Skip to main content

Going back home

I'm flying home next weekend. Home. What does that mean, anyway? If home is where you work, then my home is intangible because I work online. If home is where you study, then my home is Kiel, Germany. If home is where your friends are, then my home is the world, because my friends are spread all over the place. If home is where your heart is, currently my home is Sopó, because Honey is there. If home is where your family is, then my home is Barranquilla.

I am flying to that home. I am flying to Barranquilla. And I have mixed feelings about that. I am delighted to go home, but I don't want to stay. I am excited to go home, but I don't want to go. I am afraid to go back home, but I can't stay here alone. Home. Such a complicated concept...

Going back this time will be weird. It will be a first-time-ever kind of experience because, for the first time ever I will stay in a hotel and not in my parents' home. Not in my bed. Not in my room, which is now the guest room. It will be weird to have room service not delivered by Carmen. It will be awkward to greet the bellboy and not Fadul or Víctor or Pompy. It will be sad to be greeted as Miss Delgado and not as Naty.

However, also for the first time I will be married when I arrive in Barranquilla - so technically I won't even be Miss Delgado. I will be Mrs. Hergett. I will be a wife, a married woman, a half of a whole. I have never experienced Barranquilla like that. I won't be my father's daughter, I will be my husband's wife.

Ah, how I love/hate this identity crisis.

I'm flying home next weekend. Barranquilla will always be my home. Just like Augusta continues to be my home. Just like Kiel has become my home. It should be nice, though, always feeling at home. I will go home to Barranquilla and then I will return home to Kiel. I kinda like the ring of that...

Comments

  1. Oooh! If I read this right, that means you already got married! Booooya! Congrats there Naty!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I already am a married woman. It feels particularly uneventful, yet extremely fulfilling. Hm.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Find someone who makes you laugh

When I was 16, I had a boyfriend. One of my mom's friends, very close to the family and for whom I cared very much, once asked me (in front of my mom) if said boyfriend made me laugh. In trying to be bold and mature and, well, in trying to surprise and scare my mom, I said, "Well, yeah, kinda. But most importantly, he is awesome in bed!" I was lying, in case anyone is freaking out. My mom was (and probably is again now) freaking out. Her friend simply said, "Whatever, that is not important. What is important is that he makes you laugh. That is the most important thing: to be with someone who makes you laugh." This is perhaps the best piece of advice I have ever been given. Be with someone who makes you laugh . Because, the thing is, this not only refers to sex partners. This is true for life, and for everyone in your life. In my life. In counting my friends, I realize we laugh a lot together. Bear in mind that most my friends are English majors, like me; so ou...

I hate marketing

I hate marketing. I hate it. I hate it -- because it works. You see, I'm getting married in seven months (yay me! Check out our wedding website ), and I need to do all the planning here in Germany for a wedding taking place in the Caribbean coast of Colombia. It does seem like a challenge, but I am an amazing planner and I can do it. Also, my mom and sister/Maid of Honor have it all under control. But, as I said, since I'm in Germany, there are many things I need to do online. So I have to rely on websites to kinda figure out what I want. Before I went online, I took advice from my good friend Hope (who also recently married) and closed my eyes and imagined my perfect wedding. This is what my perfect wedding looks like: At the beach, hopefully getting our feet wet while saying "I do", at sunset, with only our closest family and friends (so, no more than 20 people), drinking piña coladas and eating fish and coconut rice, listening to soothing background music a...

Orientierungskurs (Or, Intensive German Culture-Politics-History-Literature Crash Course for Foreign Dummies)

Recently (since January 1, 2005), the German government (the Bundestag) passed a law (Gesetz), stating that all Foreigners (Ausländer) wishing to stay in Deutschland for more than 12 months ought to go through an Orientierungskurs . This is a brilliant idea. I'd like to claim credit and say that Angie did read my blog and created this Deutschland für Idiots course for me. But, alas, I cannot but say the truth. The Germans are a first-world nation because they think of everything. Like we Latinamericans say, mientras Usted apenas va llegando, yo ya fui y volví, something along the lines of, while you are now only arriving, I have already come and gone back (ok, maybe today is not my best day for translations...). All the blogs I've posted about my lack of knowledge of the Deutsch system have come to an end, because after these 9 days (4 down, 5 more to go) I will know everything worth knowing about the Deutsch. Should you have a question (besonders, die Deutschen), I have ...