Home Sweet Home?
It seems a long time since I last posted, 6 weeks actually which in the blogging world is about a million years! My flow of words and life, in general, has been interrupted by some time away from Thailand. After an eventful 9 months, it was time for our first trip back to the UK.
Before we left, I was feeling a combination of both excitement and apprehension. I was clearly excited to see family and friends, we had a wedding to go to and a holiday to the Jersey Shore, but I was also a bit worried about how I would feel being back in my home country but essentially homeless, with the building I do call home around 6000 miles away.
Obviously, we had to leave the dogs behind in Thailand which was probably adding to my anxiety. I knew they'd be absolutely fine at home with Rena but it's only natural to question whether it's a good idea to leave your only dependents in the care of a 23-year-old Burmese maid who you've only known for 9 months! The alternative was sticking them in the kennels/daycare where they'd be locked in a room and in the care of total strangers so I think we picked the best option. And Chris had made various backup plans should Rena decide to 'do a runner'.
I had also heard of something called 'Reverse Culture Shock'. This was discussed in an episode of the Bangkok Podcast, a podcast aimed at expats where they discuss various topics relating to Bangkok. The episode in question explained 'Reverse Culture Shock' as a phenomenon that occurs when you've lived in a foreign country for at least 6 months and you make your first visit back to your home country. Nothing is quite how you remembered it and you don't feel like you quite belong. You'll tell stories to your friends about your new life and they just won't quite get it, and will ultimately be disappointed.
In fact, when we arrived back in the UK I didn't feel like that at all. Maybe it was because we barely stopped to take a breath at any point in the trip and I was just delirious, but it felt like everything was exactly the same as when we left.
One of the first people we spoke to when we landed did happen to be Thai. I can't remember meeting many Thai people when I lived in the UK so it did seem strange that we would get into a very long conversation with a Thai waitress in the Premier Inn. We must have been giving off some sort of 'Thai vibe' and she was magnetically drawn to us. Anyway, maybe it eased our transition.
We went back to our village for a flying visit to see our wonderful neighbours and take in a pub lunch, and as we drove in I felt like I'd only been there the week before. Other than looking at our house now occupied by other people (who are not maintaining the garden I might add) nothing was weird at all.
Anyway, it was a fantastic trip but I think it did make us both realise that we're not as settled in Thailand as we might have thought we were. Don't get me wrong, I'm not comparing 3 weeks of catching up with friends, boozing and general merriment to normal life (well, maybe a little), but going back does make you realise how much you miss.
Reading other Thai expat blogs and following various social media accounts, it feels that there is almost a competitive element to how settled you must be in Thailand, and how much you should just reject your former life in your home country. Everyone else seems to know everything about Bangkok, every district, every café, bar, and restaurant. And everyone's apparently conversing in near-native Thai with taxi drivers and street food vendors. I still feel like I've only just arrived!
I'm sure there's an element of bravado about the whole thing, despite these 'settlers' being so content with their life in Thailand, they all seem to pay a fortune for expat TV channels, have a disturbingly strong knowledge of the whole range of 7eleven products and actually spend their free time in Irish pubs.
I just question how quickly they make that decision to live here forever and to almost never return to their home country, not even to visit their elderly parents. I'm happy to keep my options open, but that really does include options other than staying in Thailand.
Home Sweet Home?
Before we left, I was feeling a combination of both excitement and apprehension. I was clearly excited to see family and friends, we had a wedding to go to and a holiday to the Jersey Shore, but I was also a bit worried about how I would feel being back in my home country but essentially homeless, with the building I do call home around 6000 miles away.
Obviously, we had to leave the dogs behind in Thailand which was probably adding to my anxiety. I knew they'd be absolutely fine at home with Rena but it's only natural to question whether it's a good idea to leave your only dependents in the care of a 23-year-old Burmese maid who you've only known for 9 months! The alternative was sticking them in the kennels/daycare where they'd be locked in a room and in the care of total strangers so I think we picked the best option. And Chris had made various backup plans should Rena decide to 'do a runner'.
Reverse Culture Shock
I had also heard of something called 'Reverse Culture Shock'. This was discussed in an episode of the Bangkok Podcast, a podcast aimed at expats where they discuss various topics relating to Bangkok. The episode in question explained 'Reverse Culture Shock' as a phenomenon that occurs when you've lived in a foreign country for at least 6 months and you make your first visit back to your home country. Nothing is quite how you remembered it and you don't feel like you quite belong. You'll tell stories to your friends about your new life and they just won't quite get it, and will ultimately be disappointed.
In fact, when we arrived back in the UK I didn't feel like that at all. Maybe it was because we barely stopped to take a breath at any point in the trip and I was just delirious, but it felt like everything was exactly the same as when we left.
And Who Should We Meet...
One of the first people we spoke to when we landed did happen to be Thai. I can't remember meeting many Thai people when I lived in the UK so it did seem strange that we would get into a very long conversation with a Thai waitress in the Premier Inn. We must have been giving off some sort of 'Thai vibe' and she was magnetically drawn to us. Anyway, maybe it eased our transition.
We went back to our village for a flying visit to see our wonderful neighbours and take in a pub lunch, and as we drove in I felt like I'd only been there the week before. Other than looking at our house now occupied by other people (who are not maintaining the garden I might add) nothing was weird at all.
Anyway, it was a fantastic trip but I think it did make us both realise that we're not as settled in Thailand as we might have thought we were. Don't get me wrong, I'm not comparing 3 weeks of catching up with friends, boozing and general merriment to normal life (well, maybe a little), but going back does make you realise how much you miss.
Thai Expat Bravado
Reading other Thai expat blogs and following various social media accounts, it feels that there is almost a competitive element to how settled you must be in Thailand, and how much you should just reject your former life in your home country. Everyone else seems to know everything about Bangkok, every district, every café, bar, and restaurant. And everyone's apparently conversing in near-native Thai with taxi drivers and street food vendors. I still feel like I've only just arrived!
I'm sure there's an element of bravado about the whole thing, despite these 'settlers' being so content with their life in Thailand, they all seem to pay a fortune for expat TV channels, have a disturbingly strong knowledge of the whole range of 7eleven products and actually spend their free time in Irish pubs.
I just question how quickly they make that decision to live here forever and to almost never return to their home country, not even to visit their elderly parents. I'm happy to keep my options open, but that really does include options other than staying in Thailand.
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