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Q: Keeping in touch with people back home?
I've been in China for just over two years and I find it very difficult to keep up the relationships I had back home. Not because I don't care, it's just that I never quite manage to prioritise sending emails, messages, skyping over stuff that I'm doing here. Any one have the same thing?
Nah, I kept in touch with all of my good friends the whole time. We talked every day for the most part. Get a VPN and use Facebook to talk to the family/friends. It helps a lot!
i feel you. i'm the same. i find it a hassle to keep in regular contact with my friends and family back home. i usually text my brother and parents with WhatsApp and i've convinced a few good friends to get WeChat. other than that, nothing. i send the occasionally email, but so much time goes by between emails that my letters are rather long just to keep everybody up to date. plus, my brother has two young sons now, so my family are very busy with those to rascals.
You have to prioritize your friends.
I have a mental list of people I want to stay in touch with. If I haven't heard from them in a while, I'll shoot them a "newsletter". I also use Facebook and Google+, and although I hate the feature, my Skype is set to say a small "ding" whenever a friend signs on.
The price for international calls can be a bit prohibitive for people calling you just to say hi. I equipped my parents with an old Nokia with a sim card that makes calling me from their place cheaper. I use SkypeOut to call friends e.g. on their birthdays.
The time difference is the main problem for talking, this is where the other media come into play.
Ya, the problem i I know what I should do but never do it. On any given night when I'm at home and have the choice of Skyping/emailing friends back home or hanging out with my roommates/girlfriend/friends here then I choose that. I normally don't have a problem with my guy mates because they know when I see them again it'll be the same and we'll have even more to talk about because we haven't spoken in months.
with my best friend i use whatsapp
and for my family i skype every weekend
I only keep in touch with a few people and not very often. I live rural at home, not where I grew up, a few friends that I knew from the city here, but we've drifted apart after years. It's kinda isolated. I wish it would snow more, need to repair the igloo roof.
lost touch.
(my lame excuse- we (family) are not from the electronic age)
Realized "my good friends" are self centered and only out for them selves. Its a two way thing not just you having to make the effort to make the contact but for your friends as well. Back home i only had 1 best mate and others were only drinking buddies or people i hang out with. But none of them had really made a effort with me so when i do go back i have a beer with them but nothing really more. They are all caught up with there pretentious lives.
Before i left they were all against the idea like "why go there"? The only good friends i make a effort to keep in contact is my family.
