Where Is Home
Where and what is home?
I got asked this question by an Egyptian teacher from the university of Dresdin during an Erasmus + exchange program last year which theme and topic was “Refugees”.This might seem like a simple and easy question to answer right? Well, take a minute to think about it...There is so much more to this question and even more to its answer.
Living somewhere and then leaving in a split second is probably the hardest thing I had to endure in my life so far. Even though i took all my belongings with me i left behind what i thought of as my home to come and live in a small greek village in which i only spent my summer holidays at. For about another 6 years i kept saying “i want to go home!” The U.K was my home and i just considered myself vacationing here temporarily.
 |
| the view from my house in the U.K |
And what made me think like that...
What made me think like that were all the memories i had made there and my mentality which was different to the greeks, meaning i had a different mindset to them. To be completely honest, i had depicted the U.K as something glorious and something much more evolved than Greece and having a british mother also propelled me to think like that. I was simultaneously ignoring all of the wonders of the greek world that i was priviledged enough to live in. I ignored the sea, the culture and all the freedom we had living here because i was so involved with the U.K!So, opened my eyes? TRAVELING.
As i was growing older i was going on more trips to
other countries and places in greece. I was amazed by what i was seeing but at
the same time my mind was comparing everything to here, Lesvos. The way people lived, the way they ate, what they ate,
the surroundings, the hospitality. Everything I encountered made me think of
here. I am now at an age which i have lived to see quite a few things and had many experiences.
view from a small taverna in the mountains above petra
When I began to understand...
I remember
going to visit my grandparents and everyday i had to plan ahead. Where should
we go? what should we do? what time should i meet up with my friends? i was missing it here. Where as living here you have the freedom to
do what ever you want whenever you want and there are no limits. I started to collect all these
thoughts in my mind and started to realize what i kept missing all this time
when i was cought up in the thought of opportunities that Britain can provide and
my previous living there, that i was missing all the beauty, magnificent things
that you could do here.
The Outcome...
All of these thoughts encompassed my mind and have made me change and think of Petra as my home. MY HOME, where i will always come back to no matter what problems i have in the future. Its my sanctuary. Britain will always be my second home, but a lot of things have changed since the time i was last there to now. Even though i am constantly going on about how i want to spread my wings and leave lesvos, it will always be in my heart. As here i feel all the right things......This is what home is, a sanctuary in which i feel safe, loved and free
the beauty of my home
I appologise for the deficiency of coherence of the layout as i am having a bit of trouble with keeping everything "in the same boat", please let me know if you have any advice on how to make it more harmonious for the convenience of your reading.
Tina x
