Do you have a 'spiritual' home/country/region?

LissaC said:
To me Israel is a place with an energy I cannot explain.
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As a Jew it is my home that I will probably never return too. The energy is born out of self preservation. I like many other Jews of my age were brought up with the Holocaust and the attitude that no one is going to put me to death without a fight. If there had been a two state settlement in place when we decided to leave the UK we would have moved their.
 
Burt Blank said:
As a Jew it is my home that I will probably never return too. The energy is born out of self preservation. I like many other Jews of my age were brought up with the Holocaust and the attitude that no one is going to put me to death without a fight. If there had been a two state settlement in place when we decided to leave the UK we would have moved their.
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I could never put a name to what I admire so much about the Jewish spirit, but self-preservation is the perfect word.
 
LissaC .Very few Brits know the history of antisemitism in the UK and how it still exists. My two brothers and I learned to fight at a young age when we were targeted as "christ killers" in a totally Christian school. Easter was a very dangerous time for us.

Massacre at York and Beyond (1189 - 1194)
One of the most notorious riots led to the massacre of the Jews of York. Jews have lived in York since 1170.

In 1947
The wave of anti-Semitic incidents in Britain continued into its fourth day today, reaching a new peak of fury in Manchester where a ## estimated at over 700 persons smashed windows in eight Jewish-owned shops. One Jewish shopkeeper, whose store was wrecked yesterday, today displayed a sign where his former window used to be, reading: “Is this the reward for my son who as killed fighting for his country?”
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Anti-semitic Attacks in Britain Continue into Fourth Day; 700 Riot in Manchester - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

I found I could not live in my "spiritual home" where Palestinians are threatened in the same way.
 
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I've lived abroad a few times (Austria, France & Egypt) and could happily live abroad again. And although I also love where I live right now in Hampshire I am starting to feel more and more out of touch with the political landscape in the UK and what it stands for. We've often discussed if we could move abroad where we'd choose to go and generally we settle on southern Germany....some of that is because of the society and culture, but also because its pretty central so it'd be a good base from which to visit most of the rest of Europe. If it wasn't for Brexit we'd maybe be thinking along the lines of planning to move there when we eventually retire. But I guess that's off the cards now :(
 
I found my time in Scotland (portions of three summers plus a two week visit back in 95) - parts of that felt like spiritual home. I'm talking the Moray region down to Arbroath. Possibly a little bit towards Aberdeen.

But I also found another spiritual home, and I'm living here right now. Back in the early 90s I went to a meeting with some friends that was being held in a house owned by another couple of friends in the Hilltowns of western MA. As soon as we hit a certain curve in the road - my brain was saying HOME! I hadn't been here before, and it was raining cats and dogs in the middle of the spring, as leaves were coming onto the trees. Having something hit me as "home" while being the driver on roads I'd never traversed before (that I know of) was unsettling.

Pretty much all the Hiilltown region here feels that way to me. By 1997 I was actively looking for land to purchase. The spot I ended up buying was the second property I'd looked at - but had first rejected because it was too large an acreage. It was priced right - big lots of land in the area were cheap back then - but I felt it was overkill and continued looking. Nearly the entire area felt right to me, but there were distinct disadvantages to other properties - ie, dirt roads that might not get plowed in winter, woods that were too dense to explore, properties that were too sloped to be buildable (affordably), one 15 acre property that was what we call a "pencil" - about 200 feet of road frontage and it just simply went straight back keeping that same width all the way.

I kept returning to this one particular lot - and broke down, finally purchasing it. (Besides it was easily buildable, on a paved road; and, simply lovely!!!)

I feel like I am living in one of my spiritual homes, living here. I just wish my knee were better these days for exploring the woods around me.
 
I've been quite itinerant. I was born in the north-east of England of Irish descent and I've lived in Scotland for the last 28 years, barring two years in Eritrea and a few months in Ethiopia and Ghana. I support Newcastle United, but not England (never England!). Internationally, I always support Ireland. If I'd ever been good enough at any sport, I'd have chosen to play for Ireland.

Make of all that what you will...
 
I stuck around around Los Angeles because this is where the good pay was. It means very little to me now. I love Nevada and Arizona.

Wife loves her home country of Switzerland and that is where her heart is.
Wife went to college and worked in nursing in New Orleans. I love it there but the heat and humidity is not for her.
 
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"Croatian tourism in the distant markets segment receives the most tourist traffic from the USA. This report, which comes from a prestigious association like Virtuoso, further confirms the excellent position our country enjoys in the extremely important US market and confirms that Croatia is one of the leading destinations for guests with a refined taste," said Croatian Tourist Board Director Kristjan Stanicic, emphasizing that so far, almost 627,000 arrivals and over 1.7 million overnights have been generated from the US market so far, representing a 12 percent year-over-year increase."
My mate runs a very upscale agency here. 95% of his clients are American. The clients I have met want nothing more that to get away from the American stereotypical tourist. In our expat forum we have about 5% of American expats who are very good people.
 
TastyReuben said:
No worry over a work permit, no worry over health care, no worry (unless you wanted it, like we did) of being "left for dead" in another culture, so to speak. If we'd wanted to, we could have lived in a base house and shopped exclusively on base for housewares and groceries, and insulted ourselves as much as possible from the culture. Sadly, too many of my American comrades did exactly that.

Once we got back to the US, I left the service less than a year later, in part possibly because I was in a general funk about not being where I wanted to be, and once that happened, it came down to having to make a living to help support us. Had I been single, I might have been more bohemian, grabbed my guitar, hopped a plane, overstayed my visa, and supported myself playing in the pubs and trading on my obvious wit, charm, and good looks! :laugh:
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I absolutely loved that typo, LOL! How fitting!
 
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