About Me (Gordon Mei)

:: Brief, Sporadic Coverage of Places I've Called HOME ::
-= but the Bay Area's definitely THE home ==-

"Where are you from?" This can be a frustrating question to answer simply. I usually prefer to say California - the Oakland Hills to be exact. After all, that's what I consider my hometown and my rightful home, considering that I was born there and lived there until I was twelve. And I would have continued to live there had I not moved away. But I did move away, not to just any public school in some other Bay Area city, as I had originally expected, but to Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. And because Dhahran was and still is only a temporary location of residence, that's not really where I am from (although I do feel affectionate about the place). Furthermore, whenever I do attempt to say that I live in Saudi Arabia, some people remark that I do not appear Arab when I'm clearly ethnically Chinese. A blank stare and a blink would suffice as a response to that kind of remark. After three years, I started spending the school months at a boarding school called Stevenson in Pebble Beach, CA, and I would return to Dhahran during the breaks. Three years later, I started spending the school months at Cal at Berkeley.

Update: But now that I've finally moved back to Oakland, I can answer just like anyone else. Only now do I truly realize how much I'll miss enjoying answering this question.

Where do you live?

1985--------------------------------1997--------------2000-------------------2003------------2005----------->
Oakland-----------------------------Dhahran-----------Pebble Beach-----------Berkeley--------Oakland-------->
(1985-1997)------------------------(1997-2000)--------(2000-2003)------------(2003-2005)-----(2005-present)->

Where is home?

1985--------------------------------1997-----------------------------------------------2004----------------->
Oakland-----------------------------Dhahran--------------------------------------------Oakland-------------->
(1985-1997)------------------------(1997-2000)-----------------------------------------(2004-present)------->

Content last updated: January 2004.
Timeline last updated: May 2005.

More: High School: Stevenson at Pebble Beach | Middle School: Dhahran, Saudi Arabia | Elementary School: CCS

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