Homesickness

I bet you were wondering how long it would be before I wrote a post with that title.

The good news is that it's not too bad at the moment. (I might regret saying that.)

I arrived in Japan three weeks ago today. That's the longest I've ever been away from home (and that was with my family). I wrote a post about how distorted time has been for me last week and it's no different for me now. It feels like I've been here a day, or a lifetime, depending on how I look at it.

Missing home strikes me worst at certain times; when I'm trying to get to sleep, in the shower and when I see a picture of something from home randomly. I haven't hit any walls and thought, "Right. That's it. Done Tokyo. I'm going home." or anything yet. I've heard three months is tough, but it strikes people at different times - people I've spoken to have said that Day Six or Week Two were hard for them.

There are things that I do to try to resist homesickness and so far, they've worked.

Watching an episode of Family Guy every night on Family Guy Now.com has been great. I know that whatever happens during the day, nothing will stop me from watching Family Guy before going to sleep. I tried to watch programmes on 4oD and the BBC's iPlayer but they are only available in the UK.

Bringing sentimental things from home e.g. a favourite mug, helps me feel connected.

MSN Messenger is great! It helps me keep in contact with friends and family, as does Facebook. But even better than them is Skype. I have been able to talk to my family, having live conversations with video and audio, for free since I downloaded it two weeks ago. Being able to see my house and family makes me feel like I never really left. I heartily recommend it if you go away anywhere.

Listening to radio online. I like the UK's Radio 1 which you can listen to online. I use the listen-again facility and find the show that would be on at the time I am at, even if it's 6am in the UK, I can listen to Edith Bowman, who would be on at 3pm. That does mean that I am a day behind so I get all the old news and all the wrong days and dates. But at least the time is right! That helped me get over my jetlag too.

It's easier said than done, but taking each day at a time works. Not thinking, right, I've been here two weeks, only 29 to go, but focussing on what I've got to do right now. Living in the moment. Which is hard to do if I'm nervous or stressed about something, but, if you can, it's a good way to look at things.

I know it sounds cheap and cliched, but songs mean more to me now. In particular, 'Change' by The Sugababes (I know), 'Oh My God' by Lily Allen and Mark Ronson (I don't like the original) and 'The Journey Continues' by Mark Brown feat. Sarah Cracknell (ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha - I'm not laughing, if you hear the song, you'll know what I mean).

I'm not sure when I'll hit my wall, or if I will, or what will come of it, but I do know that tomorrow is another day, and that's all I've got to think about.