Day 43 - Home away from home

Another weekend over. Time really is zipping past. Seven weeks in, only two weeks until my first visitor arrives, and only six until my monkey is in town. I feel like I'm really starting to get settled now, though I'm still in need of a couple of hobbies to keep me entertained in the evenings (and also to give me reasons to leave work earlier than I have been doing).

I'm also having to dig deeper and deeper into my bucket to find things to talk about. The disadvantage of having a quiet weekend is it becomes much, much harder to come up with an organic blog. I've not eaten out much recently (money is still a lot tighter than I'd prefer) and I haven't done much in the way of exploring. 

That said I was taken to a very nice Korean BBQ restaurant when I was over in Houston last week (Bori). The Koreans with us said it definitely wasn't as good as home, but as they picked it I figured it would be good enough! It is one of those where the small cuts of meat are cooked at the table over the grill and you have a load of sides (soup, omelette, kimchi etc.) to dive into as well. I would have taken photos, but I was eating.

And dive in I did, much to the surprise of the Koreans! I don't think they expected my semi-reasonable effort with the chopsticks either. Oh oh oh, fun fact: Koreans are the only people who typically use metal instead of wooden chopsticks apparently - and though they confirmed the fact, none of them seemed to know why!

It's always nice for me to at least partially dispel the notion a lot of other nationalities seem to have about the British (at least the British in bulk) - that we are not a very adventurous people, especially with cuisine. I can definitely see where they are coming from, and the racks of "English Pubs offering Full English Breakfast" you see lining the Costa del Sol is testament to that. Where the British travel in great numbers, the business seems to be in providing us with what we get at home. Same can be said for language, we seem to expect people to speak ours. Or maybe they expect us to expect that and so provide it.

I'm one of the fortunate ones in that I've always travelled, and always found it very easy to immerse myself in other cultures. There is very little food in the way of food I won't try at least once (ask Natalie about the rotting shark some time!) and I think I'm quite chameleonic when it comes to other aspects. The cowboy boots and the number of phrases and US phrases I've picked up show evidence of that. And to be honest I've even started spelling the US way. Sorry.

I think part of that is a semi-defense against homesickness. By immersing myself fully in the lifestyle of wherever I am, I find it much easier to avoid longing for home comforts. In fact the only things I've ever really craved when I'm been away are people. 

It doesn't mean I forget about home, only yesterday for example I did mention that a good old bacon sandwich is long overdue. It just means I'm able to find things elsewhere that also have meaning and bring joy.

I feel things often travel better over shorter distances too. I'd always try to eat what the locals eat, do what the locals do, support who the locals support. 

When you crave what is a long way away because it is comfortable, it makes you realize how far away from comforts you might be. And that can lead to a sense of isolation, a sense of homesickness and can lead to you missing out on what is around. 

So next time you go somewhere, don't try to hard to look for home comforts. Look for things locally that you can use as home comforts while you are there. Find things that make you happy wherever you are, rather than reminding yourself that your favorites things are absent. You're (in my case many) miles away from home, so make where you are another home.

Yes absence does make the heart grow fonder, but there is something to be said for living in the here and now - especially the here.

Till tomorrow, Tom