Home Sickness

Over the last two weeks I've been hit with a little bit of home sickness. My weekly routine seemed a little empty, something was lacking. Part of the issue I think was a general level of dissatisfaction with work; the crises and the difficulty communicating had been building and I felt fairly useless most days. Overall though, now that the challenge of figuring out the basics of living here were more or less cleared up, I felt bored and restless. Without many of my usual distractions (most of our hobby stuff / sports stuff is still in our container somewhere on the pacific) I was playing video games, re-watching old TV episodes, reading (not a bad thing) but generally moping around the house. There's only so much exploring and walking you can do in one day...

So yesterday Carly and I got off our duffs (well, I got off mine, she's been very active with work) and we went climbing. We hadn't been in about 2 weeks, in part because I had to fix my shoes. We had a great climb, pushing ourselves more then usual, then decided to try the only Lebanese restaurant in town.

About half way through the excellent meal, I realized that we had subconsciously mimicked one of our favorite traditions in Ottawa. Climbing followed by Shawarma. What I didn't expect was how good it felt, not only to have such great food, but also to integrate an old tradition into the new life. It felt comfortable but foreign at the same time and it really cheered me up!

So there you have it, my first revelation about living in a foreign land. It's not about tossing the old habits out, its about figuring out how to fit them into the new life.