The school I am teaching at is an international school where students can board if they are from a different country. During one of the teacher inservice days before school started at the beginning of September, we had to go to an international students seminar. In this seminar they talked about the stages students go through when they are boarders and from different countries and the levels of homesickness and when.
At the time I didnt think anything of it and just listened to the suggestions of how to deal with a homesick student and what to do in order to comfort them and make them feel at home. It wasnt until last night that I realized...I FALL INTO THE SAME CATEGORY!
The checklist:
1. They are away from home (check!)
2. They are from a different country (check!)
3. This is their first time in the country/new culture (check!)
4. They speak a different language (ehhh.sometimes it feels like it so check!)
The usual routine is as follows
The first two weeks the students feel like it is fun and a new adventure- kinda like camp. After the second week is when the bell curve really plummets. This is when homesick is the greatest and it takes until about week 4-5 on average to make friends and bring their spirits back up.
I must say that last night the girls and I started to feel this- after only week one!!!
I think it has to do with the fact that we have such a hard time getting on the internet. It is magnified because we have no connection with the real world. No connection back home. If you have read the previous blogs you will understand our only forms of communication are blocked while at school.
Today I asked the computer guy at the school to PLEASE un-filter my blog so that I could update my family and friends on my well being!
2 comments:
Wish I could give you a big old hug right now! It will definitely get better I know. You guys have each other so getting to know other people to make friends is one problem you don't have to deal with! All you have to do now is find a way around the internet issue and remember that before the internet, people wrote letters! I hope you have fun at "Walmart" and I look forward to skyping with you soon!
Taylor! I'm moving to England at the end of December and am finding your blog so helpful and very interesting to read. I'll probably be commenting on here a lot with tons of quetsioins I'll have before I leave. Thanks for sharing, and I love your pictures. I saw Made of Honor and think that's so cool that yall actually got to experience the games!!
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