Reverse Homesickness

The longer I stay here, the more I get used to it, the more I become familiar with the streets and with interacting with my surroundings. Also, I've gotten to know my coworkers better as well. They really form a community here, much more so than in the US. They hang out outside of work and know a lot more about each other personally. In the US, I am friendly with people at work, but we don't hang out after work or talk about anything more than superficial things like what we did over the weekend. I've met some people at work who are really friendly and it is a true pleasure to work with them. Also, I feel so needed here. In SF, there are quite a few people you can really count on to get things done. I would say maybe 5 or so strong senior resources who really do all they can to get things done right and who work really hard. We have lots of people who get by on the minimum and don't really step up, but everything is really held together by a few strong people who put in long hours and hold everyone to a high standard. In Manila, there doesn't seem to be anyone filling that role. There are senior resources, and several of them have struck me as pretty intelligent, good people, but there are also a lot of newer people on the team who are working hard and staying late and not getting the help they need. I feel such a strong desire to stay and make things right here because I think things haven't been right for a while, and all these wonderful people I've met are the ones suffering because of it. Of course, that's not to say I don't miss home where I know how to navigate my daily tasks easily or my husband who is awesome. I'm just feeling that when it comes time to leave in three weeks, I'm going to be really sad. Maybe I can make another trip down the line. We'll just have to see.