and we are moving

[smittenbyu]

So, after 18 years of living overseas as an expat's kid & later an expat across the globe, I am returning to India (my "home") in less than a month's time. I am afraid, nervous, excited - all the emotions I feel usually when I move. This move however is a bit more apprehensive as most family in India would wonder why I would go through a culture

Comments

[anicca_anicca]

I was surprised to find how difficult it was to settle back in. You expect everything to be familiar, but obviously things are changing all the time. "Home" was the last place I thought I'd feel like an alien but I did, for at least a year or so.
It wasn't something I had prepared myself for, so I had no choice but to go with the flow.

[sans_patrie]

I moved "back home" to the US for high school after leaving before at around two years old. Honestly, despite having moved five times between countries and continents, in the interim, moving "back" to my passport "home" was the worst culture shock I've experienced.

I've been here nine years now, getting through college and grad school, and while I've adapted, I still don't feel entirely comfortable, like I belong, and I'm still itching to leave again as soon as possible.

The key, I think, (though I did it without realizing I was doing it) is to make friends with international students, other expats, immigrants... in some way, as an expat/TCK you're always going to identify most with others who feel out of their element or don't entirely belong.

[sans_patrie]

PS. I worked very briefly at the UN and it took me a day or two to realize why I felt so comfortable there so quickly -- because I was always surrounded by people speaking twenty different languages, most of which I didn't understand.

It felt so familiar and oddly comforting...

[rabow]

Oddly enough, that's something that also makes me feel at home. Being able to walk down the street and understand everything that's being said is pretty disturbing - it's like you have to pay attention to every single conversation because you can understand it!

[jenever]

i like to call it 'trying to look at words (in your native language) and not read them,' it is indeed totally disturbing!