snuggs

Hey everyone...

Just wondering how people deal with it and their own experiences...

I have been living in Canada around 18 months ( which I know is'nt that long )
but collectively I've been away from Home since 2011...

some days I just miss little things from home...

Piff Poff

Don't fight it, it's pefectly normal to get pangs. Go to your local Brit store and stock up, listen to some radio and watch some tv, get your Brit fix

however, if it's more than just a niggle and is affecting your well being, then you may have to do more - a trip back being planned may well help.

magnumpi

Agreed, a trip to the UK will be a cure, or curse, depending on how u like it. Good luck.

For the record Ive been back once. That was enough for me, I have no intention of returning again unless I'm forced to by a family incident.

Geordie Lass

In the early days I used to feel physically sick with homesickness. One of the things that got me the most was seeing photos of friends kids birthday parties on FB and knowing what we were missing (and even knowing we had made the right move all along still feeling this way).

I would have a good cry and then go out and do something or read a good book.

We took a trip back for my husbands 40th earlier this year. It cemented what we both knew - that we made the right move. It was lovely to be back but this is where we want to be.

We deliberately didn't take a trip back before being here 2 years as my unease at getting back and not knowing if the UK would feel like "home" and having to resettle on our trip back here was not a gamble I was willing to take. I needed to feel like Canada was "home" before going back.

Hope that helps - just don't fight homesickness - realize it's part of the process.

TanieBird

As others have said, it depends on how bad your homesickness is.

I have been hit badly by it on a few occasions, other times a quick trip to a British shop (or if you're lucky your local Walmart international section) to get a taste of home and all was fine and dandy again.

My first real pang of homesickness and "oh F what have I done?" was after only 6 months when my parents came to visit, then left saying they didn't know when they would be back. There were lots of tears for many weeks, until I gave in and booked a trip back after not even having been here a year! I could've happily stayed that time too and almost got to extend my visit due to BA threatening strike action.

A trip to surprise my family in Xmas 2009 (almost 4 years in) set off my worst bout of homesickness ever and I was plotting my escape for the first 3 months of 2010 - in fact the only reason I didn't pack up and leave was the fact I couldn't afford another ticket back so quickly. I was so close to not boarding my flight back to Calgary that I was actually making deals whilest waiting for the gate to show up in the departure lounge - If we don't have a gate in the next 5 minutes, that's the sign I'm supposed to stay here - kind of thing.
Turns out that my marriage was a big factor in my homesickness and inevitably the marriage dissolved a couple of years later. The point here is that there may be an underlying issue that is causing debilitating homesickness and not just the usual culture shock.

I now only suffer from homesickness at Xmas time. Yes skyping with my family is great, but seeing them after Xmas dinner when I've only just had breakfast is a very weird. I am hoping next year my parent will be here for Xmas and I can introduce my new Canadian family to some English Xmas traditions

Oakvillian

Here's the thing... if you still think of somewhere else as "home" there's a much greater likelihood that you will feel homesick. To me, home is where I live, where my immediate family are, where I have made my life. Really quite soon after moving to Canada, that concept of "home" embraced my new situation. But, having moved around a lot as a child, and having very little in the way of extended family or significant geographical roots in the UK, I appreciate that doing so was much easier for me than for some others.

If you can't separate in your mind the idea of "home" and "somewhere other than where I am now" then you're bound to feel a little discombobulated - and it's quite understandable that you should.

Are you intending that your stay in Canada has an end-point? If so, grin & bear it until then, and go "home" with good heart. If, on the other hand, you are in Canada for the long haul, it might help to try (though how, I don't know) to associate "home" with "here." In the meantime, homesickness is a genuine and sometimes completely debilitating thing, so don't exacerbate it by feeling bad that you feel bad! Are any of the "little things" that you miss available from a British store? Or is it more the intangibles, or family and friends? Not so much you can do about the latter, except to go visit or encourage them to come and visit you in your new home.

MarkG

I get confused when people here ask me about home, until I realize they mean Britain and not Canada.

Oink

But as a foreigner living in someone else’s country, doesn't get a bit tiring?

scrubbedexpat133

I think that 18 months is probably about the time in which a lot of people feel home sick. The novelty of living in another country has worn of and the reality of living somewhere else permanently has set in. I felt a bit home sick after 18 months - 2 years of living here. I think that is the period in which you will decide if you carry on here or decide to go back. There is no right or wrong answer. You will get to a point where you will just know.

As for me I have been here 4 1/2 years now and have really only started to feel truly settled in the last year or so. Circumstances along the way made it difficult, but I am glad that I saw it through. Last year I went home twice and both times I found myself looking forward to returning to Canada - Home

Little things that I was missing I have learned to do without or work round them e.g. I bake my own steak and kidney pies now Sportsnet World is great for watching rugby and footie and I download certain BBC radio programs to listen to when I am at work.

Oakvillian

But how can I be a foreigner? I'm British. It's everyone else who's a foreigner. Surely Johnny Foreigner is still Johnny Foreigner, even in his own wretched little hellhole of a country with his poor benighted compatriots? It's not entirely their own fault they're not British, you know, so allowances should be made...

Shard

So as someone in the "not homesick" camp, do you find yourself seeking out British food items or British news sources, TV etc?

snuggs

thanks for the response guys...
I do like living here and i consider this as my home... I guess its just i miss my family.. good friends etc... i know eventually I'll make good friends here eventually.

I went to the british store today and broke the bank lol...

Oink

Your nan is a bit sore.

Teaandtoday5

I would consider myself not homesick at all, but I do need Yorkshire tea, radio 4 and *whispers* 'strictly come dancing'

Simon Legree

No. I never have since 1969 !