoy going back to my home country to see my friends and family, but after a few days I was always kind of eager to get back to where ever I was living. You can be away for years at a time but little changes.
Some of the first years I spent overseas were the best time of my life, so just enjoy it!
Jesse
If you stay active or like attend a full time activity or appointments during your stay, you won't get homesick especially if you enjoy them much. I usually use sports activities to kill my free time where I usually miss my family. :icon_wink:
noodles
Skype hasnt hug service, voice n video call only...lol
Agree Jimbo's posted, I felt much better after booked a return flight ticket when felt homesick, it's very useful :)
JoanNadia
I figured just as much with the basic advice of: use skype and keep busy.
Luckly, I've traveled enough to know that the worst thing you can do is to lock yourself up in your room and pout.
As much as I would love to book a flight to come visit, my teaching salary with English first doesn't allow much wiggle room for a $2000 plane ticket to the USA and back.
hinakos
I think you'll be so busy getting settled in it will tire you out and you wont have time to be homesick. That wont start until the routine day to day things set and youve got time to realise whats missing.
Getting things organised and squared away takes so much energy it kind of ensures you sleep well at night.(if you have aircon!)
Long distance relationships suck and if you can make it work please tell me. I work month on month off and even that is difficult. Bali is particularly difficult because it has a transient population. Almost everyone is here for a good time, not a long time.
If you're a guy, the girls will do all they can to temp you. Likewise for the girls (expat) living here, most of the bule guys you meet are passing through and out to party, even if they tell you thats not the case (seems like everyone is passing through......), and the local guys dreaaammmm about "trying" a bule girl! Youre man will probably be aware about the nature of transient style spots like Bali (ie lots of partys etc), which wont be too comforting for him. He may not say this bothers him, but it will be lurking underneath..........so dont feed that little monster. Doing so will be the beginning of long distance arguments, which is the beginning of the end.
Keep him up to date on the tiniest of details, ask often for his advice (even if you dont really need it), and make him feel needed even though he's on the other side of the globe. Make him feel he's part of most of your decision making processes.
As far as tips.....do most of your moving and work during the cool parts of the day and have long siesta's in between.
Stay away from Bintang and Arak, substite with San Miguel and San Miguel.
Good luck.
