#12: Home

Michael Bublé once sang «I wanna go home». So what is my conception of home?

There are two ways to answer this question. One is technical and the other emotional.

On the technical front, I am happy to state that I have had 14 addresses in my life so far. I have been a resident in four countries on two continents. Currently, my official place of residence is in the Principality of Liechtenstein, where I also spent my childhood years.

Home is where I pay my taxes and dispose of my garbage. It is the place I return to from my holidays, where I have a mailbox welcoming postcards from afar, envelops filled with invoices and newspaper print editions, which I still enjoy reading and flipping through.

Emotionally speaking, home is where I feel safe, noticed and appreciated. I also associate the term «home» with certain experiences, people, places, buildings, stories, traditions or even rituals.

Let’s take Hong Kong, where I moved to 15 years ago and stayed for 4 years. It was a different life in every aspect and I definitely wasn’t the local guy, as everyone could see. However, to me it felt like my rhythm, my speed, my sound, my smell. Hard to describe.

Most importantly, I remember the many times I flew into Hong Kong. Every time the pilot announced the landing, my heartbeat would start to go up. It was almost like me establishing a direct connection with the city before hitting the ground. Why do I consider that to be special? I just never had a similar experience anywhere else.

Let me close with the lyrics of Michael Bublé.

May be surrounded by
A million people I
Still feel all alone
Just wanna go home
Oh, I miss you, you know