I think most expats will agree that having friends and family visit from home is fantastic. I don’t if it’s the case for most, but it’s made me appreciate living here more.

While a friend of ours is visiting this week, I am getting to rediscover Caracas and see it through the eyes (and excitement) of a tourist. There is a lot to do here, but as you get settled into your daily routine, you forget to appreciate all that you DO have as opposed to what’s missing.

The funny thing is I’m always telling people that home is where you make it. Even though I lived in South Florida for 7 years, I don’t necessarily consider it home. I lived in Marin County for 18 years before that and I don’t consider it home. So, where’s home do you ask? Wherever we are at the moment.

But after only six months here, I can’t say that I feel that Caracas is 100% our home, yet. Reality has sunk in that I did indeed make the decision to move to Venezuela, but it sort of feels like we’re long term tourists. If I keep adapting at the same pace, I am sure that by December, living in South Florida will start to become a distant memory

So, as I slowly but surely begin to consider Caracas home, it’s nice to have a little bit of our previous home every once in a while to help us transition.

Note: This is subtle HINT to our friends and family to please come visit

Tags: Cultural Adaptation, Cultural Assimilation, Expat, Expatriates in Venezuela, Getting settled in foreign country, Homesickness while abroad, Immigrant Families, Moving Abroad

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 30th, 2010 at 8:03 AM and is filed under Expat, Getting settled in foreign country, Immigrant Families, Moving Abroad, Venezuela. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.