Dealing with homesickness in the United Arab Emirates

Hello everyone,

Being an expat in the United Arab Emirates can turn out to be a wonderful human, social or professional adventure... with potential moments of nostalgia and homesickness along the way.

What are your personal tips to prevent homesickness?

How do you deal with such feelings?

Are there shops or stores offering products from your home country in the United Arab Emirates? Or maybe venues with music and ambiance from your homeland?

Thanks for sharing your experience,

Priscilla

Ideal is to go out, meet people, make friends, whenever u have time.

Tnx Priscilla, take care.

meet people, try and do things you would do back home.. guaranteed 3 out of 5 things are available to experience here as well. It can even be as small eating your fav food (food is the only short cut to feeling good.. yes coming from a foodie).

be physically active.. run if you can or even walk.. explore the area you live in on foot... like a tourist.. see and experience things first hand.. this is a great confidence booster..

Eventually it will all be fine.

we love our families not home. Home is complete when your family is there. as we all know that UAE is a very beautiful country with all the facilities. people came here for work and earn money for there family.  Its not easy to deal with home sickness because the one cannot afford his family in UAE due to high rents and other expenses. If UAE government control the rental polices and increase the Salaries and wages of the employees we can deal with it. at the end its UAE's  benefit the more people live in UAE the more profit  generated.

May be i m wrong but totally its a thought...

Awais Mehmood Malik.

See guys
if you are working for 12 hours form 6 Am  to 6 Pm and on road you spent 1 hour to go to the work station and spent 1 hour for coming back to room, and after that you have to wash your cloths and prepare food for dinner as well for break fast and lunch. think please do you have time to go out for walk or to make new friends?

Its my personal experience........................

again its comes into my mind, no probs if you spend 14 hours out but after when you came back home and when you open the door and  suddenly your son came and give you a hug and your wife greets you...................        Think Positive.   bring your family here coz its very nice place to live.(but very much expensive)
so for those who have a good job bring your families and enjoy the life and for those who can't WORK HARD..........
for example
a person daily go out for a long walk alone.    for once       think while walking what he is thinking? Yes i do agree playing football , cricket can help in this satiation but its temporary............................   


SORRY AND PLEASE DON'T MIND.

I haven't got any vacation or leave vacation outside UAE for more than 3 years and what I do is enjoying in one thing that is new to you. Find some things that you are not familiar of and focus on it while on weekend.

If you are introvert same like me probably you end up loving on a hobby/pets/sports instead of going out meeting people.

For me I choose to focus on my 4x4, it is odd I know, but i really love going out adventure and maybe that's the weird reason why I don't fade up driving on a long drive from Jebel Ali to Mirdiff everyday. Aside from that, I am not really familiar on cars, when I came here in Dubai that's the time I become aware of doing things on myself for my car. I am planning to customize it since offroading is the best activity every winter.

In this time, I learned something on my age regarding of my well being, aside from sacrificing for the sake of your family in your country (try not to think always like that)
ALWAYS remember that it is your life that you made only for you, experiences will be always in your decisions that you made. I know that there are some point that we are bored about on because of everyday routine but if you try this kind of method you will be surprise in the end.

Always focus on your Duty - Responsibility - Personal Projects

So many things to do in UAE. Specially now that the weather will change. You would be homesick but try and find activities that interest you and join the groups. If you want any indian stuff you cam look for al adil stores spread all across dubai.

Hope this helps.

soccer + colleagues/roommates + drinks is alwayz good.

Go for a Thai massage. After the massage grab your fishing rod and go for fishing. You feel abundantly relaxed...

hi

Dear Priscilla,

Good Day.

I would like to share my experience with you as in the first six months i was not able to deal with the homesickness as it was really tough, however thanks to God and with the assistance of my close friends i overcame the obstacles and beated on the challenges i faced.

Hence my advise to you: try to hang out with close friends to discover new places that will make you feel belong and the nostalgia felling will be eliminated by the time.

Also, try to get the most of your hobbies or if you are talented in specific art as Poetry -for example- was one of the main factors which helped me a lot to adjust myself and acclimate to the environment.

Best of luck.

Mina

Hello Nurris thats me im still confused and mixed up here in abu dhabi i dont know much or how i can go furture .

@nurris > seems you are off topic  :/  please start a new thread with a proper introduction and specific questions on the forum. Thank you.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
This topic is about sharing your opinions / experiences about "Dealing with homesickness in the United Arab Emirates".

:)  hi how r u?

Home sick for me too ,

Yes there is option to reduce the feelings

Sure, make friends, get out of ur shell, connect, open up, etc etc etc... That will make u happy..

I have found best way is to make yourself occupied...too much free time can make your mind start to think of things u might miss back home...good news is there is plenty to explore and do to keep your mind occupied on things here in UAE...also making new friends is always a big help to make UAE begin to feel like your new home away from home...

Hi there,
Are you into sports?
I usually play Badminton after work and during weekends. I can say that I'm pretty active into this sport. I find this way to make myself occupied. If you want, you can drop me a message and I can invite you into our club! Also there's a lot to enjoy here in UAE. Start by finding friends with your same interest. Enjoy your stay here in the Capital