It is better to travel in hope than to arrive.
I am a citizen of the world. (Mahatma Gandhi.)
Problem
When I worked at the British Council I learned that people who went to live overseas go through three phases:
1 Excitement at the novelty of a new country. (First day, first week, first month.)
2 Homesickness. (Missing family and friends, familiar foods, items you can't buy, services you can't find, new friends who leave, help withdrawn since you are no longer new, temporary accommodation in hotel replaced by home where you have to do your own cooking and cleaning and organising.
3 Settling in. (You have a doctor, dentist, friend, companions at work, people in local shops who you remember, neighbours.)
4 Return home - appreciate home. Appreciate country you have visited.
Sometimes it is a joy to return home and find that you did not appreciate your home country until you left.
Advantages Of London
Waste Disposal
In London, England, I love having a waste disposal. I like having letters and post delivered to my door (not left in a postbox like in the USA and Singapore - although in any country things which have to be signed for and big parcels and urgent deliveries can come to your door.
In London I appreciated knowing that kitchens would always have hot water and windows. Our first rented flat in Singapore, in a new block, had no hot water ("You can use a kettle." It had unglazed windows. "To let the smell out.")
English Food
You can buy English food overseas, if you divert to an expensive supermarket. But in the UK it's everywhere. I remember arriving in Singapore and apologising to a British girl I met at an expat women's association. I said, "I"m so sorry, I've only got a tin of baked beans." She replied, "That's wonderful! I've just come back from Papua New Guinea. Over there you'd kill to get a tin of baked beans."
Some countries are difficult. One country in Africa was so difficult to live in, so isolated and physically and mentally challenging, that instead of the usual one year assignment, teachers of English had to be brought back after six months before they got ill or had a mental breakdown and turned suicidal.
Overcoming Isolation
Overcoming isolation involves several actions:
1 The attitude that you will make the best of it.
2 Trips home or Skype so you can see and talk to people, friends, family, colleagues from base, familiar faces and voices.
3 Physical contact. People who hug you, or trips home to see family. Skype won't give you physical contact. Failing all else, a dog or animal to be your friend, giving friendly eye contact, distraction, empathy with your mood, sympathy when you are sick, lonely, or sad, and touch and somebody who listens.
4 Travellers And Ex-pats Who Stay In Contact
People who stay in contact by email, on Facebook, or on Skype, from your home country, or going back to your home country to prevent isolation when you get home.
5 Status and friendship.
If you are welcomed as a teacher or doctor or visitor or customer.
Possibilities are:
Student and volunteer schemes.
Starting your own help organization.
Working for charity, fund-raising, liaison, Gofunding, sponsored rides.
and safety in your new country.
6 Safety
If you have a guide in person, advice on the phone, safety garments, contact with local hospitals, doctors, dentists, embassies, friends locally or back home.
7 Overcoming Depression - For travellers and ex-pats
Depression comes in two types:
1 Every day temporary depression - you miss sleep or haven't eaten. Most important in hot countries is hydration.
Same whether sightseeing, shopping, in hospitals and at home. If you have difficulty swallowing or no access to fresh water you become lethargic. You miss appointments, don't go out and see people. Americans keep bright and cheery by drinking water, provided free all around in hotels, everywhere.
Stress
Exams. Students who are likely to fail, or fear they might, get stressed.
2 Underlying depression
Clinical depression, permanent, even if no reason for it.
Conclusion
It's useful to know the stages of mood. But it's not enough. When I first arrived in Singapore, I knew I would go through the homesick phrase.
I was not working and had no work permit. I had no idea how easy. (Admittedly after initial difficulty finding my university certificate. I emailed our son in London to look for it. Nowhere to be found (not son, certificate.) It must be on the wall in a frame, I insisted. Maybe behind another one. Sure enough, it was hidden behind another in a frame on the wall). After that, it was easy to get a work permit. (A school organised it for me. I went back to the UK and came back with my university certificate proving I had a university degree. The day I arrived back I went straight to the school. They sent me in a taxi with a typed brief note saying I was a native English speaker urgently needed for teaching a class starting an hour later. In twenty minutes I was back with my work permit!
What Can You Do About Stress
Be safe not sorry. Wear pic pocket proof clothing. A place for everything and everything it its place. Carry a refillable water bottle. Drink water and go to the toilet before you need it. Find out about ex-pat groups, local employment and sources of finance and help (banks and hospitals) before you or your colleagues need it.
Link up with local people and with ex-pats. (Some people prefer one or the other.)
For local links:
National
Your national association or ex-pat association or learners of your language, or teachers of the local language.
Sport
Your sporting association, golf, tennis, worldwide running, cycling, any sport - meet international or local joggers, dog walkers, tennis players, golfers, swimmers, motor bikers, followers of football or car racing.
Culture
Cultural association: Friends of the museum, volunteer guide at a local museum, which may give training and organise events to thank volunteers. Groups of writers. Book clubs.
Language
Languages - learn the local language.
No good at languages?
Travel and see the world for free in the safety of a group? Join the army or navy or air force. If you don't like fighting - be an office worker, language teacher or technician. No skills - be a cook. You can train from about age 16 to be a cook. I met recruiters for Navy cooks at a food show in London. Instant family and friends.
No good at languages? Learn Esperanto. Their passport puts you in touch with people worldwide who will put you up for free for up to three days in their home if you are willing to speak Esperanto to them. (Take an Esperanto dictionary and your Duolingo ap and practice in advance with the help of the Wikitravel phrase book.)
Keep busy. Stay Happy.
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.
I am a citizen of the world. (Mahatma Gandhi.)
Problem
When I worked at the British Council I learned that people who went to live overseas go through three phases:
1 Excitement at the novelty of a new country. (First day, first week, first month.)
2 Homesickness. (Missing family and friends, familiar foods, items you can't buy, services you can't find, new friends who leave, help withdrawn since you are no longer new, temporary accommodation in hotel replaced by home where you have to do your own cooking and cleaning and organising.
3 Settling in. (You have a doctor, dentist, friend, companions at work, people in local shops who you remember, neighbours.)
4 Return home - appreciate home. Appreciate country you have visited.
Sometimes it is a joy to return home and find that you did not appreciate your home country until you left.
Advantages Of London
Waste Disposal
In London, England, I love having a waste disposal. I like having letters and post delivered to my door (not left in a postbox like in the USA and Singapore - although in any country things which have to be signed for and big parcels and urgent deliveries can come to your door.
In London I appreciated knowing that kitchens would always have hot water and windows. Our first rented flat in Singapore, in a new block, had no hot water ("You can use a kettle." It had unglazed windows. "To let the smell out.")
English Food
You can buy English food overseas, if you divert to an expensive supermarket. But in the UK it's everywhere. I remember arriving in Singapore and apologising to a British girl I met at an expat women's association. I said, "I"m so sorry, I've only got a tin of baked beans." She replied, "That's wonderful! I've just come back from Papua New Guinea. Over there you'd kill to get a tin of baked beans."
Some countries are difficult. One country in Africa was so difficult to live in, so isolated and physically and mentally challenging, that instead of the usual one year assignment, teachers of English had to be brought back after six months before they got ill or had a mental breakdown and turned suicidal.
Overcoming Isolation
Overcoming isolation involves several actions:
1 The attitude that you will make the best of it.
2 Trips home or Skype so you can see and talk to people, friends, family, colleagues from base, familiar faces and voices.
3 Physical contact. People who hug you, or trips home to see family. Skype won't give you physical contact. Failing all else, a dog or animal to be your friend, giving friendly eye contact, distraction, empathy with your mood, sympathy when you are sick, lonely, or sad, and touch and somebody who listens.
4 Travellers And Ex-pats Who Stay In Contact
People who stay in contact by email, on Facebook, or on Skype, from your home country, or going back to your home country to prevent isolation when you get home.
5 Status and friendship.
If you are welcomed as a teacher or doctor or visitor or customer.
Possibilities are:
Student and volunteer schemes.
Starting your own help organization.
Working for charity, fund-raising, liaison, Gofunding, sponsored rides.
and safety in your new country.
6 Safety
If you have a guide in person, advice on the phone, safety garments, contact with local hospitals, doctors, dentists, embassies, friends locally or back home.
7 Overcoming Depression - For travellers and ex-pats
Depression comes in two types:
1 Every day temporary depression - you miss sleep or haven't eaten. Most important in hot countries is hydration.
Same whether sightseeing, shopping, in hospitals and at home. If you have difficulty swallowing or no access to fresh water you become lethargic. You miss appointments, don't go out and see people. Americans keep bright and cheery by drinking water, provided free all around in hotels, everywhere.
Stress
Exams. Students who are likely to fail, or fear they might, get stressed.
2 Underlying depression
Clinical depression, permanent, even if no reason for it.
Conclusion
It's useful to know the stages of mood. But it's not enough. When I first arrived in Singapore, I knew I would go through the homesick phrase.
I was not working and had no work permit. I had no idea how easy. (Admittedly after initial difficulty finding my university certificate. I emailed our son in London to look for it. Nowhere to be found (not son, certificate.) It must be on the wall in a frame, I insisted. Maybe behind another one. Sure enough, it was hidden behind another in a frame on the wall). After that, it was easy to get a work permit. (A school organised it for me. I went back to the UK and came back with my university certificate proving I had a university degree. The day I arrived back I went straight to the school. They sent me in a taxi with a typed brief note saying I was a native English speaker urgently needed for teaching a class starting an hour later. In twenty minutes I was back with my work permit!
What Can You Do About Stress
Be safe not sorry. Wear pic pocket proof clothing. A place for everything and everything it its place. Carry a refillable water bottle. Drink water and go to the toilet before you need it. Find out about ex-pat groups, local employment and sources of finance and help (banks and hospitals) before you or your colleagues need it.
Link up with local people and with ex-pats. (Some people prefer one or the other.)
For local links:
National
Your national association or ex-pat association or learners of your language, or teachers of the local language.
Sport
Your sporting association, golf, tennis, worldwide running, cycling, any sport - meet international or local joggers, dog walkers, tennis players, golfers, swimmers, motor bikers, followers of football or car racing.
Culture
Cultural association: Friends of the museum, volunteer guide at a local museum, which may give training and organise events to thank volunteers. Groups of writers. Book clubs.
Language
Languages - learn the local language.
No good at languages?
Travel and see the world for free in the safety of a group? Join the army or navy or air force. If you don't like fighting - be an office worker, language teacher or technician. No skills - be a cook. You can train from about age 16 to be a cook. I met recruiters for Navy cooks at a food show in London. Instant family and friends.
No good at languages? Learn Esperanto. Their passport puts you in touch with people worldwide who will put you up for free for up to three days in their home if you are willing to speak Esperanto to them. (Take an Esperanto dictionary and your Duolingo ap and practice in advance with the help of the Wikitravel phrase book.)
Keep busy. Stay Happy.
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.
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