Home Is Where the Heart Is in Peru and Canada
Now that I live in Peru, I’ve often been asked, “Where is home now?”
It seems like a simple question. Of course, it’s wherever I currently live. But Peru’s not my only home.
The family gathering of over 40 relatives with a Filipino-Chinese buffet and presents under the Christmas tree in Canada, as I celebrated this year, gives me the feeling of home just as much to me now as our tradition in Huancayo, Peru of throwing fireworks from the second floor window with family after Christmas Eve dinner by the garland taped to the wall in the shape of a tree, as I celebrated a couple years ago.
They say that “home is where the heart is,” so I have two simultaneous homes with my families in Canada and Peru. Traveling is that limbo where I look forward to going home to Canada and soon going back home to Peru at the same time.
My heart isn’t in two pieces on two different continents. It just encompasses both locations where I have built a life and feel like part of the community.
Where is home for you and why?
Tags: community, home in canada, home in peru, home is where the heart is, vancouver
Joy
I feel the SAME way and you put is so perfectly, Sam….”My heart isn’t in two pieces on two different continents. It just encompasses both locations where I have built a life and feel like part of the community.” The places we find ourselves in shape us, transform us, and their influences are not things that can just be easily shed or forgotten. We are who we are because of these ‘homes’. I’m sure you felt much love with 40 or so relatives and friends joining you for the holidays and all that love will always be with you where ever you find yourself living. 🙂
Samantha Bangayan
I love how you put it as well, Joy! “The places we find ourselves in shape us, transform us, and their influences are not things that can just be easily shed or forgotten.” That’s way more eloquent! =)
It was definitely a loving holiday season and I hope your experience was just as cozy! =)
Adrienne
Although I’ve always lived near where I grew up, I believe that home is definitely where the heart is. To me, where I currently live is my home.
I love going and visiting my Mom which is where I grew up but it’s no longer home to me. I think wherever my family is I consider to be home.
When I’m away from my home for too long I can’t wait to get back to what’s familiar. So I can see why Peru would really be considered your home right now Samantha but your heart still remains in Canada with your family.
Just glad you had a wonderful visit and although we missed you, we know that there are a few more things a little more important than reporting to us. Just hope you are all caught up and excited about the new year.
Best wishes my friend.
~Adrienne
Samantha Bangayan
That’s super interesting, Adrienne! I wonder if the feeling of home in Vancouver would be different if I lived away for a longer period of time!
Thanks so much for being super understanding, friend. Things continue to be hectic, but the blogging community has been amazingly supportive. =) I guess I just need to learn to prioritize better!
Janet Callaway
Sam, aloha. To me, “Home is where the heart is.” At a young age, I knew that Hawaii felt like “home” to me so moved here as a young woman.
As a result of that decision many decades ago, my life, my home is in Hawaii. Though my family is on the Mainland, when I see them I do not feel like I am “going home” rather I feel like I am going to visit them.
Sam, I believe a home is wherever you make it to be. And, of course, what constitutes home is different for each of us.
How fortunate you are to feel that you have two homes. Enjoy the time and traditions with family and friends in Canada.
Sam, it has been an absolute delight getting to know you this year. Now that you are back in Canada, I look forward to following that journey as well.
Wishing you a 2012 that is filled with peace, joy and abundance in all that matters to you. Hauoli Makahiki Hou. Janet
Samantha Bangayan
Wow! I love that idea of knowing that another place will feel more like home. Sometimes I feel that way about South America — that there are various cities in Peru and other South American countries that could feel like home to me! =)
Thank *you* so much for your friendship this past year, Janet! I’m so glad we’re part of the same blogging community. A little belated, but I also wish you amazingness in 2012! =)
Sam
Will always call NZ home, but in the mean time enjoying living in Canada
Samantha Bangayan
That’s super interesting, Sam! I think I felt like that when I first arrived to Peru — that I was just enjoying the life there — and then it slowly turned into home. =)
Deeone
I’m thrilled to hear that you were able to go back for a visit to Canada for the holidays, Sam. I’m certain that you’re enjoying your stay there. For there indeed is “no place like home”.
I understand perfectly what you mean by this post. Of course Atlanta for the most part is where I reside, but North Carolina is home for me. Unfortunately though, I haven’t been back there since September of last year.
I hope to make it back one day, but being that my mother and grandmother are no longer there; you can imagine it not feeling the same to me. So, the desire to return has truly “left the building”. 😀
Maybe one day though. Awesome post as usual. Thank you for sharing your visit with us. 🙂
Samantha Bangayan
Yeah! I was so excited to come home and it’s been a good month! =) I can’t believe I’ll be heading back to Peru in less than a week already! =)
Ooh! That’s a good example, Deeone! I don’t know if Vancouver would feel like home if I didn’t have family or even friends here anymore. Hadn’t thought about that!
Thanks so much for relating, friend! =)
Virag
Who would understand you, Samantha better than I do! 🙂 I spent Christmas at home in Hungary, and soon I travel to my “other” home, to Sweden. 😀
BTW what an awesome idea to have garland taped to the wall!!!
Samantha Bangayan
Ooh! You are definitely my twin when it comes to double homes, Virag! =) I’m heading back “home” to Peru soon too! =)
P.S. Thanks for admiring the garland idea. It wasn’t my idea, but I thought it was pretty creative too! =P
Betsy Cross
This post has helped me to reflect on why I always choose to come “home” to where I grew up after living for extended periods of time in different states in the US. For me it’s a feeling of comfort and familiarity. It’s not hard to be here. My mind understands it and feels the most calm here.
We’ve moved a lot, made friends everywhere we’ve been, and really enjoyed all of them. But, eventually we are drawn back home to Cape Cod. It’s just a magical place for us.
Thanks Samanatha!
Samantha Bangayan
You describe it so well, Betsy: “It’s not hard to be here.” Maybe that’s the essence of home for me too. It’s easy to settle in, find places, talk with people.
I’ve never heard of Cape Cod before, but the pictures of the area are breathtaking. =)
Li @Flash Fiction
I envy those of you who take the leap and live far from home – I tend to be most comfortable here in my familiar little burrow. :-)) I suppose I should work on getting out more…
Sounds like you had a great holiday, Sam, I’m so glad you had the opportunity
Samantha Bangayan
You know, I end up feeling the exact same way, Li! I make a cozy little place for myself in another country. =P You can do the same! =)
Carolyn | The Wonder of Tech
Hi Samantha, Merry Christmas! I hope you are enjoying your trip to Canada and that your trip isn’t too hectic. Thank you for taking time to enrich us with your post.
I completely understand. When we lived in England, I would answer the question, “Where are you from?” with the response, “England.” That response drove my husband nuts because he thought it was misleading since we’re Americans. But we had moved to England from a home in Pennsylvania where we had only lived a short while before moving to England. To avoid giving people my residential resume and because I regarded England as home, I didn’t change my response as long as we lived there.
I love your analogy to your heart being a big circle instead of being split. I’m not surprised your heart is big enough to encompass two continents, Samantha!
May 2012 be a peaceful and bountiful year for you, Samantha. 🙂
Samantha Bangayan
Sorry to get back to this so late, Carolyn! It’s been a crazy time here in Vancouver and there’s still so much to do before I leave for Peru again at the end of the week. Thanks so much for your patience with me in the meantime. =)
OOH! That’s super interesting! I didn’t even consider how this would tie in to the feeling of home. I love that idea of telling others that I’m from “Peru” when I’m there because Peru is truthfully home to me!
Wishing you beauty and peace this year, friend! =) Hugs!
Adriene
I’ve never lived far from where I grew up but I have lived in dwellings that didn’t feel like home. It’s nice that you have that flexibility to be comfortable with you family and also with the home you have made for yourself. Happy New Year, Sam!
Samantha Bangayan
Ooh! Great point, Adriene! There are definitely places that obviously don’t feel like home and may never feel like home to me. I can imagine that too! =P
Happy New Year, friend! =)
Bonnie Copeland
You are so blessed to have found two places you can call home with so much love and family. It’s also a real blessing that you can recognize the hearts unwavering capacity to hold both! Enjoy your holiday.
Samantha Bangayan
It’s so true, Bonnie. I am SO thankful to have two homes and to be able to embrace both of them! =) Hugs! Hope you had an amazing holiday season too! =) <3
Akos Fintor
Hello Sam,
I can relate to this, all right. Since I’ve moved to the US it seems this is my home more than the country I grew up in. Yet always feel that I’m a stranger here. It’s sounds weird but the way I look at it: I grew up there but now I’m here. I feel the planet Earth is my home.
Peace out!
Akos
Samantha Bangayan
Wow! I wonder if that’ll happen to me in the future where I’m away from home long enough that the feeling of connection to the original home fades away!
I totally vibe with you on Earth being home! =) The world certainly becomes smaller the more I travel. =)
Penelope J
Hi Sam, Yes, I can relate to you especially the Canadian-Peruvian thing. Two such different cultures and lifestyles compounded, in your case, by your Filipino-Chinese background.
My Anglo-American Mexican family has always celebrated Mexican Christmas Eve and then American/British Christmas Day. However, after moving back and forth between what I call, “My three countries” – England, Mexico, and U.S. – as I have roots in each, I don’t feel that any is my home. I always refer to England as my home even though it’s 44 years since I actually lived there, but the closest to being my home is Mexico that I left 12 years ago. The U.S. is still, in many ways, a foreign country for me. So home has to be wherever I am living at the time even though my heart may be somewhere else.
Samantha Bangayan
I’m realizing now that the Christmas traditions can mix well! =) Noche Buena and then Christmas morning gift-opening — which probably ends up as Christmas afternoon gift-opening because of the midnight meal. =P
That’s so interesting to hear that you feel your heart may be elsewhere than where your home/current living place may be. I would have a difficult time leaving my heart in a different location! =)
Lynn Brown
Where ever my family is that is where my heart is. A home is family and it really does not matter where you are. These difficult times has proven to so many that we need to see ourselves from within. Happiness and joy is what matters and that is what makes a home as well. A good reminder Samantha. Oh, and no need to apologize as I too am catching up – I loved being out of town, relaxing and enjoying family but now the hard part is getting back at it! Glad you enjoyed your family as well!
Samantha Bangayan
That’s exactly how I feel, Lynn! I guess that’s why my heart can encompass both places more easily than I imagined — because the people I love are in both places. =)
I absolutely love how you say: “Happiness and joy is what matters and that is what makes a home as well.” =)
Thanks for your understanding, Lynn! =)
Adeline
I completely agree with you. Home is definitely where the heart is. I have a few cities and places that I love to stay, but so far, there is only one place that I really call home. Of course, that can change later in the future. Have a great New Year, Sam!
Samantha Bangayan
Love your flexibility, Adeline! Peru is the first time I’ve called a place other than Vancouver home and I can see this changing potentially too! =)
The happiest new year to you too, friend! =)
Ryan Biddulph
Hi Samantha,
Home is back in the US for me, since my family lives there and I’ve spent most of my life there.
With that in mind Phuket began to feel much like home after living there for 3 months. I enjoyed it immensely, became comfortable with the environment, learned my surroundings and fell in love with the weather and beaches. I see myself living there for an extended period 1 day….
…but where I feel most at home is where my fam lives, and where I grew up. Strong emotional bonds, my friends, all that good stuff…tough to call anything outside of New Jersey, home.
Thanks for sharing with us Samantha. Happy Holidays 🙂
RB
Samantha Bangayan
Wow! =) Phuket sounds beautiful — I must visit one day! I love that we can potentially feel at home anywhere, as long as we give ourselves time there. I imagine that I could feel the same about a third place or more in the future! =) In the meantime, like you, Vancouver definitely has the strongest pull for “home” because most of my family is here. =)
Hope you enjoyed a beautiful holiday season, Ryan! =)
Vinny T
Right now, home for me is in that nice middle class neighborhood of San Miguel in Lima Peru. I aways love my visits here and even though i was born in the USA,I always feel that this is the place where belong while i´m here. I just love the people, the food, the music, and the hisory of this great country, so when I´m here, I feel quite at home. This visit should extent until the end of March and it would be pretty cool if i could actually meet the creator of this site . I´m taking notes about my experiences here and Im still working on a viable story line for my next novel. Enjoy your stay in Vancouver . I´ll look forward to hearing from you upon your return to Peru
Samantha Bangayan
I can imagine you settling in there perfectly, Vinny! =) I hope you’re thoroughly enjoying your time there. I feel the same loves you do when I’m in Peru and I even find myself reminiscing when I’m here in Canada! =)
Can’t wait to meet! =)
Janine
I think I can finally say that I call Australia home, even if I was born and bred here. It took me about 33 years…but I finally got there.
Samantha Bangayan
Wow! Isn’t that funny? You’d think that the place where you were born and raised would naturally be home. But there’s something about feeling like you’re *part of* the community too! Thanks for sharing your thoughts, friend!
Hajra
Hey Samantha,
I can so relate. Having lived most of my life in the Middle East, though belonging to India, I get asked the question so often. I believe, we can have many homes…really! Our heart can love many things at a time, why not places. At one time I loved my grandpa’s place so much, I didn’t want to come back. So there you go, the heart can love many things, and thus going by that logic, home is where the heart is…everywhere! 🙂
Here’s wishing you a lovely 2012!
Samantha Bangayan
That’s a great comparison, Hajra! Our heart can love so many *things* and *people* at a time! Of course we can love more places. Why was that so hard for me to grasp? =P
Happy, happy new year to you too, friend! =) <3 Hugs!
Claire Bowen
Lovely post, Sam – and I agree completely with your sentiments. I think home really is wherever there is love and where we are enlivened! We can definitely have more than one home and I’m really pleased to hear you’ve been enjoying your break! Safe travels back to your ‘other home’!
Samantha Bangayan
Thanks so much, Claire! You understand me so well! =)
My break is finally dwindling down to its last week and it’ll be interesting to start the new year in Peru. I’ve got some resolutions and I can’t wait to get started once I’m in a routine again. =)
Barbara
Sam, truly beautiful, you have come a long way. I love your title “Home is Where the Heart is”, we are at home when growing roots: building relationships, be it with family or friends, finding a place to work where we are appreciated and to live where we are comfortable (love your Christmas tree).
This reminds me of “The Little Prince” by Antione Saint-Exupéry who says: “One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes.”
My wish for you in 2012: Follow your heart and be happy!
Samantha Bangayan
That’s such a beautiful way to describe it, Barbara. I’ve inserted my roots into Peru and it sure did become a home for me. =) And that quote from “The Little Prince” is so appropriate. I want to continue living life seeing with my heart. =)
Thanks so much for your new year wish! =) I wish for you peace and continual, inspirational beauty! =)
Hector Avellaneda
Love it Sam! I haven’t been here for some time but I am really glad to know that you are traveling the back home from home 🙂
Definitely share your sentiments. I consider home where I currently live. The honest truth is that I have not travelled the world enough to have another place to call home.
ALthough I have seen many beautiful places here in the states.. maybe that’s something that I need to change this year!
Travel more and not work so much! 🙂
Samantha Bangayan
Thanks so much for stopping by, Hector! =) I can visualize myself in different parts of the States too! =) Maybe I’ll call a third place home sometime soon. =)
Wishing you the most amazing new year ever, friend! =) Hugs!
Adrienne
Home is still St. Louis, Missouri to me. It’s where I was born and raised and where most of my family lives. But, I must admit that each time I visit another city that I end up loving, I feel a bit like that place is home, too. So, I guess more that anything, home is wherever I feel comfortable.
Samantha Bangayan
That’s exactly how I feel, Adrienne! =) There’s just something about certain cities and pull me in and that have me imagining settling there. =)
BrowsingRome
Hi Sam,
I agree with Hajra’s comment that your heart can love many things at one time and this is also applicable to places. I have lived in countries in three different continents and not just for a year or two but for at least 5 years. Each time I go back to one of them, it’s like going home. I have friends and or family there and familiar with all the places.
I can definitely relate to you but again we have so many things in common! Glad to hear you are having a fab time at “home”.
Samantha Bangayan
Yeah! I so loved that about Hajra’s comment too! =) Wow! You are the most experienced expat I know. =) I feel the exact same way about Canada and Peru, and I know that I could potentially have a third home or more too! =) Love the idea of it!
We truly have so much in common. =)
MuMuGB
Sam, that’s such a good question! Home is in so many different places for me. London is where I live. Bali is where I recharge my batteries. Provence is where I am from. But I also love New-York. And Paris.
I don’t know where home is. Probably a bit in a plane, actually. Or on a train. Travel is in my blood somehow.
Home is probably where my immediate family is, wherever it might be!
Samantha Bangayan
Wow! =) You win the award for most potential homes out of all those who have commented so far, Muriel. =) I hope to be as cosmopolitan as you are one day! =)
Dayle
I think it perfectly valid to have two homes! In fact, my daughter made a point of telling me this morning that she has two homes (something I never denied, but she needed to affirm it), one with me and one with daddy. Home is where the heart is and I think it’s actually more rare that our hearts rest in only one place!
Samantha Bangayan
I hadn’t thought of it that way, Dayle! Once we move out of the house we grew up in, we already create a second home! =P I don’t know why it was so hard for me to get my head around in the beginning!
Sherry Zander
Well, Sam, for me, home is where I find solace away from the hustle and bustle of life — a place where only I can go and those I invite in. It’s a place where I can think without interruption, cry without hesitation and laugh without embarrassment. That’s the place that I call home.
Samantha Bangayan
What a beautiful way to describe it, Sherry. I really identify with that sense of comfort. Sometimes, it’s just one room or area within a house/home where I find that solace too. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. =)