Anyone else feeling really homesick since they watched the Olympics OC?

[lagartija]

I live in a eurozone country that is in deep shite financially at the moment, huge cuts, unemployment and more and more barefaced corruption coming to light each day. Been here for about 12 years and used to love it, but got more and more disillusioned over the years. It's difficult here in many ways with kids.
DH is from here, his elderly (80s) parents live here and he's an only child. for various other complex reason too boring to go into here, there is no way (bar a lottery win) we could ever move to the UK, it's too complex really for us to get back for a holiday and so I haven't been back in 7 years.
And, actually, mostly I don't want to...but I watched the OC and loved it and it reminded me (I grew up near London) of home. I don't know...it pulled at the heartstrings somehow. DS came home from summerschool (he's 4) with a colouring in of a London bus with the olympic rings on and I welled up as he has no idea about London, never been there. He's never seen where I come from..and goodness knows when he ever will.
I don't know, I'm rambling. Just feeling a bit cut off from it all. Anyone sort of get what I'm expressing really badly?

Of course! I have just moved from London - it's was my adopted home. Only been in Canada six weeks and the lot of us were singing along to Hey Jude like 4 dogs howling at the moon! Sorry to hear you are feeling the disconnect but why not celebrate a bit of London by putting up some flags around the house and talking to DS about your roots (his too if you're his mum!). I also bought Pop-up London by Jenny Maizels which has pop ups of all the London landmarks www.amazon.co.uk/Pop-up-London-Jennie-Maizels/dp/1406321575 which he may enjoy too.

thanks wheresthepopcorn, just miss it and feel a bit sorry for myself sometimes. Where in Canada are you?

Yes, I am in France, loved the ceremony and felt proud as punch. DH is French and thought the whole thing was silly, overblown and unfathomable and it is driving me mad to hear him blab on about how bad it was.

I made a point of not watching it because I didn't want to feel that homesickness. I am also in Canada and last year we were all set to move home ( coincidentally right after the wedding!) but it all fell apart and now I don't think we'll be going. I haven't been back for 12 years because of the cost and mostly I'm ok as long as I don't watch any weddings, jubilees, Wimbledon or Olympic opening ceremonies!

I wasn't that interested in it beforehand, but it just reminded me of all the things I love about Britain (the landscape, the music, the history, literature) and all these things DS doesn't know about, which is silly cos he's only 4 so obviously he wouldn't know most of these cultural references anyway. I don't know....I wouldn't really want to live back there, my life is here...but, but...sigh. Sometimes I feel a bit like a fish out of water, I'm foreign here but I'd be foreign there now too.

Same here OP. I don't feel like I belong here but I don't feel like I would fit in there anymore either. My oldest is 10, they've never seen where I grew up or have any idea what England means. :(

It's weird isn't it? DS is growing up a little Spaniard. I used to love it here, but the new right wing governement and all the austerity and grinding down of the poor is getting me down...and, dear God, the corruption! It depresses me. I know really the UK that I'm homesick for is no longer there, things have changed, it's not the country I left, but I'm just feeling in limbo these last few years and I'm here for the long term, like it or not.

Snap! I know the London I want to go back to isn't there anymore, but still.... My kids are little Canadians, they'll likely never know anything else. I'm actually glad about that because they'll never feel torn the way that I do!

I am in Toronto - feel very foreign here. I don't think it will ever go away. Ah well, I guess I am lucky to have lived in so many nice places. :)

Me too. I'm in Singapore and watched the OC on repeat yesterday as it started at 4am with the time difference. My parents and brother have lots of tickets (some that I bought for them) and my Dad was one of the torchbearers which I also missed out on . DS was born on the day the last olympics started in Beijing and I never imagined we'd still be here (5.5 years now). We don't have any particular plans to go home and I don't particularly want to go back to live in London (both dc's born here) but I do still feel very homesick at the moment despite the fact I do like it here and we have a great lifestyle it's just a general feeling of not being part of it all. I felt a bit similar with the Jubilee but this more so as sport was a big part of my childhood.

Hi lagartija
I am also in Spain but in the UK at the moment for my annual few weeks of respite!!
I have lived in Spain for almost 6 long years and I make no secret of how homesick I still am and I'd be lying if I said I had ever loved living here. Like you though I don't see much chance of us being able to move back and I find that hard to deal with.
I still feel very foreign despite speaking the language well and having spent a lot of time in Spain before I came to live here...it's a strange one!!

And yes the Olympics OC was incredible...nobody does it like the British!!!

I agree. I've been in Singapore for 6 weeks. The torch and the cycle races passed through the leafy Surrey village where I grew up. I couldn't even watch the OC because our TV didn't arrive until yesterday. We're seeing the UK in all it's glory. On that same day I read a) about the UK recession deepening and b) about an 80 year old man horribly beaten up by teenage thugs who tried to burgle his house. He had all these cuts on his head, broken cheekbones, fingers all broken and bruised. It was 5 miles from where I lived. So I guess I'm trying to balance that sort of thing with all the good stuff about the UK. But it does make you feel very patriotic, all this Olympic stuff. (Apart from all those empty seats. What a shambles).

Yes, me. I've lived in Australia for nearly 3 years now but still miss the UK, and have been back a few times already with DS (now 4.8)

Like pupsiecola, the cycle race went through many areas I know well, having lived around that bit of Surrey for most of my life - so that was quite poignant, knowing that if we were still there we could have walked to the route and seen them go by ourselves.

Before it started, I said I was glad not to be there - but now it has started, I wish I was there (and couldn't be anyway if I wanted to - too pregnant to fly!)

I love where I live but am feeling horribly homesick atm partly sparked by the OC. It's 3 years since I went home back to the UK.

I'm horribly aware that I will never have the same connection to this land. Although I still cry at our my new country's national events.

Crikey, is my national identity screwed up! Such are the challenges and opportunities of the modern world.

I go back about once every 9 months and tbh honest don't feel all that homesick at all. It helps that I have a job I love and feel quite settled here (US) after nearly 4 years, but it took a while.

When I do go back, I have culture shock for the first day or two (it's so crowded and noisy and dirty and small). Then I suddenly remember all the things I love about home. Then I get fed up with the crowding and noise etc, miss the sunshine and get back on the plane to the US.

Doesn't mean I would never go back, but I can now watch things from back home without welling up.

Thread highjack - popcorn we're going to spend a few days in Toronto, then Niagara soon - any tips? dd is 8. We're thinking of a museum or two, force dd to look in some shops, and go to the theme/waterpark in Toronto. Maybe the zoo.

I have lived in Australia since 1995 and I felt the same! Have Aussie dh and Aussie kids and suddenly felt a big pang for the UK after watching the oc.

Me too! I sooo wasn't bothered about the Olympics (not against it being held there or grumpy about it like some, just not interested in sport). I wasn't even aware of when it all started, then one morning I checked facebook and saw loads of comments about the OC. Realised it was still happening, turned on the tv, and within about 45 seconds I was crying!!
DS (3) walked in and started asking about it. "What is this Mummy? What are all those people doing?" And I could barely answer! All squeaky voice, 'It's a big event in England (waah!) darling, where (sob) Nana and Pops live (wobble wobble).'
He noticed me then - 'Mummy why are you crying?' He gave me a huge cuddle and wiped my face! So sweet, bless him.

Now I definitely wish I was there. I did feel left out of the Jubilee and the Torch Run which started in Cornwall and went within 500m of my house... But wasn't upset. But suddenly I'm upset that I'm missing out on this huge, huge event! My brother went to beach volleyball yesterday. Sigh.
I've been in Oz for 2.5 yrs now btw. Going back soonish for another visit. :)

I think that it is very understandable that these things make you homesick.

It is lovely that your child is so well integrated but he is still half British as well (I assume that he has also British nationality?). If so, I would start teaching him some things about the UK, things you are proud of. I would also start teaching him some English nursery rhymes and reading him stories in English. This will help you (re)connect with your own heritage and you will do him a huge favour as you will enable him to grow up bilingually. It is never too late to start and four is perfect.

Is there really no way in which you can have a (short) holiday in the UK? There are cheap travel offers around if you can be flexible (not to London during the Olympics I expect, but afterwards). Spain is not that far after all although it may feel that way.

Good luck and don't forget 'if there is a will then there is a way', it may not be easy but it can be done.

Hi! I do am in a eurozone country in a big pile of poo! Olympics is making me homesick too! I grew up in Surrey. So Cycling got me in particular and my DH's family are from Weymouth so sailing got me a bit too. Nobody here seems in the slightest bit interested most of the locals aren't even aware they've sent competitors and there was even an article in the local paper that they don't want to join in they just fly over to the uk, compete and then fly straight home. I think the olympic spirit is just what we need and I'm not surprised you want to share it with your children. Makes me want to go back too if I could afford to!

where are you mrsnec?
dikkertjedap yes, he has a UK passport and I speak to him in English. He uderstands it very well and is beginning to speak it more and more (Spanish always dominated before and his Spanish is still better). I'm fluent in Spanish so not a problem understanding him. We have always done all stories in English and I have a huuuuuuuuge amount of children's books in English and we have audio cds for the car and all his TV is in English. It's not like he knows nothing about the UK, but he'll always be more Spanish than British is what I meant.
Going back is complex, I don't have any family we could realistically stay with and we can't really afford to pay for accommadation (see previous post about dire state of Spanish economy). My mum moved out here after she was widowed and now lives with us (long story and worthy of a thread in itself). She can't travel (mobility issues) and isn't up to being left for longer than a week max and like I said, we can't afford it anyway.
Some day maybe....(crosses fingers Dh gets a job...not likely with 33% unemployment).

Hi. I'm in Cyprus. Similar economic situation here to Spain I think. We came here as my in laws retired here and they are my DH's only family. We have a business here. Most of our clients are ex-pats and most are full of doom and gloom. I wish they could appreciate what they've got sometimes! I still like it here and think when we do have kids it will be a much better upbringing for them so you have definately done the right thing by immersing them in both cultures and languages.

I totally surprised myself with the OC. I am the least patriotic person I can think of, but I was so impressed and proud. And angry with anyone who was negative about it (which DH was smart enough not to be!!)

We had a little holiday in the UK recently and I realised how i missed the ease of living in my own language and having friendly customer service. I loved hearing DD1's English improve while we were there too. We speak it together but it is certainly her second language.

Hi, i'm in Spain too, the OC made me feel very proud to be British. In fact I think I have felt more British since living here than I ever have before. We haved lived here for 9 years now and are having our first visit back to UK in a couple of weeks. My whole family has moved back there now but realisitcally I don't think we have a hope in hells chance of moving back.

I haven't felt homesick for a while but the last thing that sparked me off was watching cbeebies autumn watch haha. We live between here and Gibraltar, which although on paper is British, it isn't really and I often feel more foreign there than I do in Spain. I think i have got to the point where I am fed up of always being the guirri. Also living between these two countries means I always have to be diplomatic in what I say, as the tension between them is rearing it's ugly head again and I have to be careful not to offend either side.

Anyway moan over hehehe!

ooh yes, autumn! god, I miss the autumn...season of mists and mellow fruitfulness.

I understand how you feel lagartija and I can't imagine having been away for so long (we head to UK 3 or 4 times a year to see my family).

I felt quite tearful watching the OC on Friday.

I love going back to England - I miss the rolling countryside the most - but after a week I'm also pleased to be heading back home to NL. I feel like a tourist now when I'm back in the UK.