{"id":900,"date":"2026-04-09T16:20:51","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T16:20:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abookhouse.tw\/en\/?p=900"},"modified":"2026-04-10T16:19:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T16:19:28","slug":"zoey-spent-a-night-in-a-house-afterword-a-discussion-about-houses-and-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abookhouse.tw\/en\/2026\/04\/09\/zoey-spent-a-night-in-a-house-afterword-a-discussion-about-houses-and-home\/","title":{"rendered":"[Zoey spent a night in a house] Afterword: A discussion about houses and home"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Home Journal 2026.Jan.12  
by Master Yang's eldest daughter, Sue YANG

<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
That afternoon, our familiar tea room manager Zoey and her husband drove non-stop from Hualien to their home, opened the car door with a tired expression, and quickly invited them to stretch on the tatami in the Japanese-style room, sitting by the side enjoying the cool breeze, savoring afternoon snacks and coffee at the low tile table. After relieving the tension from driving, we first talked about Zoey’s plan for a lifestyle I had never considered before \u2014 changing places to live every six months.<\/strong>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She and her husband have arranged for an agent to manage their house in the United States, and in the next six months, they have decided to move to Taiwan to try living there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I listened to her describe the upcoming mobile plan that was about to be executed, while thinking about something else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because if it were me, after participating in a forum, I would just want to go home immediately.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That day we discussed a topic: What is the difference between a house and a home?<\/strong>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And I suddenly realized that looking back at every place a person has lived, naturally, each has their own set of definitions in their heart.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mobile Home and Immobile Home
<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Zoey’s visit to the house coincided with the time she and her husband started implementing a wish: to change locations every six months<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
This idea has been brewing for a long time, so they first arranged a trusted agent to manage the house in the United States that still hasn’t found a tenant, and then they actually took action. 

 For their first stop, they chose to come to Taiwan, planning to live here for half a year to see how it goes. They also invited Zoey to stay at their home for a night, and we completed my final Coaching session. That day, we talked a lot about “houses” and “homes.” Zoey yearns for a nomadic lifestyle, moving to the next place she wants to live every so often, while I am just the opposite. Since childhood, I have never really liked moving. Even though I am willing to briefly leave home for learning, to attend a forum, participate in workshops, or visit exhibitions \u2014 usually, as soon as the event ends, I immediately head back home, not wanting to stay any longer in unfamiliar places. Traveling abroad has never been in my vacation plans. 
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In recent years, I have been following the content shared by Zoey, watching her write newsletters, listening to her podcast “Tea Room,” discussing brand management, and also talking about her life as a Digital Nomad<\/strong> \u2014 wherever she wants to live, she just moves there.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although our life action lines are completely different, after going through Zoey’s one-on-one coaching course on “brand management,” I suddenly discovered something very interesting:
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our answer seems to point to the same thing<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
That is\u2014\u2014how to take control of the action line of your life<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Does every place you’ve lived have the appearance of home?
<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Before moving into the third cabin built by my father, I had actually lived in quite a few places. Excluding the four houses I lived in with my parents and in-laws, most of the time was spent in rental homes.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the years of studying and just entering the workforce, I almost lived in different rental spaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those houses are nominally not “one’s own home”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But looking back now, those places were actually the strongest fortresses of life at that time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Every time I move to a new place, I always spend a lot of effort decorating the space, trying to turn the originally unfamiliar room into something that feels like home. Until later, when I had a partner, my husband decided to accompany me back to my parents’ home, and that period happened to coincide with the time of building the house.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So we began a very special life: living while accompanying my father in building a house<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
The house is not yet completed, there are no doors, no windows, the walls are not built well, there are only columns and a half-finished roof, we even set up a tent inside the house to live. 
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This kind of day has lasted for at least five whole years.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Looking back now, the house was actually incomplete
But strangely\u2014home already existed<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because there are family members inside, although it is noisy, at least I am not facing the joys and sorrows of life alone.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By 2021, during the pandemic, the workload suddenly decreased, and the pace of life slowed down. It was during that time that our daughter was born.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The arrival of the granddaughter is like a kind of soft lubricant, making this home more complete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her laughter filled the house that was not yet fully completed<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Every key seals a segment of life
<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Until now, I still keep a lot of keys from places I used to live, some of which still have the charms from back then, recording the preferences of that time.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Each key is like a sealed piece of life<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I discovered that the place where a person has lived will gradually shape their current self.
Compared to my father’s experiences, I have actually been much more stable thanks to my parents’ blessings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When my father was young, he worked various engineering jobs, as a laborer, and even traveled to Arabia for work. In that high-temperature land, he lived a life of wandering for many years. Those years of drifting bore the weight of life given to him and also shaped the current Master Yang.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps it is because of this that he later insisted on building a house, a home that can allow the family to live in for a hundred years<\/strong>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How many keys have you had in your life?
<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Calculating, from birth to leaving home for studying and working, I have now lived in 11 houses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If we add the time when my parents ran a restaurant, along with the two experimental wooden houses built on the same piece of land, then I have actually lived in 13 houses, with 15 rooms<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
There is a key that I have always remembered<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That was a very busy and also very exciting time. Every day I ran between the classroom, school newspaper club, editing camp, print shop, freelance design company, dance troupe, and dormitory. When the door opened, the floor was often filled with assignments, color samples, and text drafts. The blue jelly computer in the corner was still panting while helping me calculate the Cinema 4D assignments. On the tatami bed were piled the cleaned dance costumes and uniforms that I didn’t have time to fold.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Looking back now, those days of staying outside have quietly shaped who I am today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps I can never stop because I have long been used to advancing things on multiple tracks simultaneously<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Houses are like a relay
<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Later I slowly understood one thing<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Every house lived in is like carrying different versions of oneself in a relay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those spaces record lifestyles from different periods and gradually shape our imagination of future life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And such longing does not arise from nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is generated step by step, slowly in different places<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps you will go abroad to further your studies in a subject; it may also be for a job, temporarily leaving your familiar hometown.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But, when one day, you have accumulated enough ability and have honed a set of skills<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps it will start to think about another question: Can one live in the place they want to be with these abilities?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
For me, the answer right now might be this: whether moving or not, be prepared with your personal brand management skills, along with some digital work skills, and perhaps you can gradually regain the freedom to choose your location to live.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Finally, I want to leave a question for you who have read this far:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How many keys have you had in your life?<\/strong>\ud83d\udd11
Which one locks away the days with the most memories for you?<\/strong> 
What kind of house represents your ideal life?<\/strong>\ud83c\udfe0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Welcome to the dining table of our home to chat with our family about what your definition of a house & home is?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let’s schedule a time! \ud83e\udd19 A Book House Reservation Link<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Home Journal 2026.Jan.12 by Master Yang’s eldest daughter, Sue YANG That afternoon, our familiar tea room manager Zoey and her husband drove non-stop from Hualien to their home, opened the car door with a tired expression, and quickly invited them to stretch on the tatami in the Japanese-style room, sitting by the side enjoying the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":949,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abookhouse.tw\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abookhouse.tw\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abookhouse.tw\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abookhouse.tw\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abookhouse.tw\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=900"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/abookhouse.tw\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":951,"href":"https:\/\/abookhouse.tw\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900\/revisions\/951"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abookhouse.tw\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abookhouse.tw\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abookhouse.tw\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abookhouse.tw\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}