Homesickness

That's right I am going to write about homesickness. No- right now I am fine and have been the past few weeks. Sure, the first week here at my site was filled with mixed emotions and homesickness, but I've gotten over those. So why write about it? Well it is a common question from people here and at home. "Do you miss your family or being at home?"

Before I came here, even before I put my application into the Peace Corps, I knew that I would be stepping into a time machine, somewhat. The memories from home are going to be from a previous time and I will be changing. How does this pertain to homesickness? Well, for starters, it makes the idea of missing home make less sense. If I were to go home now, things would be pretty much the same. As more time goes by while I am here in Ecuador and that still remains the same, I'd be pretty damn upset. The inverse of that holds true, too. The more things change at home (for better or worse), I could get stuck asking myself, "I could have been there for that!" After that first week here, I just came to the conclusion that being homesick was just plain silly. It's a lose-lose situation if you think about it.

While listening to music doesn't really make me homesick, I've been finding it amusing how certain songs or albums stir up certain specific memories. TV on the Radio, taking the dogs on a walk on the beach in Long Branch. The Good Life, working with my brother. Or even an older one- Blink 182, going to Sea Girt for 7v7 summer soccer leagues with both my brothers and Tom Saal. I guess I am using my main form of entertainment here as a cure for homesickness. When I want to stir up certain positive images from home, I put on a certain song or album. With that said, if you want a great album to fall asleep to at night, get Spiritualized's album Pure Phase. Also, send me new music to help incorporate memories of Ecuador with certain songs!