My Old Kentucky Home

-

Homesickness is a bit unique, isn't it? It comes and goes. There's really nothing to take it away other than "home" itself. You can distract yourself, keep yourself busy, but you know homesickness is there. Possibly even more so during holidays. 

 Johnny Cash version of My Old Kentucky Home aka the state song  <---- You can listen to this while reading my post if you want to get an extra feel for Kentucky. :-) 

It's been over 6 months since my move to Norway and I'm beginning to feel the pangs of homesickness. It's not out of control or anything, but it's well... there. I miss being with family and going to dinner or meeting friends. I miss tickling my little sister, having long talks with my grandparents, visiting and gossiping with my mother or going out for ice cream with my dad. I miss rural Kentucky scenery. I like it here in Norway. I really like it, but really I miss the sights, sounds, smells... so many things about my dear old Kentucky home.
Of course it's not healthy to think so much about your old country after moving or obsess about missing it and I don't, but I do have my good and bad days.

I've always had a teensy weensy bit of interest in basketball, but I've now started following basketball news as basketball season has started. College basketball is extremely popular in Kentucky.

I am going back home in March. That has been decided though our trip isn't booked yet. I have so many notes on my phone surrounding this upcoming trip and I'm incredibly excited to go back. Of course Kentucky will be seen in a whole new light and different perspective when I go back. There were a lot of things about Kentucky I just took for granted while living there. Like our crazy, but generally warm weather. The fact that cornbread is a food staple and eaten with everything, but it's not even heard of here. Farms, horses, cows, corn, all the beautiful rural scenery nearly everywhere. If there's anything I regret during this move, I would have taken more time, more pictures and enjoyed Kentucky a little more. The great thing about going back is I know I will.

Old barns are everywhere. I have old Kentucky barn pictures in our living room.

Horses everywhere! 

Churchill Downs!!! 

And a jockey. 

Taking a ride down the Ohio River on a steamboat. 

Here is the Belle of Louisville in the Ohio River which seperates Kentucky and Indiana.
In and near the Ft. Knox area you can find many tanks where you can stop and have a look.

Corn fields! 

Green River 

A common Kentucky sight - old barns! 

Occasionally Kentucky gets a lot of snow.
(via mom) 

And occasionally tornadoes as well...
(via a cousin) 

I think there are many misconceptions about Kentucky and some stereotypes to boot. In my opinion, Kentucky is very underrated compared to some of the other states. It's really a nice, laid back place and I'm so happy to call it home.

My best advice to those who are homesick is to just think of how lucky we are having two homes. Not many people get to have two homes, but expatriates usually have two or more places they have called home, so that just makes us extra fortunate.

It's good to distract yourself or keep yourself busy. If I'm feeling homesick-ish, I'll try to make something for the person I miss the most at the time. Knit a scarf, make a Christmas ornament or send the person a card you've made yourself. Go out and make videos and take pictures of the new place you live in so you can send to family. It's nice to let your family and friends back in home number 1 know you're thinking of them.

Talk to family. Skype is a wonderful, wonderful means of communication and they also offer low prices on their calling to phones. That would be a great purchase if you have a friend or relative without access to Skype.

Don't dwell on the differences between your old and new home. It's best to focus on how similar things are than different.

Just to sport your state pride, here's a site where you can order "home" shirts!

Comments

H. Bratset said…
I love your pictures!! Just to make you feel better, it's been raining here in KY for 3 days straight, and it's very messy. It doesn't feel very much like Christmas time right now.

Your positive attitude is awesome and I like how you focus on finding the similarities instead of the differences. I hope I remember that when I move to Norway!
December 9, 2012 at 5:16 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Expat Life

-
I've finally begun reading a book that has been in my reading list for a few years now; Norwegian By Night by Derek B. Miller. The author is actually an American man from Boston living in Oslo. Although it's a thriller, the expatriation of the main character is relatable. Sheldon Horowitz, a Marine, relocates to Oslo with his granddaughter, an American married to a Norwegian man. One particular quote, or paragraph rather, stood out to me, "Lars, being Lars, was overjoyed and encouraging and optimistic about her ability to adapt and join the pod. Norwegians, true to their nature, prefer to spawn in their own waters. Consequently Oslo is peopled by Norwegians married to a shadow population of displaced souls who all carry the look of tourists being led like children through the House of Wax." According to Wikipedia  16.8% of Norway's population is made up of immigrants. Granted this number also includes children born to immigrants regardless of being born in Norwa
Read more

The Dyne

-
Image
Separate dyne!  On beds a dyne (duvet) is used and you purchase covers in many prints and different types of fabrics. These are a pain in the butt to put over the duvet, but we manage. Many people have a duvet for summer months and a duvet for winter months. Oh, and the most common thing is for each person to have their own duvet. Moving to Norway as a newlywed, I wanted to have one duvet that we shared on our bed thinking it would be extra cozy and we'd cuddle more. Newlyweds are hilariously idealistic though! This lasted only a few months before we surrendered with white flags in the war zone that was our sleeping quarters. Turns out, I'm quite territorial over the duvet. I hear a lot of women are like this. I freeze easier than my husband so I was often less comfortable than I wanted to be and he's a night owl who goes to bed later than I do which means every time he lifted the duvet, a gush of cold air would follow him waking me. We gave up with our idealism o
Read more

Movie Title Translations

-
Watching TV earlier, I noticed some movies are given different titles translated into Norwegian. I believe the movie being advertised on TV was Couples Retreat, but being translated into something different it was something like Trøbbel i paradiset. Translated it would be Trouble in the Paradise - you can see the similarities in the language in that title. All original English speaking movies are still spoken in English with no voice overs, but they are shown in Norwegian subtitles. There is an exception to this with children's movies and TV programs which do have Norwegian voice overs. I asked Arild why some movie titles are in English, some are translated, and some are translated into names completely different. He said he really didn't know and thought of a coffee table book he has which has a list of the most off-titled movie translations. He pulled out Typisk Norsk from under the coffee table and started reading these to me: I'll do the correct English title, t
Read more