Homesickness

lufties

I'm an Irish expat currently living in Hong kong, left for the big bad world around 4 years ago when the recession hit. I love living here but sometimes I get massively homesick and think about moving home, in my line of work i could probably get something in Dublin bit it wouldn't be anywhere near the package I currently get. All my family are living at home so perhaps its that and the nostalgia, thinking of the good old days. Anyway just wondered if others think like this or are happy to be gone from Ireland.

Aint Eazy Being Cheezy

Serious offer. Pm me your address, I'll post you Lyons or Barrys teabags, tayto and Cadburys.

kneemos

Johnny Electricity wrote: »

Serious offer. Pm me your address, I'll post you Lyons or Barrys teabags, tayto and Cadburys.

Karma brother.

RachaelVO

Living in The Netherlands (HATE IT), and I'd love to go the feck home. I'm mad homesick at the mo. I was home for the month of July, and it was just a killer coming back here. I just miss everything... SUCKS BEING HERE!

RachaelVO

Johnny Electricity wrote: »

Serious offer. Pm me your address, I'll post you Lyons or Barrys teabags, tayto and Cadburys.

You're a good un

lufties

RachaelVO wrote: »

Living in The Netherlands (HATE IT), and I'd love to go the feck home. I'm mad homesick at the mo. I was home for the month of July, and it was just a killer coming back here. I just miss everything... SUCKS BEING HERE!

wow, I thought holland would be a great place to be, If its that bad I would suggest moving home of somewhere else at least.

lufties

Johnny Electricity wrote: »

Serious offer. Pm me your address, I'll post you Lyons or Barrys teabags, tayto and Cadburys.

thanks for the offer johnny, but i wouldn't eat any of that stuff even when I come back..on the other hand, guinness, spuds, bacon and cabbage(not to be ingested at the same time) and my mam's home cooking, now thats a treat

RachaelVO

lufties wrote: »

wow, I thought holland would be a great place to be, If its that bad I would suggest moving home of somewhere else at least.

I know, I would if I could, Dutch hubby, kids, mortgage...

Costs a fecking fortune to live here (health insurance is compulsary and costs a fortune, although good health care system). It's mostly the rudeness and total lack of service that kills me off though.

lufties

RachaelVO wrote: »

I know, I would if I could, Dutch hubby, kids, mortgage...

Costs a fecking fortune to live here (health insurance is compulsary and costs a fortune, although good health care system). It's mostly the rudeness and total lack of service that kills me off though.

jeez sorry to hear that, surely you could discuss it with your other half, I spent time in cologne and while it was ok, I still got seriously depressed and had to get out, culturally I reckon us Irish are different and have a more relaxed outlook on life.

RachaelVO

lufties wrote: »

jeez sorry to hear that, surely you could discuss it with your other half, I spent time in cologne and while it was ok, I still got seriously depressed and had to get out, culturally I reckon us Irish are different and have a more relaxed outlook on life.

We've discussed it at great length, and I am hoping in the next few years, his difficulty is that he's an only child with elderly parents, so it's a little harder for him.

We are very different, there is a pettiness dealing with services n stuff here. I'm living for the day I lock the door and go straight to the airport. Until then I just have to suck it up. At least I'm not so far away though, it's an hour and 20 mins to get home.

Esoteric_

lufties wrote: »

thanks for the offer johnny, but i wouldn't eat any of that stuff even when I come back..on the other hand, guinness, spuds, bacon and cabbage(not to be ingested at the same time) and my mam's home cooking, now thats a treat

Gimme your address, I'll post your mam over.

anto9

>> It's mostly the rudeness and total lack of service that kills me off though. <<
I lived in Holland for 3 years and found it totally the opposite .Great polite service in shops etc .Mostly friendly people but not all .( like everywhere) .
I now have lived in Thailand for 5 years ,and dont miss Ireland but do like to return about every 2 years for a Holiday .Being older and my parents having passed away means less connection with Ireland .

camel jockey

Esoteric_ wrote: »

Gimme your address, I'll post your mam over.

Preferably not in pieces.

Caonima

lufties wrote: »

I'm an Irish expat currently living in Hong kong, left for the big bad world around 4 years ago when the recession hit. I love living here but sometimes I get massively homesick and think about moving home, in my line of work i could probably get something in Dublin bit it wouldn't be anywhere near the package I currently get. All my family are living at home so perhaps its that and the nostalgia, thinking of the good old days. Anyway just wondered if others think like this or are happy to be gone from Ireland.

OP, can I ask how old you are?

RachaelVO wrote: »

It's mostly the rudeness and total lack of service that kills me off though.

Wow, that's an eye-opener - I always felt from my experience that the Dutch were very warm and outgoing.

Johnny Electricity wrote: »

Serious offer. Pm me your address, I'll post you Lyons or Barrys teabags, tayto and Cadburys.

Dibs on this

Aint Eazy Being Cheezy

Caonima wrote: »

Dibs on this

Offers still there.. Only if you're working abroad though

lufties

Caonima wrote: »

OP, can I ask how old you are?



Wow, that's an eye-opener - I always felt from my experience that the Dutch were very warm and outgoing.



Dibs on this

I'm 31

Caonima

lufties wrote: »

I'm 31

Suppose it's normal for your age; younger people are more prone to it than older people. You're probably at a crossroads - 4 years abroad and you're wondering how much longer you have to stay before you go home. I'm 4 years abroad, not far from you, and I get it from time to time. One of the reasons I joined Boards, I suppose - to stay in touch with people back home (and abroad, natch).

carlmango11

I think a big part of homesickness is forgetting all the bad stuff and glorifying the good.

Even when I look back on certain periods of my life, or even holidays, it's always fondly even though at the time it might not have been so great. If you were to go back home for more than 6 weeks the novelty would wear off and you'd be less reluctant to leave again.

I'm away at the moment and I sometimes get it too. Best thing is to have a long lovely Skype chat with people back home and then hang out with friends.

Maybe you could go home for a month or two?

Also: I find I only get it when I haven't been filling my spare time. When I'm working during the day then hanging out with friends at night home never crosses my mind. It's only since I finished up in my job and my friends left the country that I started thinking of home.

RachaelVO

Caonima wrote: »

Wow, that's an eye-opener - I always felt from my experience that the Dutch were very warm and outgoing.

Not a bit of it

Depends on where you are mostly, in A'dam different vibe to rest of the country. I ain't in A'dam.

There is a level of pettiness when you are trying to get information and this sorted out here. No initiative shown in professional services at all.

A lot of expats here think the same (not all TBF).

How long were you here for?

Caonima

RachaelVO wrote: »

Not a bit of it

Depends on where you are mostly, in A'dam different vibe to rest of the country. I ain't in A'dam.

There is a level of pettiness when you are trying to get information and this sorted out here. No initiative shown in professional services at all.

A lot of expats here think the same (not all TBF).

How long were you here for?

Only two weeks In A'dam and The Hague. Still thought that the Dutch were a decent bunch, but I didn't really need to avail of many services there.

The OP is lucky on this front - I also feel that Hong Kong people are pretty decent and down-to-earth. Hong Kong is also pretty user-friendly, for Asia anyway.

WindSock

I don't get homesick often, thankfully as it is ****ty feeling, but what makes me really sick are the people who have to emigrate and who want nothing more than to stay in Ireland with their friends and family with the dignity of having a decent enough job. It makes me sad that so many people don't really have the option to return.
Although I do count myself lucky that I have the option to emigrate as I am not bound by family / debt / mortgage / misc.

MonstaMash

I lived abroad for many years & never returned home at all.

Curiously enough, I never got homesick...ever, until I returned on a ferry from France & spotted the Irish coast & wept like a child at the thought of returning to my homeland.

bohsboy

Dutch are robotic obnoxious bores.

Their idea of a night out is one glass of beer. A dreary place with no one venturing out after 6pm and everything, absolutely everything shut down on a Sunday.

Homesickness is awful but rest assured it comes in waves, you won't feel like that forever. I know it means nothing but you really are missing out on nothing here, the old social scene is gone, pubs are only half full on a Saturday night at best and no one has any money to do anything.

lufties

bohsboy wrote: »

Dutch are robotic obnoxious bores.

Their idea of a night out is one glass of beer. A dreary place with no one venturing out after 6pm and everything, absolutely everything shut down on a Sunday.

Homesickness is awful but rest assured it comes in waves, you won't feel like that forever. I know it means nothing but you really are missing out on nothing here, the old social scene is gone, pubs are only half full on a Saturday night at best and no one has any money to do anything.

I know, prertty much any friends I had are emigrated but i still have a few in Ireland. I'm back next week for 2 weeks so will be looking forward to it.

RachaelVO

MonstaMash wrote: »

I lived abroad for many years & never returned home at all.

Curiously enough, I never got homesick...ever, until I returned on a ferry from France & spotted the Irish coast & wept like a child at the thought of returning to my homeland.

Really were you never home even for a long weekend?

The longest I went without going home was 14 months... thought I'd never get home to see everyone. Worst thing about homesickness is that after you get home, you miss the place more for the first week or two of being back (in my experience anyway.

MonstaMash

RachaelVO wrote: »

Really were you never home even for a long weekend?

7 years & not even a long weekend & basically only a phone call on significant dates like birthdays, anniversaries etc. :eek:

Home is where you lay down at night, never really got attached to the whole country, home, house thing.

My grandmother always said I had gypsy blood in me because I was always on the move & could never settle...until now & I'm just tipping 50

Caonima

It's kinda difficult being so far away, as your friends from back home are less inclined to visit you, not to mention the cost of flights etc.

RachaelVO

MonstaMash wrote: »

7 years & not even a long weekend & basically only a phone call on significant dates like birthdays, anniversaries etc. :eek:

Home is where you lay down at night, never really got attached to the whole country, home, house thing.

My grandmother always said I had gypsy blood in me because I was always on the move & could never settle...until now & I'm just tipping 50

I could never go that long... I have to get home to sorta 'top up' my Irishness, and get teabags, crisps, chocolate and butter (HAVE to get kerrygod, butter here is like lard)

Home to me is where my Dad and sisters/brother are (Mam passed away a few years ago when I was here)

anto9

bohsboy wrote: »

Dutch are robotic obnoxious bores.

Their idea of a night out is one glass of beer. A dreary place with no one venturing out after 6pm and everything, absolutely everything shut down on a Sunday.

Homesickness is awful but rest assured it comes in waves, you won't feel like that forever. I know it means nothing but you really are missing out on nothing here, the old social scene is gone, pubs are only half full on a Saturday night at best and no one has any money to do anything.

I must have been to a different Holland than the rest on here .Where i was ( mostly Amsterdam and near by ) they drank like fish ,though mostly just at weekends .Everything being shut on Sunday is the same in Germany and a good thing in my book .To really fit in there you need to know the language ,and that was where i failed .( though i have reasonable German )

lufties

anto9 wrote: »

I must have been to a different Holland than the rest on here .Where i was ( mostly Amsterdam and near by ) they drank like fish ,though mostly just at weekends .Everything being shut on Sunday is the same in Germany and a good thing in my book .To really fit in there you need to know the language ,and that was where i failed .( though i have reasonable German )

I thought the dutch generally peak english very well?

Couldn't believe how bad people's english is germany.

weisses

bohsboy wrote: »

Dutch are robotic obnoxious bores.

Their idea of a night out is one glass of beer. A dreary place with no one venturing out after 6pm and everything, absolutely everything shut down on a Sunday.

Where did you go/stay ??? (bible belt) perhaps ?

anto9

lufties wrote: »

I thought the dutch generally peak english very well?

Couldn't believe how bad people's english is germany.

Yes ,most Dutch speak English fluently .Its when they are speaking amongst themselves in Dutch you can feel left out .Dealing with officials in Government etc ,will also leave you at a disadvantage as they will sometimes claim not to know ENGLISH .
In Germany most of the young generation ( certainly under 35 to 40 ) have reasonable English .The older generation do not it is true .

bohsboy

weisses wrote: »

Where did you go/stay ??? (bible belt) perhaps ?

Maastricht / Kerkrade area. Boring.

Micky Dolenz

I rarely ever get homesick. Home is where ever I happen to be.

Am a bit sick I couldn't be back for EP though.

anto9

I will miss the "Gathering " this year .sob ,sob .When i was back last September i got great deals on Hotels ,car hire and eating out .The recession does have its advantages .

RachaelVO

lufties wrote: »

I thought the dutch generally peak english very well?

Couldn't believe how bad people's english is germany.

They do speak good English, sure they don't dub films or programmes, all sub titled. As soon as you speak dutch and they hear an accent they'll tell you that your dutch hurts their ears and speak english to you.

NoCrackHaving

I think people mistake politeness for friendliness in a huge amount of cases. In my experience a lot of Dutch people are incredibly, incredibly polite but NOT friendly. They'll never invite you out a drink or to go watch some football or go grab some food etc. I've only ever met one Dutch person in my life so far that I would actually go friendly and outgoing, most are just unfriendly and tight bores-very, very polite bores but bores nonetheless.

crockholm

I get homesick quite a bit, came back from a 3 week holiday in July,and within 2 days had booked 2 weeks at Christmas.

Sometimes life works out even in shytty times,I would have preferred to stay in Ireland,but the option on doing that would probably mean long stints of unemployment.So I left,but always with the dream of restoring an nearly 200 year old Parsons stone house that was nearby when I came back.

Met a girl in Sweden,did a quickie marraige, had a baby (perhaps another on the way,fingers crossed),and life is here.For now.

She absolutely loves Ireland,and would consider living here.The little things like people talking to her in the street,people calling around to the house we stayed at,the kettle,coffee machine on the boil the whole time,people volunteering to babysit so we can have a night out.And family.The ties that bind families are not so strong in sweden,it is quite often a cold and individualistic place to live.We had friends,family,neighbours and cousins calling almost every day in Ireland. When we got back home,it was silence,just ourselves in our private little bubble.

She's a nurse,so I don't think she would find trouble working back home,especially if we leave it another couple of years,it's more myself I worry about on the jobs front,also,childcare is cheap here,about 150 euro per month for 1 kid,operates on a sliding scale if you have more,so we must also be patient,raising kids before school is expensive in Ireland,according to most.

We may never get that old stone house after all,but it would make me so happy to point it out to the kids everytime we pass it on the road home.

lufties

RachaelVO wrote: »

They do speak good English, sure they don't dub films or programmes, all sub titled. As soon as you speak dutch and they hear an accent they'll tell you that your dutch hurts their ears and speak english to you.

damned if you do damned if you do not!

dd972

bohsboy wrote: »

Maastricht / Kerkrade area. Boring.

Maastricht is a cracking wee city, loads of students, cultural stuff going on, even the John Mullins mock Irish pub is good.

Heerlen, Kerkrade and the rest of Limburg is dull, but you can get a bus to Aachen or a train to Liege from Maastricht and be in either place in 30 minutes.

On the main topic, where I come from is a ****hole so homesickness has never been an issue for me.

Aidric

Living in Prague for 3 years now. I am being transferred by my company to Zurich next month so see myself there for the medium term at least.

The only thing I miss about home is my family but I'm only a couple of hours flight away so can pop home when I want to. My career is very important to me and I will work in the best place to further this aim. My family understands this so it's no biggie really. I love working in different countries and integrating in to new cultures as well as making whole new circles of friends.

osarusan

Been living in Japan for about 8 years in 2 different goes.

Never really got/get homesick at all. Apart from missing Limerick FC winning promotion to the premier division earlier this year, I can't remember any event I wanted to be at home for. I'm married to a Japanese woman and have 2 kids, so maybe my own family here has an effect on this, but I wasn't married for the first 5 years here, and felt the same.

Aidric

bohsboy wrote: »

Dutch are robotic obnoxious bores.

Nothing could be further from the truth in my experience. Granted I only spent one summer there but it was the best summer of my life. Met, befriended and partied with a lot of dutch people and found them to be very open and sociable. As for the Dutch chicks, maaaan, tasty.

Caonima

crockholm wrote: »

I get homesick quite a bit, came back from a 3 week holiday in July,and within 2 days had booked 2 weeks at Christmas.

Sometimes life works out even in shytty times,I would have preferred to stay in Ireland,but the option on doing that would probably mean long stints of unemployment.So I left,but always with the dream of restoring an nearly 200 year old Parsons stone house that was nearby when I came back.

Met a girl in Sweden,did a quickie marraige, had a baby (perhaps another on the way,fingers crossed),and life is here.For now.

She absolutely loves Ireland,and would consider living here.The little things like people talking to her in the street,people calling around to the house we stayed at,the kettle,coffee machine on the boil the whole time,people volunteering to babysit so we can have a night out.And family.The ties that bind families are not so strong in sweden,it is quite often a cold and individualistic place to live.We had friends,family,neighbours and cousins calling almost every day in Ireland. When we got back home,it was silence,just ourselves in our private little bubble.

She's a nurse,so I don't think she would find trouble working back home,especially if we leave it another couple of years,it's more myself I worry about on the jobs front,also,childcare is cheap here,about 150 euro per month for 1 kid,operates on a sliding scale if you have more,so we must also be patient,raising kids before school is expensive in Ireland,according to most.

We may never get that old stone house after all,but it would make me so happy to point it out to the kids everytime we pass it on the road home.

I hear that. I married a nurse, too, and she was blown away by how nice people were back home, and we're working on a plan to get back home (or to the UK) in 3 years. We went back for a wedding and everybody treated her really well and she just lapped it up. Well, apart from the skangs in Dublin muttering their usual garbage behind our backs.

Wompa1

Living in Phoenix. Very homesick. I actually really like the people here, they are very friendly for the most part. I like the city, the roads are amazing, no tolls, road tax is cheap, income tax is low etc. For me it's the weather, the air quality and distance and time difference between here and home.

I also miss little things like going to watch a match on a Saturday afternoon. I e-mail friends every few weeks but don't talk to them a whole lot. I only talk to my parents on weekends over Google Hangout and it all depends on if they are available.

For anybody here looking for 'Irish' Foods. Frys Supermarkets have Digestives, Hob Nobs, Crunchies, Kerry Gold and a few other things.

jester77

I've been gone a long time from Ireland, never been homesick. A lot of what pissed me off about Ireland is not an issue here, so that's what probably makes it so easy.

Caonima

jester77 wrote: »

A lot of what pissed me off about Ireland is not an issue here...

Such as?

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater

lufties wrote: »

I thought the dutch generally peak english very well?

Couldn't believe how bad people's english is germany.

Most likely better than our German...

jester77

Caonima wrote: »

Such as?

Everything doesn't revolve around the pub and alcohol.
When I do want to go for a beer I am not under any time restrictions, I can go for a meal at 10pm, go to a pub at midnight and have a few beers until 4 or 5 in the morning.
People don't piss and puke all over the street after a night out.
I've never seen a fight after a night out.
Large variety of clubs playing good music, specific genre and are not full of pissheads and people trying to pull.
Excellent health care.
Excellent public transport that actually arrives on time and runs all night, haven't ever needed to purchase a car.
People don't begrudge your success and are genuinely happy for you.
No ridiculous obsession with property and property prices.
Proper summer weather and not too hot, never goes above 35.
Good childcare system.
Good unemployment system, you get 60% of your salary for the first year, you then have to liquidate any assets you have before you get further assistance.

Gummy Panda

WindSock wrote: »

I don't get homesick often, thankfully as it is ****ty feeling, but what makes me really sick are the people who have to emigrate and who want nothing more than to stay in Ireland with their friends and family with the dignity of having a decent enough job. It makes me sad that so many people don't really have the option to return.
Although I do count myself lucky that I have the option to emigrate as I am not bound by family / debt / mortgage / misc.

stop fishing for tayto and barry's teabags!!! :mad::mad::mad:

Micky Dolenz

Lived in the UK for a year, was constantly home sick. I'll never live away from Ireland again. Even not living near home is ok (temporarily) once it's in Ireland, though my ultimate aim is of course to settle at or near home.

Micky Dolenz wrote: »

I rarely ever get homesick. Home is where ever I happen to be.
.

Home for me is my home place where I grew up. I've no more attachment to other places I've lived than a hotel room, even after years living there.