While I am being jettisoned through the air in a giant metal bird let me give a little background...
My destination is Nepal, the country that I and my entire family is from (although I was born in Hannover, Germany, a fact actually pretty unrelated to my life story, so I'll leave it at that). I grew up in Kathmandu for the first few years of my life, coming to the United States when I was four years old. The rest of my life thus far has been balancing Nepali culture with the new Western one I found myself in (read: getting super-duper white-washed). My Nepali gave way to English pretty quickly, until I only had a rudimentary grasp of the language. Let that be whatever metaphor it is. It was only recently that I have been actively trying to get back in touch with and reclaim my culture and identity. Call it a decolonization of my own mind. So anyway, Nepal is a prime candidate for this "finding home".
Another relatively new thing in my life: my passion for farming! Although this too has surprisingly deep roots. Though I am most definitely a city kid, my Dad's family have all been farmers. I'm talking for generations, stretching back thousands of years probably. In fact in Nepal the name "Dahal" is synonymous with farming (also communism, but that's a different story...) So there are many dimensions of "return" at play.
An update: So far the feeling of homecoming has yet to be found, neither on the American Airlines flight, nor during my layover at the Qatari airport. I thought I felt it briefly, deep into my complimentary cup of wine, staring out at the sun rising over a cloud a thousand feet high, but then the person in front of me leaned their seat all the way back and alas the feeling vanished...
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