We have friends staying with us that just moved here (as in, 48 hours ago), and when this happens, we’re always reminded of what’s interesting about living here.  Everything is new to them, so they’ve got sensory overload.  We still get culture shock, to be sure, but it’s nothing like it is in the beginning.

They are also tired.  We are, too, of course (re: having a baby still not sleeping through the night), but they’ve got a whole lotta stuff going on.  There’s jet lag and the time change, but there’s also the emotions and the stressors of moving here.  It physically takes a lot out of you.

It’s been said that your first year living overseas, you need at least one extra hour of sleep a night and a few more calories to burn.  Your entire body is going through overloaded stress, regardless of whether you’re aware, and your body has to recover from the stress somehow.  Most people can’t figure out why they’re so tired all. the. time. when they move here.  But they always are.

So the first few days of a newly-knighted expat’s arrival, we let them sleep as long as they need.  We tell them that everyone sleeps until around noon the first morning, and everyone always denies this will happen to them.  No, I wake up early, they say.  I’m not that tired, they say.  And they always do.  Every time.  It happened with us.

posted: 08 May 19
under: culture