When “home” starts to mean somewhere else
I’VE BEEN in Mauritius since Thursday 6 March. I laboured remotely during the first and second weeks, and still felt guilty when I started my holiday at the beginning of this week whilst aware that an important project deadline had been missed and that a colleague would have to cram it out.
Adding to the strangeness of being in Mauritius twice within a two-month period and the uncertainty back in England, what with the missed deadline, the recent storms in Britain, the unattended house, and the toppled fence left as-is, is the budding confusion about the meaning of “home”. Indeed, I find myself saying that “I am bored of being in Mauritius and would rather be home” quite often.
To muddle things even more, I don’t feel the same urge as before to obtain the British citizenship and often contemplate remaining exclusively Mauritian; but, at the same time, I want Britain to be my home.
Is there a fellow ex-pat reading this and having similar feelings?
Popularity: 65% [?]
Possibly related:
7 Comments
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
Leave a comment
Powered by WordPress and Eddy Young.
I know that feeling. During the first couple of years in Canada, “home” for me was still Mauritius. However, as the years went by, I started to call Canada “home.” Now, when I tell people that I am going home, they ask me when, thinking I mean going to Mauritius. The more years I spend in Canada, the more I have that feeling, although deep inside I’m still Mauritian. Now, every time I’m in Mauritius for vacations, there comes a day when I want to head back to Canada. It’s like the glass is full, one drop more and it will overflow.
The fact that I’ve never own the place I was living in Mauritius nor the car, but do own the place where I live and the car I have in Canada make a big difference.
Comment by Patrick Ng — Friday, 21 March 2008 22:18 GMT #
YOUR point about home being more the country where you hold ownership is valid. Still, I’m missing more than just my house. I want to get back in the habits that I’ve developed in England: shop at the local store, get updated to the news, and so on. This desire may sound trivial, but the strange thing is that I no longer feel at home in Mauritius.
Eddy.
Comment by Eddy — Saturday, 22 March 2008 05:12 GMT #
Maybe it’s because Mauritius is no longer your “home” (home is not used in a pejorative way here). Although after a while I want to head back to Canada, I don’t feel as bored as you do. Everyone’s situation is different. One of my favourite activities while in Mauritius, besides scuba diving, is to go into my parent’s shop and chat with the customers. Sheron calls this “wasting time,” but I call it “time well wasted.” :-)
Comment by Patrick Ng — Saturday, 22 March 2008 12:37 GMT #
By the way, where did you take that picture? The sea and scuba diving are some of the things I missed the most.
Comment by Patrick Ng — Saturday, 22 March 2008 12:46 GMT #
Hello Eddy
I was born in the UK but by the age of 5 my dad decided to return back to Mauritius (for personal reasons).
Whilst in Mauritius, living my childhood and teenage years overthere, I always missed the country in which I was born. I already had dual citizenship then but the old Mauritian law required that I choose one at the age of 18. Ironically, the law changed on that very year.
It is now official that I have lived in the UK more and I am pretty settled here. My parents live 6 months in the UK and 6 in Mauritius. My dad misses his old years in the UK and would like to settle for good here. However, I am quite fed up with the life here and contemplate having my freedom in Mauritius - I know I will. This is not as easy when you are a ’slave’ in this country.
For sure, I love both countries greatly. I feel hurt to see the problems in both of them. I feel proud to be part of them when talking about the great values of the two. However, I feel more and more unassociated with citizenship and more and more a citizen of the world.
Comment by Faisal... — Tuesday, 25 March 2008 12:43 GMT #
[...] on the toilet during my morning routine, I realised once again what sort of things makes me want to rush back to England after I’ve experienced Mauritius for a couple of [...]
Pingback by e.young » Why Mauritius needs better toilet paper — Friday, 4 April 2008 23:57 GMT #
@Faisal: WHAT do you mean by being a ’slave’ in England? In hindsight, I feel like I was ’slaving’ more in Mauritius than I am here. I am still divided about where I will retire, though.
Eddy. (Just reading past comments and caught that particular word.)
Comment by Eddy — Wednesday, 4 June 2008 09:55 GMT #