Repatriation {CVX Orientation}

Being the great company that Chevron is, they wanted to make sure that our return "home" {back to the US}, would go as smoothly as possibly. From the many people that I have met in Aberdeen, I've heard that coming back "home" can be harder than going abroad. You get use to your life abroad, developed different routines, viewpoints, etc, so when you get back, the people that you normally associated yourself with have moved on, or you no longer have things in common with them and you feel like you can't fit it anymore. Also, being abroad means new adventures, opportunities, and sometimes the people at home are still doing the same thing and are not interested in your life anymore. The longer you've been abroad, the harder it is to come back to your "home" country, is what they say. I can see all of that being very true for some people, but I like to think that with the effort we made to stay in touch with our friends and family from back home and the huge support they gave us while being abroad, that this doesn't apply so much to us. I know things will be different being back, but I'm willing to accept these differences and make the best of it. Anyhow, if you're interested, the repatriation orientation went a little something like this...

The Myths: 

Gerald and never felt this way about coming home, but I can totally see how some people can feel this way. Since we didn't have these expectations coming home, the counselor said that she was probably not going to beneficial to us because we seem to know what is going on and how to handle it with our positive attitudes. What was suppose to be a 4 hour repatriation session, turned into a 2 hour California travel planning session, which sent me out to lunch and a movie with the counselor afterwards...haha. Thanks Anita! I did enjoy the information provided and it was nice to see it in words. Here are a few of the slides below, courtesy of Chevron. 

The Emotional Waves: I definitely felt these things but never dwelled on any part too much {currently feeling the Globe-Trotter High, hope this lasts a while}. You just have to keep moving, no need to dwell on the negatives.

How life has changed...

Re-entry Adjustment: Aberdeen was definitely "home" the past three years and I know at some point, I will feel a "homesickness" for it from time to time. However, I don't feel there is a GAP between ourselves and our friends and family, we are super excited to hang out with them and see them more and hope they are too. The friends we have are lifetime friends so even though we've been gone for 3 years, I know when we get together we can pick up right where we left off. That's what true friends are in my opinion. I hope to do the same with the friends we made in the 'Deen.

We are definitely feeling this right now...

Stages of Re-entry: I think I am more excited to see others than they are to see me, but hey, what the heck! I missed them!

How to move forward with our lives...

Strategies for Re-entry: These are really great points and as I've mentioned before, I'm such a relationship person so I love hearing about what people have done back home and sometimes feel sad that I missed out on these things so trust me, I will be asking you "What happened at home?" That's if I don't already know =)  I'm also definitely looking forward to rediscovering the US again.

Everyone is different in how they cope with things but if you're living abroad and will be repatriating soon, these are some things to think about. I know there is a whole different level with children, so thankfully we didn't have to deal with that this time around. Good luck!

Overall, even though most of the negative things you should be feeling didn't apply to us, we still enjoyed the session and Anita's company. She even offered for us to go to her cabin in the Sierra Nevadas and do some hiking! Yippee!