By LIU Xiang, Jack (Jockey Club Academy Hall)

I do not know if I will go back home this winter holiday. Why? I am a final year student. I have my final year project, job hunting, girlfriend and friends here in Hong Kong. What do I have back home? Only Mom and Dad. It is not that I do not want to see my parents but going back home used to mean so much more.

During the first semester in Hong Kong, all I could think of was going back home. I had a hard time adjusting to the languages; I had to take initiatives to make friends and I had just had enough of roast-pork. But back at home I could enjoy my Mom’s home-made dumplings. I went out with my childhood and high school buddies all the time and I was that legendary kid who had made it to Hong Kong! I booked my airline ticket two months ahead of time and my schedule for the first week back home was already full: Monday with high school buddies, Tuesday with neighbourhood boys and Wednesday karaoke with summer camp friends. At that time I was always the centre of conversations, telling what the big Hong Kong was like time after time.

But things slowly changed. My classmate gathering reduced in size year after year. The first high school reunion occupied four dinner tables but last time only five closest friends showed up. Sadly but truly our lives changed and there were less and less things to talk about. On the other hand, my life in Hong Kong gradually built up. There are just too many things and people holding me here. The suitcase I brought with me from home has now become too small to contain all my stuff and memories. Now going back home is turning into a task for me.

What does going back home mean to you? It could be happiness, tiredness or even sadness but for a lot of the time we get mixed feelings from it. It can tell us how we have grown up. It can show how we see our previous life.  Maybe some years later, it will not even be “going back home” but just “going to see my folks”.