So lately, I've been thinking a lot about that thing called "Home". Very common word yet so complex. Although the Oxford's Online English dictionary's definition is: " The place where one lives permanently, especially as a member of a family or household", I wouldn't define it like that myself
. First of all, who lives anywhere permanently?
What's the first thought that comes to your mind when you hear the word "home"?
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| Me on holiday when I was little, with my family in France |
After moving to England and getting a new job, I've recently had to meet a lot of people I had never met before and therefore tell them a bit about myself so they could get to know me a bit better. When you first meet people, the most common questions are: "What's your name?" and "Where do you come from?". The first question: easy to answer. The second one: not so easy for me... quite difficult to answer actually, and time consuming. My initial response, that I keep in my thoughts and do not share out loud is: "Oh no... that will take me 20mins for me to answer if I want them to understand..". I'm a third culture kid. If you don't know what that is, that's ok, I'll explain. Basically, both my parents come from different countries. So I have both nationalities. However, I wasn't born in either of them. I was born in another country, which kind of means that a bit of me belongs to all three countries.
So what do I consider to be my home? To be honest, I still don't know how to answer that question completely.
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| Me supporting Team GB at the Olympic Games in 2012 |
Yes, I come from Belgium as I was born there but, in Belgium (especially when I went to a Belgian school) I'm known as "the English girl", then when I go to France and speak French, I'm known as the "Belgian one" because of my accent and then when I go to England , I'm known as "the French one" because people can tell my English accent is a little different. I am therefore, a mixture of 3 countries and to feel complete or 100% me, I need all 3 of them. Wherever I go, I always feel like a little piece of me is missing and there is no way I can be in all 3 places at once. *Hello identity crisis*. I spent my holidays as a kid going to England (where most of the rest of my family lives) thinking I was going "home" or went on holidays to France to visit other members of my family. When I'd go to England or France I'd feel like a tourist and then when I'd go back to Belgium, I was technically an immigrant although I didn't really feel like one as I had always lived there, which confused me a lot. I didn't know where I belonged. The thing is, I love the smell of waffles and chocolate and chips, just as much as I like having croissant, just as much as I like Yorkshire pudding or English breakfast. I can't choose.
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| Me supporting Belgium at the Football World Cup this year |
Having said all of that, I must say that now that I'm living in England and will be for the next couple of years, I know I will get to know this country better than Belgium or France. Growing up in Belgium, as a kid, you only pay attention to the activities you do or the friends you make etc. Politically speaking I had NO idea what was going on. I know Belgium sometimes has a government and sometimes doesn't haha. Apart from the friends I made there or the places I've been to in Belgium, I don't feel like I know Belgium
that well.. I still need a map to go anywhere! Now, I'm almost 18 and almost able to vote, I feel like I should know what goes on in England (and France and Belgium but England is my priority as I live there) in a more general way (that includes politics, education system etc.) ! So I'm now slowly learning about all of those things. Another question I often ask myself is: "What does it really mean to be British, or French or Belgian anyway?". We're all the same human beings, just born in different places. A piece of me relates to each of the 3 countries and that's how it is and I like it that way. Because of it, I've had the opportunity to know a bit about 3 different countries and speak different languages. I believe it also helps me stay open minded on world issues as well.
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| This is exactly what I've been trying to explain haha ! |
Coming back to the word "home", I think we all have several. The one/ones we grew up in and then where we end up when we're adults. Now, being an adult from the age of 18 means you'll live in many different places during your adult life. Some people spend their childhood moving from one place to another for so many different reasons (parents get divorced, problems in the family so live somewhere else with other people, parent changes job etc.) . Also, not every child grows up
with their parents. Some people might feel more at "home" at boarding school for instance than at their house.
Every life is different, as is every home.
I wouldn't personally define home as a place but as a feeling of belonging, wherever that is.
