My fiancée (26F) and I (30M) have been together for 1.5 years. She is from India, and she’s been living in Australia since 2018. I grew up with a little bit of exposure to Indian culture due to my mum growing up there, so I love, appreciate and embrace everything about my fiancées culture to the best of my ability – although I know there will always be a culture divide, me having grown up in Australia.
I’ve never lived overseas for a long period of time – six months is the longest stretch, so I don’t know how it must feel to be away from her home country for so long; especially now living in a country with significantly less culture and celebration of its indigenous heritage.
Recently, she’s been getting so homesick that she completely shuts down, which is particularly unusual because she’s a yapper by nature – so I really notice when she goes quiet (I adore everything about her; this is simply a relevant fact). I make sure she knows that she has someone to talk to always, offer to cook for her, and many more things – but she’s also fiercely independent and she struggles with accepting help from others.
I know I can’t fix the situation; but I feel completely useless.
If anyone has been through this, or is currently going through this and has any advice on how I can best support her, I’d be incredibly grateful.
TL;DR: my partner is homesick and I don’t know how best to support her. We don’t share the same culture and that divide is a contributing factor in my anxiety around being a strong support network for her.