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Oh I see Ben! BM was a bit slow there! I've obviously missed your usual wit! Of course you are most welcome to join us! What can I get you? NHS treatment? Housing benefit? A house? And I'll chuck in a passport while I'm on! Any Aunties and Uncles you'd like to ship in?

Bethsmum wrote:Oh I see Ben! BM was a bit slow there! I've obviously missed your usual wit! Of course you are most welcome to join us! What can I get you? NHS treatment? Housing benefit? A house? And I'll chuck in a passport while I'm on! Any Aunties and Uncles you'd like to ship in?

LOL, you forgot NHS glasses prescrption lenses by the suit load.

I also forgot to say your sister can have her hymen repaired on the NHS! That's got to be one of the best reasons to come!

I was going to post about my home town, but I don't think this is the place or time to do that.

Why not Bora? Go ahead and tell us about it! I'd be interested in your story as I would with everyones!

Bethsmum wrote:I also forgot to say your sister can have her hymen repaired on the NHS! That's got to be one of the best reasons to come!

What do they use? Bawstick?

Brooklyn, New York will always be my home town. I lived in an area called Bay Ridge. The Verrazano Bridge on the Brooklyn side is in Bay Ridge. My parents divorced when I was very young and mom returned to the family house. Mom was the oldest of 10, 3 brothers and 9 sisters. The family house was two stories and a basement apartment. When she went back most of them had already left home but I remember there were still quite a few of them there. I have an aunt that is 3 months younger than myself. Mom and Grandmother were pregnant at the same time.

I loved that house. It was situated on a street which was only 4 blocks long that was tucked away between two "avenue" blocks. We had a nice size backyard and a front yard. When I saw this post I started thinking about it. I remember caterpillers dropping from the trees. I also remember when they morphed into butterflies and it got me to thinking how we don't see them anymore. There were always rainbows, which I haven't seem in ages. Acorn shells from the squirrels on the ground. A flower, called a pansy, could be found in the gardens and near the base of trees.

We always felt safe. Had no locks on the doors until my grandfather had passed away and our neighbor, Johnny Spatz, came through the house at night and robbed my grandmother's purse. After that we had locks on the front and back doors. I remember how every Friday my mother, sisters with their husbands and my grandmother gathered around the table and played poker. There were times when they didn't play for hours, but played for days!!!! Sometimes it didn't end until late Sunday night.

My elementary school was right across the street with a huge schoolyard that all the kids would play in. I was pretty much a tomboy and would play baseball, basketball and whatever other games the boys played. Those were the times when the neighbors could give you a rap off the back of the head if they caught you doing something wrong. We always had eyes on us!!!!

Mom moved out to another area in Brooklyn, but when she remarried we ended up living one block away from the family house. From there I finished high school and a couple of years later got married. I lived two blocks away from mom!!! We always lived close to the family house. Although my ethnicity is a mix, but my grandmother was predominately Irish. Funny thing about the Irish, they are either very close family or act like they have no family at all. Once leaving the family home you pretty much left the family behind except for holidays, weddings and funerals. Eventually we stopped getting together for holidays and then weddings and lastly funerals. Years later when I went to those funerals it was like going to pay my respects to strangers. I came from a large family, yet I had none. Actually, it was probably for the better. My aunts were a bunch of uneducated biddies and their offspring were just plain uneducated.

After I divorced I still lived in different parts of Brooklyn. It was home to me and always will be, although hubby and I plan to buy a house, but not in Brooklyn!! or New York. Dubai is just a very very long temporary home. I never felt settled in Dubai and can't find a comfort zone here probably because I miss all the things I am familiar with back in the States. When I go back to the States every year I make it a point to go back to my old neighborhood, Bay Ridge, but I would never consider living there. They probably call it "Little Cairo" now. By the way, I didn't meet my husband there!!! On the whole, anywhere in the United States can be home to me.

I'm Glad you plucked up the courage and posted, everyone has roots they should be proud of and willing to share.

Brooklyn? are you sure?

Just joking, Fight? Me? Nooooooooo!

You know the saying: You can take the girl out of Brooklyn, but you can't take Brooklyn out of the girl.

Always was, always will be a Brooklyn girl. Could be worse, I could have come from da Bronx!!!!

Thanks Bora, very interesting post. I love NY, have been 3 times and would love to go back. It's a fantastic place. I visited a few weeks after 9/11, I will never forget the sight of Ground Zero. When I returned in 2003 I arranged a one to one tour with Apple Greeters. My guide had been one of the rescuers. I will never forget his stories. He took me round the Church were the rescuers used to rest inbetween shifts. It still brings tears to my eyes when I think about it after all these years.

Bora Bora wrote: Mom was the oldest of 10, 3 brothers and 9 sisters.

What? No TV? I'm not too good at math but 3+9= 12

Ambassador wrote:

Bora Bora wrote: Mom was the oldest of 10, 3 brothers and 9 sisters.

What? No TV? I'm not too good at math but 3+9= 12

OOOPS. 3 brothers 6 sisters. I guess I included the 3 imaginery nice relatives I had when I was a child or somehow that 6 did a flip all on its own.

Bora Bora wrote:

Ambassador wrote:

Bora Bora wrote: Mom was the oldest of 10, 3 brothers and 9 sisters.

What? No TV? I'm not too good at math but 3+9= 12

OOOPS. 3 brothers 6 sisters. I guess I included the 3 imaginery nice relatives I had when I was a child or somehow that 6 did a flip all on its own.

ok...BTW I've been to 11220.

A bit further over and you would have been in my neck of the woods - 11209!!

I was born and partially raised in Kuwait and consider it home. I left Kuwait at 15 to complete high school in Vienna. After finishing high school, I traveled to the US to visit my uncle and decided that I wanted to go to college there, which I did.
I ended up graduating from college and then doing post-graduate school and then serving in the military and finally living and working there. All in all, I was in Ohio 9 years, Pennsylvania 10 years (Go Steelers) and Florida where I build my only home (6 years).
I moved to Dubai late 2009 for a great opportunity and absolutely love this place. It's nothing like my home town of Kuwait. There is actually order, equality and justice here (for the most part).
Although I consider Kuwait home and own my only beautiful home in Florida, I do find myself feeling "Homey" every time I return to DXB from a business trip (any where around the world) or a short visit to Kuwait. This is why I consider Dubai as my home away from home.

kout67 wrote:I moved to Dubai late 2009 ...

There are newcomers to Dubai