overwhelming feelings of happiness

We’re three months in and I’m told this is around the time when the homesick monster can rear its Texas sized head. Are we homesick? …

One night while sitting down to dinner (which we do every single night here instead of sitting on the couch in front of the TV) Matt randomly shared that he gets “daily overwhelming feelings of happiness.” That’s a direct quote from a man of few words, which should tell you a lot.

Needless to say, I am happy to report that we are not homesick. Of course we really miss our people. A lot. I would probably be singing a different tune if it weren’t for FaceTime and Viber (a free app that allows you to talk & text internationally for free. And by free, I mean it uses data.)

His smile is always this big when he sees Uncle Matt on Facetime. They have a real bromance going on.

One of the best pieces of advice we were given before leaving was by a colleague of Matt’s who also lived abroad for work. He said to embrace the differences. 

We’re not so naive to think this experience is going to be all sparkles and ponies. We’ve had our frustrations. Like the fact that all important letters and documents are in Norwegian. You wouldn’t believe the issues a change of address is causing. But we take each frustration as part of the experience. 

We aren’t longing for comforts of home because we now have two homes. We’re creating a new normal.