End of the First Honeymoon?

Whenever you move and/or change jobs I believe you go through pretty much the same phases getting adjusted, especially if you move abroad. I know there is research done on this, giving different names to the phases and approximate estimates on how long they last and what comes after the other etc. However I don’t remember them all now, but it does not really matter. I have moved, changed jobs and countries often enough to know them well and especially how I react myself in situations like this.

This weekend I might have experienced some kind of end to the first honey-moon. All of a sudden I felt sad and frustrated. I missed my friends badly and I felt very frustrated with things, especially not being able to communicate with my surrounding. I even started crying without any particular reason (one part of the explanation might also be that I was rather tired) a couple of times. I also felt very frustrated with the fact that I haven’t found likeminded friends that I feel I can spend my weekends with. So when the weekend came and I finally had time to do something fun, and now also have a car so I can move about, I did not know what to do and where to go because I didn’t like to go on my own.

Somehow my lovely friends and family must have sensed this frustration. On Saturday morning I found a long lovely e-mail from a good friend and then I had a long talk on Skype with another friend and later with family. Then it all felt better. On Sunday morning a colleague asked me if I would like to go with her to the stable and go horseback riding. That was such a hit! Eventually I found myself in an environment that was familiarly to me and I felt that I could do something that I know how to do. I was also very positively surprised that the man responsible for the horses and giving the lessons spoke really good English. I was so happy afterwards and now everything feels much better again!

A good thing, and maybe one of the reasons that I can go on living this way, is that these mood swings are very quick and short and I am so easy to please and make happy again!!