The Perplexities of Coming Back to Your Home Country

If somebody ever asked me what is the hardest thing from traveling to other countries for a longer time, I could answer easily - it's coming back to your old routine at home.

Sure, coming home has its own pluses - everything is where it should be, you know every corner, you know all the people, you understand the language and ordering at a cafe is not a struggle. But especially if you are back from living somewhere for at least a few months everything at home seems a bit weird and unfamiliar. Or maybe that's why it's so weird - it's so familiar, so unchanged that it seems like you didn't leave at all.

It's the same with people - sure there might be some changes in them and it's nice to see your old friends again, but if they haven't been out somewhere they have an image of you that is stable. And that for me is the hardest part when I come back - pretending that I am the same person who left.

Realizing you are back

The first day you come back you are still living the memories, still in the other country, with your friends, checking your Facebook every 5s expecting to see something from their lives that you can comment. You go to sleep with the same feeling, like your still there, but strangely, you're sleeping in your own bed at home.

The feeling that you are not at home hits the second or third morning, when you wake up and realize, that you are not in fact in another country with your foreign friends, but you are in fact in your old bed, with your family and two types of friends:

• Type 1 understands that you just came back from a huuuuge trip and you got a lot of new experience and you need time to understand that you are at home. 
• Type 2 understands that you have been on a huge trip but expects you to be the same person you were before you left and therefor doesn't understand why are you staying at home checking your Facebook and don't go out to "the real world" the second you are back. 

Now, if your friend is just back from a huuuuge trip, please, don't be type 2 - give them time to adjust, ask a lot about their trip because talking helps us realize that the trip is the past and we should take out the good memories from there but also start paying attention to the world we came back to.

Dealing with the feeling

Once you realize that you are back in your country and you're not coming back to that country you were anytime soon, you might start feeling a bit...sad. Especially when the realization that most of your new made friends live abroad hits you right in the stomach. Yes, I know, the world is not so big and you can travel to meet them again, but let's face it, a person living in another continent is not the same as a person living down the street. So what to do?

1. Keep communicating with the people you met there, but also start paying attention to the people here. Communication is a two sided thing so remember that you don't have to wait for somebody to write to you - reach out yourself to somebody you enjoy talking to. Skype allows video chatting (of course, it's not the same as seeing the person live, but what can you do?) so use it with the friend who are far away and meet the friends in your country as well.
2. Find some new hobbies or return to your old hobbies. Exercising some physical activity also helps to feel less stress, so if you were thinking of signing up for boxing or yoga before you left, now it's a good time to do it. Having some scheduled stuff will help you get out of bed when you're not really feeling it.
3. Go to a place where you can meet new people. This allows for your mind to stay fresh and the routine is less likely to set in and routine is one of the deadliest things you can imagine for wanderers.
4. Have some time for yourself - relax, have a quiet moment, watch a movie, look over the photos of the trip and try to understand that you had a good time and it will always be in your memory.
5. Look for some tickets to travel - either to meet your friends or back to the country you were. Knowing that you can book a flight/bus there at some time gives the feeling that everything is not lost, that there is still a possibility to meet the people you met and it gives more hope (even if you don't book it yet).

Lastly

Each person deals differently with coming back home - they might be more accepting and less accepting of that fact. The important thing is to not close yourself inside for a long time - talk to people, find some activities. There is a saying, that you always meet a person twice, so cheer up, maybe you won't meet everyone this year, but there's always next year. And next year you will have a lot of options to choose the place for summer holidays, won't you? :)

Georgia week 8: saying goodbye is never easy

That's why I always say "See you later". Because that always leaves a possibility of meeting the person later. Goodbye feels like such a permanent word, doesn't it? At least let's have a hope we will meet again.

This week was truly a marathon of people leaving. Almost everyday we had someone leaving, somebody's last day in Georgia and when people around you are leaving you start thinking that you as well will leave soon, you will have to pack and go and that is a hard concept to grasp when you're living in a place you don't want to leave. And I really didn't want to leave Georgia.

See ya Poland and Czech Republic

So Monday was all about two of my roommates leaving. Most people were still in Tbilisi which made our boss a little upset as we had an event coming up and people had their parts to do in order for the event to be successful. Oh well, I guess some people don't care about their responsibilities. There were still some people left who quickly got on their work and I went to make certificates for the people who are leaving. I tried to put my heart into them so they wouldn't be just a piece of useless paper and I can say I think I succeeded into doing it because both of them were very happy with them.

In the evening we had a little get together with watermellon, pizza and khachapuri. We even made some shisha and sat there pleasantly together discussing what kind of culture shocks we could get from coming back to our country. Traffic lights, food with normal amount of salt, everything in your national language being the top first ones.

See ya later!

We came back to our house and my roommates finished up their packing while I dozed off on my bed. They woke me up before leaving and we said our "See you later" and waved.

See ya Egypt

After that it was time to go for another one of my roommates - a guy from Egypt. This day we decided we will go cook some food in the other hostel and have like some sort of get together. To those people who have never cooked for twenty people, let me tell you - it's pretty annoying when you have to defend your food from hands coming out of nowhere trying to steal your fries. Oh and if you will fail one dish, they will hunt you for the rest of the night and more (still sorry about that, should have put more salt).

But all in all it was fun, just hanging around and laughing, cutting vegetables and eating. Doing the dishes was not that fun, but hey, somebody has to do that. After that we headed to the White Bridge like always - it became the place where we would just sit and talk or play games.

Ooooon the White Bridge!!

The next morning my last roommate packed his bags and left. The house felt the same like the first day: big and quiet and not so welcoming anymore.

I'm....leaving???

I was the last person to leave our house. But I was not the last intern left in Kutaisi.

I parted with some of my friends earlier this week and there were still a lot of people I wanted to talk to, wanted to dance with and wanted to see before I left. So it was quite busy few days - trying to get the most out of them. The last days I tried to relax as well and put my mind into coming back mode, but I was failing at that. I spent some time alone, still buying the last souvenirs and making some souvenirs as well.

We went to the amusement park again, met the police twice on my last days (that was exciting) and I even managed to make some new friends.  My last day was spent with my lovely friends - Georgian and interns. With my Georgian friends we went to a restaurant where we ate khinkalis, drank some beer and talked. I would miss those conversations which happened half in Georgian, half in English and mostly body language. I had a feeling I started understanding people from how they talk. Of course I didn't but it felt like it.

I went with the interns to have a barbecue and to visit the Crazy Bar for the last time where the bartender seemed very happy to hear that I'm leaving. Little does he know that I promised people to come back and I intend on keeping this promise. I had my last moments with interns, remembering all the silly things we did and then some of them lead me home, where I snoozed for a few hours.

See you later interns!!

I finished packing in the morning and went on to find a taxi. Georgia is such a friendly country, I still can't get over it - I went into a gas station because I had difficulties finding a taxi and they spent 15 minutes of their work time until they found me a taxi. I sat in and thanked them heartily and we drove back the same way I came here. It was hard to see those streets going the wrong way - away from the city. Finally, I reached the airport. And soon I was on my plane, with a stamp in my passport that I left Georgia and with one Georgian song constantly ringing in my mind, making me smile while remembering my time here.

I can't really put into words, how much this summer meant to me. I had good and bad experiences, I've done some irresponsible things, but I was so happy most of the time. I will miss the people I met there and I will miss that weird alphabet and language that seemed so loud. I will miss their hospitality and friendly smiles. And how I will miss the mountains... I will miss a lot from this country.

I made a promise I will come back there. And I know, that I will. It's just the matter of time.