We’ve been here for almost five months and the homesickness ebbs and flows. Most of us don’t really have time to think about ‘home’ too often, but we find ourselves missing certain comforts of home – mostly food. I’m sure we’ve all made at least one mental list of things we want to eat if/when we visit/return.
Page 12 of 17
One of the unique things about our apartment is the fact that it is an open bathroom. What I mean by this is: there is no bathtub or any kind of division to keep the shower water from splashing everywhere (i.e. the toilet). Here’s a picture of our bathroom:
Our little open bathroom.
Community
Living in a college town has been a different experience. It takes me back to the days when we were first married and lived close to UCI. Collegians and grad students are everywhere, as are foreigners. Most restaurants and stores here have signs translated in English and, most of the time, you can order simple things in English.
Language Learning
I’m not sure if I can speak for everyone, but language learning has been one of the greatest challenges thus far. Through a friend’s recommendation, we decided to check out private language schools. We initially thought it might be too expensive, but decided that having a smaller class size and more flexibility would better suit our needs.
I think its safe to assume that all of us are dealing with some form of pressure and tension in our lives. There’s no doubt that, ever since our family moved to EA, we’ve been faced with a lot of pressures from the start. And if I can categorize these pressures, they would fall into three distinct categories: