Weekend Confidential is a weekly post for paid subscribers to DWBAbroad, where I address more personal matters than in the free posts that appear during the week. If you like it, please consider a monthly subscription of $5 ($50 for the year), which gets you access to everything.
My sense of home has stretched over the last 13 years. Since I left Sacramento in late 2011, I have lived – as in, had places for an extended time, or had rental contracts or furniture and gym memberships – in only New York City and Berlin. Otherwise, I’ve spent a good deal of time scattered all over the world. Temporary “homes” have included Kyoto and Bologna. London is a frequent stopover. Camas, Washington, is my mailing address and the Family Seat.
And then there’s Saigon, or as they call it in official documents, and on maps and tickets, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. I’ll call it home for the next two weeks. I left less than seven weeks ago, and since then have been in Mumbai, London, New York, Berlin and Kyoto. It’s been a crazy winter.
I got back here on Thursday, and as I went out to surprise different friends around town, the reaction was always the same: Surprise and joy. It’s a nice thing. I love my friends, and I miss my friends, and it’s awfully nice when they feel the same way. It doesn’t happen everywhere.
But apart from my hometown, I never feel as broadly welcome as I do here. Specific people yes, of course; they are why I go to Bologna, London, even New York. But in Saigon, people go out of their way to invite me to things, suggest meals, even offer gigs…and I have a regular spot where I stay now, and it’s comfy and affordable (pictured above). I’ve got my favorite spots, and I know the center of this massive metropolis pretty well.
So it feels like home. Still, I’m only here for two weeks, as it was an impulse side trip from Japan, and my trip back to Osaka (then Kyoto, Osaka again, then London, then Berlin) leaves on a date certain. But it’s plenty of time here to see friends, do some research, do a video shoot, play a couple of gigs, enjoy a pool party, and maybe hit the beach…
But mostly, it’s a chance to get back to work on the musical, which languished while I was in Kyoto. I’m overdue.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to David Watts Barton Abroad to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.