ABSTRACT
Peter, based in Hong Kong, is an executive working for a multinational headquartered in Switzerland. His company’s executive team keeps him on the radar as he is being groomed to be a future C-suite executive. He is leading the company’s teams in India, Singapore, and China to develop the new Asian markets. He has lived in Hong Kong for the last two years. His wife and children like the place, as life there is easier than in Bogota, his previous post. He spent the first years of his life in Italy. His parents have now returned to the US, after retiring from a transient diplomatic career. For the next New Year holidays, he and his family will visit his sister in Bangalore, a trip he likes, as it reminds him of the years he spent there. Where to spend occidental New Year came after a long debate; his sister had wanted him to share the holidays with her in Germany, where she is pursuing an advertising career. His brother insisted on meeting in Beijing, where he now resides. Peter mulled over where home might be. Should it be governed by his Swiss passport, even though he has never lived in Switzerland? Should it be determined by where his parents live? Or should he call Hong Kong home, having resided there for the last two years? Peter was hard pressed to decide upon the culture with which he identified. Finally, he decided that it did not matter where he met his family for the New Year, as he belonged everywhere and nowhere. Working for the same company, albeit around the world, was the constant in his life.
