Home is where heart is.
Moving can be a tricky thing, a nerve racking and strange experience. It took me quite a while to really appreciate the joys of living in another country. That may sound weird but seriously, we underestimate the level of comfort we get ourselves into living our 20+ lives within the same surroundings.
Moving can be a tricky thing, a nerve racking and strange experience. It took me quite a while to really appreciate the joys of living in another country. That may sound weird but seriously, we underestimate the level of comfort we get ourselves into living our 20+ lives within the same surroundings.
Don't mistake me, there is nothing wrong with the comforts of home. Do I miss my life back in Walsall? Absolutely yes, those home grown familiarities are few and far between, I should have thought twice before I decided to get on a plane without a return ticket.
As I write this I'm in Berlin, in a room I'm renting for a few weeks, sitting on a bed that isn't mine and navigating around housemates who I won't have time to know let alone live in harmony with. It's sad, it's actually quite depressing at times. You want to just pack up and leave. Fuck it all off and save a load of cash in the doing.
Image Credit: explosm.net
But right there is the point of all this: The discomfort and discovery. I moved to Sweden on a whim, I had contacts and a place to stay, I didn't have the language, I didn't have a job and I didn't know the culture. Brits have a reputation, which probably stems from our colonial sub conscience, of being completely ignorant to other cultures and traditions when abroad be it on holiday or as expatriates. Obviously I don't want to blanket blame as there is a huge majority of Britons who are the exact opposite, though you know all know of the type of person I'm taking about.
Image Credit: Unknown
Personally, I've always held the stance that ignorance isn't at all a bad thing, it is, as we all know, a kind of bliss. I'm not the kind of guy who looks down upon those who haven't "travelled" and "found themselves", it's not for everyone, at times it certainly wasn't for me.
Not really sure where I wanted to take this, but it all comes from a conversation I had with an elder German the other night, he was telling me about his life in East Germany and how for him the Soviet System worked. He hated the fall of the wall, he knew a lot of bad would come when the Iron Curtain fell but in his little world everything seemed to work; it worked for him, it was his comfort. Too often have I heard of the atrocities of WWII and of the Soviet Union but never have I spoken to those who lived and breathed during those tumultuous times. It made me think about home. Not that the East Bloc reminds me of The Black Country, but it made me think about what makes a home? This older gentleman told me it has never really felt right for him since the fall in '89, he knew people that committed suicide as the future was too much to bare thinking about.
Not really sure where I wanted to take this, but it all comes from a conversation I had with an elder German the other night, he was telling me about his life in East Germany and how for him the Soviet System worked. He hated the fall of the wall, he knew a lot of bad would come when the Iron Curtain fell but in his little world everything seemed to work; it worked for him, it was his comfort. Too often have I heard of the atrocities of WWII and of the Soviet Union but never have I spoken to those who lived and breathed during those tumultuous times. It made me think about home. Not that the East Bloc reminds me of The Black Country, but it made me think about what makes a home? This older gentleman told me it has never really felt right for him since the fall in '89, he knew people that committed suicide as the future was too much to bare thinking about.
Image Credit: gannett-cdn.com
Regardless of what we do, our best endeavours, our sincerest attempts, home isn't just a word we use to name where we sleep at night, it's a feeling, an emotion that roots itself deep down like love, stronger than love.
Where do you call home?
Where do you call home?
By Abdurahman Hale
@abshale
The Foul Entertainment off-shore reporter, Abdurahman is currently living in Berlin and has done the round of many European countries. He is currently working on a travel/tech hybrid column for the blogs page.
@abshale
The Foul Entertainment off-shore reporter, Abdurahman is currently living in Berlin and has done the round of many European countries. He is currently working on a travel/tech hybrid column for the blogs page.