Wanna Go Home?

[donna]

i miss christmas (not that im that religious) because i miss the get togethers with my family. i have a niece who i have never seen, and a GREAT NEPHEW (god how OLD am i) who i have never seen also.

i miss birthdays.

i miss my friends.

and i am missing them so much more that the moment as im going through a bit of a hard time with a relationship and i just want someone to hug!

I understand you,

not the same but here's the best I can offer right now,

HUG

Take care

Here go you Donna, a big hug

Thanks ladies. I needed that.

[jdinasia]

Donna .... is it time for a couple of drinks tmw night? <I have a massive headcold ... but am off anti-biotics as of tonight ... back to the Dr tmw .. but if he Rx's more I will wait til Sun to start them ... I need a few drinks out!>

I miss a few things back home ... mostly SEEING family <talk to them daily online .. not quite the same> also southern cooking and my sis's BBQ's in Denver in the winter (snow on the ground ... 12 man hottub ... drinks ... and applewood smoked tenderloin!)

Perhaps only living here 3 years hasn't got me to the point where the societal things bother me ... or perhaps I simply adjusted well!

Edited November 3, 2006 by jdinasia

[manjara]

i miss christmas (not that im that religious) because i miss the get togethers with my family. i have a niece who i have never seen, and a GREAT NEPHEW (god how OLD am i) who i have never seen also.

i miss birthdays.

i miss my friends.

and i am missing them so much more that the moment as im going through a bit of a hard time with a relationship and i just want someone to hug!

I understand you,

not the same but here's the best I can offer right now,

HUG

Take care

Here go you Donna, a big hug

Thanks ladies. I needed that.

Disclosure: I'm a guy, but sometimes I want to go home too, for similar reasons

I think it's my friends that I miss the most, and having intellectual conversations (i.e. not about football, girls or someone's stupid antics)

I don't want to go and hang out in crappy pool bars, I want a change from Irish bars, I don't want to sing karaoke.

I want to be able to buy decent wine at a reasonable price, good food (but a change from thai/italian sometimes!), I'd like candles on the table even if it's not a 5000 baht a head place, cheese, salt and vinegar crisps, the Sunday paper (on Sunday).

[donna]

jd, i would LOVE to go for a few drinks tomorrow night. i actually had some plans but have had to cancel for a work thing.

but how about the following saturday night? lets move it to the phuket forum and DO IT!

[jdinasia]

jd, i would LOVE to go for a few drinks tomorrow night. i actually had some plans but have had to cancel for a work thing.

but how about the following saturday night? lets move it to the phuket forum and DO IT!

I have to be in BKK on the 12th ... friend's 60th BD party!

[jdinasia]

ooops dbl post!

Edited November 3, 2006 by jdinasia

[redwater]

Wow!!! Reading all these posts about people from other countries that were or are in Thailand missing their home countries make me feel weird. I'm Thai and I've been living in USA for over 10 years now. I guess we all have something to miss when we leave our home countries. For me, it'd have to be my family and my friends I miss the most. I miss hugging my mom and my brother, talking with my sisters, nice beaches in the south, authentic Thai food, hanging out with my friends, cheap and good hair salons, shopping in Siam Square and MBK, Thai comedy, Song-Kran and Loy-Krathong.

Things I don't miss about Thailand: humidity, almost everyday hot weather, sweats when I get out of a shower, gossips, certain sayings from older people, "You shouldn't do that because you're a girl!", air pollution, water pollution, noise pollution and traffic in Bangkok.

I can't say that Thailand is my home any more. I don't feel that going back to Thailand is like going back home. It's still my home country though. And I can't really say that US is my home country but I do feel like home whenever I come back from Thailand.

It's weird isn't it how one can change the way they feel about what the place they call home.

[donna]

redwater, you have summed up my feelings exactly. I am australian and have been living in thailand for over 7 years now.

the "you shouldnt do that because you are a girl" is a crack up. and SO, SO true! i find that my boistrous laughter gets right up peoples noses, but i just cant help it sometimes. why hide the fact that you are happy, or find something really funny? isnt that part of 'sanuk'?

i find that when i return to australia now, i have culture shock in reverse.

funny, hey.

[redwater]

redwater, you have summed up my feelings exactly. I am australian and have been living in thailand for over 7 years now.

the "you shouldnt do that because you are a girl" is a crack up. and SO, SO true! i find that my boistrous laughter gets right up peoples noses, but i just cant help it sometimes. why hide the fact that you are happy, or find something really funny? isnt that part of 'sanuk'?

i find that when i return to australia now, i have culture shock in reverse.

funny, hey.

You've been in Thailand for a long time!!! Are you working there or just traveling if you don't mind me asking? I know that statement very well. I heard it too many times. I would like to see Thailand becoming more opened but then again it might lose its charm. I don't know if I was born in a wrong place or I'm just too different from what Thai people expect Thai women to be. Sometimes I think it's unfair because Thai men can just do whatever they want and nobody really cares. And that's one of the things I don't miss about living in Thailand.

[khall64au]

This is gonna add a new twist to the whole scenario but, just a few days ago I had an old "flame" turn up in Thailand looking for me. To tell the truth (he says) he'd been looking for me since the tsunami but no luck..

Just the other day- a single day after I had major thoughts of he and his family, I received news that he was here in my province - searching for me.... He found me!

One day later, I wanted him to GO HOME!!!!! I have changed so much and I can barely tolerate the conversations we are having at the moment.... except for what we have both experrrrrrrrienced all over the world in the past past 5 yrs since we last saw each other.

- yes, we both chose to travel, our saving grace - hooray!!

[sylvafern]

I can't say that Thailand is my home any more. I don't feel that going back to Thailand is like going back home. It's still my home country though. And I can't really say that US is my home country but I do feel like home whenever I come back from Thailand.

That's the same way I feel about New Zealand / Thailand .... whenever I go back to NZ for a holiday I say I am going 'home' and it is like home with my family there, but I do experience 'culture shock' of sorts. After my annual 6 weeks there and on arriving back in Thailand, as I step out of the airport I get that overwhelming feeling of 'it's great to be back home'. I've spent almost all my working life here (2 years in NZ, and I'm in my 9th year here) so I think that if/when I ever go back to NZ I will have a lot of adjusting to do.

It's only natural, but living away from "home' for so long, and experiencing all the different things here, has led to drifting away from certain friendships ... especially people who have never travelled. Only two of my good friendships are still strong, and both of those people have travelled and/or worked overseas (both have visited me in Thailand).

[yaimar]

Ladies,

Sometimes the topics in this section make me homesick... not so often, but occasionally - is there anything that makes you homesick or calls to you - occasionally from home - that makes you feel like you are missing something? Even if momentarily ... or if a quick-fix visit would do the trick - what is it?

Hi yaimar here. My quick and ongoing fix is to get live radio 2 from the bbc, uk . I think you should link to your own, radio stations for an instant feeling of being there. [xmas pud]

[anamore]

It has been sometime since I last took a look at this site, but it looks as if I look it up every day.

The stories very often refer to me, my situation or even my feelings regarding many subjects. Only they are written by other women living in another continente and born in other countries.

Like for the ones of you living in thailand and liking it but stil missing your homeland, and even feeling guilty about it sometimes. Accept that this wil never change. Moving abroad for a longer time wil divide your hearth and soul in 2, and there is no way back, because home where you were born wil never be the same as when you leeft it, and maybe things don't change that much there, but you did change in a major way, so you wil look at everything with other eyes. I know this very well, and I only lived more than half of my life in another european country, with a rather similar culture and way of life than the one where I was born.

"You look at things not the way they are but the way you are"

somebody wrote and this is really true.

Then the age issue:

past 40 we really start looking back and wondering if the future should go in the same direction.For lots of people it becames the time of asking 'is this all there is?'

do we go on following traditions and the beaten path or do we go our own way finding a new fullfillment in life in a way that most people only dare dream of ?

Yes, because there are riscs to making choices. One is maybe not happy with wat he /she has/does but it doesn't mean stopping everything and going to a tropical country wil bring happiness. Sometimes it does, but along with some nieuw issues to deal with. like missing people with the same interests, or even other interests you can relate to in a regular basis. Not having to explain the way things go and people think where you came from, because you have a shared culture and way of life behind you.

I really intend to visit thailand next year, and who knows maybe I wil meet some of you.

until then take care.

anamore

[bggg]

I also used to really miss a lot of the Holidays. So I decided I would celebrate them. My friends and I now throw a Halloween party every year. This year we had 40 kids, made a spook house with graveyard and trick or treated the 5 farang houses in our moobaan. Thanksgiving will be dinner for 30 with all the trimmings. They are not americans but all look forward to the Thanksgiving Holiday. This year I will even get the ladies in the kitchen cooking and drinking wine as that has been 1 part I was still missing. My sisters and mom all talking, cooking and having a glass of wine, well it will be girlfriends

There are things you cannot replace here like family, however I have found if you really want it you can make it or create it including food. Get your girlfriends together and make it happen. We are blessed with a wonderful group of expats up here. We organise easter egg hunts, big Christmas dinners, pig roasts, and backyard BBQ's, the whole 9 yards.

I agree that after 7 years here going home is reverse culture shock and I am happy to return to Thailand. I also had to chuckle at the comment about polite americans, holding doors and the like. It is soooo true, you just don't get that here.

[khall64au]

I want to go "home" right NOW - cos my mum is sick and she needs me... but I can't - that's what sucks mostly about being so far from family. Living in 'paradise' has its price to pay!

[donna]

i wanna go home now too khall. my heart is breaking right now and i want my mum. and its ######ing christmas too.

ho ho ######ing ho

[November Rain]

i wanna go home now too khall. my heart is breaking right now and i want my mum. and its ######ing christmas too.

ho ho ######ing ho

I'm sorry about your Mum, khall. Not knowing what's wrong, I don't want to say anything trite, but my best wishes for you & for her. Donna, sorry for how you're feeling now too. Christmas can be a s***ing horrible time. Hugs to both of you.

I don't want to go home. Nothing there for me. What I want for Christmas is to have all my loved ones back here with me, just for one day. But, seeing as 2 of the 4 people I love most are dead & a 3rd is in HK, that's not going to happen. At least my little boy's here with me, something to be very grateful for.

[donna]

after a sleepless night sitting staring into the dark and contemplating my life and what i am doing with it, i guess i should be thankful for what i DO have rather than what i dont, especially after knowing your story, november rain.

but i guess im just feeling very sorry for myself at the moment and the thought of spending christmas and new year all alone is one that im not relishing in at all. sure, its just 'another day' as my boss says, but i would rather be with people who love me unconditionally right now than sitting here crying all day.

bah humbug.

[fruittbatt]

Donna and K and November Rain and all on this forum who are hurting or feeling "homesick" or missing families at Xmas,

a huge and heartfelt HUG to you all. The pain will get better with time, Donna. Ride with the horrible, hurtful punches for as long as it takes to recover. You are strong, and will emerge even stronger. K, can your mum come to you, or is she too sick? I hope she is not in great pain.

I farewelled my daughter back to Brisbane from Bangkok the other day, after spending 3 weeks in Laos and Thailand together. Am missing her already, but keep telling myself that Xmas doesn't mean much to me as a Buddhist. The truth is that Xmas does make me want to be around my family (well, SOME of them). I also miss the Woodford folk festival, which is a very powerful and peaceful way of starting any new year.

Best wishes to you all for a very happy and successful 2007.

[campwhitecloud]

Merry Christmas to you all! I am a newbie here on this forum. Not sure if this is ladies section only but hope you all don't mind my 5 cents or should I say 5 baht... Anyway I miss my family, my friends (in the US) and of course the X-Mas spirit. Just had X-Mas dinner at Novatel Lotus Sukhumvit soi 33 and it was great (600 b per head for all u can eat turkey dinner buffet). Cheers!!!

[khall64au]

Am thinking about it ... again!!! Just for a lil while mind you, cos a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do...

[farangsay]

"Home's a place for comin' from not for goin' to"

Lee Marvin singing wonderfully out of tone in "Paint your wagon".

[khall64au]

"Home's a place for comin' from not for goin' to"

Lee Marvin singing wonderfully out of tone in "Paint your wagon".

Paint my wagon purple. I ain't been "home" for more than 25 yrs - was thinking of the closest border frontier just to poke my nose in....

[farangsay]

"Home's a place for comin' from not for goin' to"

Lee Marvin singing wonderfully out of tone in "Paint your wagon".

Paint my wagon purple. I ain't been "home" for more than 25 yrs - was thinking of the closest border frontier just to poke my nose in....

But not too far OK

Them immigration rubber stamps can hurt

[redrus]

Never been in here before....! How nice are you lot, so sweet....!

You make me wanna go home and I already am. I have just ordered £30 worth of Indian food though. From a special liccle place I know. Yum mofo yum yum mofo....!

redrus

[mapletree]

Here in Thailand, mostly I miss family and friends. Also miss hiking and camping in the lush and wild US Pacific Northwest. Miss television that I used to watch with my girlfriend after work. (We don't get cable here and I am enjoying the vacation from English-language tv at the same time that I miss it. It's good for my character. )

I miss some specific foods. Baking can be tricky. I had to doctor up some Thai molasses to make gingerbread cookies a few weeks ago. Not quite the same but close. Goofed the calculation of ounces to grams a little so got extra buttery pie crust the other day. Live and learn. It still came out OK.

But what I already miss the most about HOME is stepping out of the plane at Don Muang at midnight, feeling the warm air with that scent that takes me back to being a kid here in Thailand. (Same airport for 40 years, who can beat it? Loved it.) When I'm in the US, I miss fresh kanoon, another childhood taste/smell that has me hooked. My girlfriend goes into withdrawal (reverse culture shock) any time we spend significant time here then go back to the quiet separation of so much western culture. Me too, but a little less because I grew up mostly there. We end up seeking out the Thai temples or Asian communities more than usual to make the transition.

So. Just focus on what I love about here, drink it up while I can, then when we are there, the same. As a friend likes to say, wherever you go, there you are.