Flying home for Christmas felt exciting. It has been over a year since my last visit home. This is the longest I have ever been away. It is also the first time since moving abroad that my hubby gets to come with us. Usually when flying I get overwhelmed with the chaos of travelling with young children but now my children are a little older, it was much easier. In fact, this was the first time I really enjoyed the flight. I drank wine, watched movies and slept. Yes slept, I am guessing the wine helped with the sleep.
Initial culture shock / adjustment
So here we are back in my home town. Everything so familiar yet so foreign. Nothing changed but everything felt different. It took me a few days to adjust to the cultural differences.
Seeing lots of Caucasian people and hearing the English language felt a little over stimulating to begin with. When I told people that I was feeling the effects of reversed cultural shock, they’d laugh. I guess unless you have lived somewhere away from your normal up bringing, it can be hard to imagine what reversed culture shock is.
Generally, reversed cultural shock or cultural adjustment occurs in individuals who spends a long time abroad and gets more acclimated with their new surroundings. The longer someone is in the different environment, the more they grow accustomed to the local norms. For instance, it was normal for me to be the only Caucasian in the supermarket in Hong Kong and to only hear the Cantonese language around me. Unless I ventured out to Hong Kong Island or some where else with a bigger expat / western community.
Home for Christmas
There is a big difference between coming home at Christmas and home during any other time of the year. During Christmas everything goes by at super speed and everything blends into one another. Not only did I need to fit in visits to relatives and friends, the usual jet lag and activities / day trips out with the children but also Christmas. Meaning there was no time to get board and even the ‘reverse culture shock’ feeling was fleeting.
As much as I hate feeling board, when I go back home I need to feel board. I need to realize why I moved to Hong Kong. I didn’t get this feeling, this time, which makes leaving my ‘home’ behind very difficult.
My tip to anyone going back home after a long period of time is to schedule time to feel board. This will allow time for you to reflect on why you moved away in the first place.
Things I longed for
Prior to coming home, I longed for for some true British style Christmas. I am talking about Christmas markets, the good old pantomime, Christmas carols, Christmas pudding, mince pies, all the decorations, people running around at last minute for presents and post Christmas sales etc. With all the madness of Christmas and New year, my memory of our recent trip back home seems somewhat blurry. (its a good job that I managed to take lots of pictures!). Luckily, we managed to squeeze most things that I longed.
Saying goodbye
It never gets any easier when it comes to saying goodbye at the end of our trip back home. This is the worst part of the trip. There are always tears and heartache. I don’t expect that this will ever get better, we just have to learn to ride with these feelings and let them come and go and then settle back into our usual routines.
Back in Hong Kong
So now I am writing this blog post and sat back here in Hong Kong. I loved every minute of my visit back home and can not wait to do it all over again. Living away from home makes you appreciate all the things you had back home!
