{"id":27652,"date":"2026-09-16T08:55:34","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T06:55:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\/naar-huis\/"},"modified":"2026-09-16T09:10:53","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T07:10:53","slug":"naar-huis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\/en\/naar-huis\/","title":{"rendered":"Going home"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>This is a column by poet Laura Mijnders, written after the release of Kiko, the seal she followed for a month as part of the project Writing with a Seal at the Wadden Sea World Heritage Centre in Lauwersoog.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">My phone buzzes. I&#8217;m in the middle of a work meeting, but I decide to pick up anyway. With unknown numbers, I&#8217;m always afraid it&#8217;s the police. That someone is going to tell me, in a calming voice, that my mother, father or husband has died.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thankfully, it&#8217;s the seal centre in Lauwersoog. &#8220;Hi Laura, the seal you&#8217;ve been following for the Writing with a Seal project is being released this weekend. If you&#8217;d like, I can arrange for you to come along to the release. Bring warm clothes, a towel and boots.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I nod while holding the phone firmly to my ear. Then I realise the caller obviously can&#8217;t see that. I quickly say &#8220;yes, I&#8217;d love to,&#8221; hoping the disappointment doesn&#8217;t come through in my voice. When I hang up, I feel incredibly selfish. Why do I feel sad, when this is the ultimate goal? He&#8217;s going home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For three weeks, I got to follow Kiko through his recovery process. During every visit, I noted observations, questions and thoughts in my diary. Talking to the caretakers, I learned that he was found as a pup. His face was covered in infected wounds. He was probably attacked by a hungry grey seal. That, too, is nature. Only the scars remain now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When I walk into the seal centre on the day of the release, they&#8217;re already busy moving him into a crate. I catch a glimpse of him being hoisted out of an empty pool. Tears spring to my eyes. Is this it, then? I quickly walk towards the door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I watch the caretakers load Kiko&#8217;s crate onto a transport cart. &#8220;Would Kiko&#8217;s people like to come with me? We&#8217;ll take the lift down,&#8221; says one of the caretakers. She looks like someone who&#8217;s clocked quite a few years on the job: her arms covered in scratches, her gaze determined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I walk behind the crate together with the family who adopted him and gave him his name. Everyone is quiet. While we wait downstairs, two more families arrive by lift with crates. The crates are stacked on top of each other. The seal on top is very restless, just like me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After a short walk along the quay, we reach the boat. The team and the families lift the crates into a small boat that will be towed behind ours. It&#8217;s blowing hard and I have to strain to hear what&#8217;s being said. Obediently, we step aboard and find a spot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There are about thirty of us. I sit down next to the family that adopted Kiko. The father tells me he&#8217;s a beekeeper, and that in the world of bees, too, he&#8217;s sometimes confronted mercilessly with reality. &#8220;If one of the bees doesn&#8217;t do what the colony wants, they sting it to death.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I look out at the sea, breathe in the air. The little boat behind us pitches heavily on the waves. &#8220;I wonder if they&#8217;re seasick,&#8221; says the father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After an hour of sailing, the skipper finds a suitable sandbank. I feel a slight thrill. Skilfully, he steers the boat towards the beach. The team and the families help lift the seals out of the boat. The caretakers&#8217; faces give nothing away, as if this were the most ordinary thing in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Like most people, I&#8217;ve rolled up my trousers and taken off my shoes and socks. My feet sink into the mud. The seals are lined up on the beach. The families are allowed to open the doors of the crates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There&#8217;s a countdown. Kiko is the first to shuffle forward. The others follow hesitantly. Tears stream down my cheeks. If anyone asks, I&#8217;ll say it&#8217;s the wind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Halfway there, Kiko is overtaken by the other two. He seems to hesitate. But the moment their flippers reach the water, something changes. They slip energetically into the blue and let themselves sink towards the bottom. Further out, they surface together again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We all stand and watch. Just as we think it&#8217;s time to climb back onto the boat, Kiko shuffles back up the beach. He looks for a moment, then turns back towards the sea. His head is visible above the water a few more times before he disappears completely from view. I&#8217;m happy, but I also feel a nagging emptiness. Kiko was never mine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On the boat, I look back a few more times. I think I can still see a small head in the distance, but then there&#8217;s only the rolling blue. The first raindrops start hitting the boat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is a column by poet Laura Mijnders, written after the release of Kiko, the seal she followed for a month as part of the project Writing with a Seal at the Wadden Sea World Heritage Centre in Lauwersoog. My phone buzzes. I&#8217;m in the middle of a work meeting, but I decide to pick [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":27642,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"news_category":[583,365],"class_list":["post-27652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news_category-project","news_category-unesco-network"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Going home - Leeuwarden City of Literature<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\/en\/naar-huis\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Going home - Leeuwarden City of Literature\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This is a column by poet Laura Mijnders, written after the release of Kiko, the seal she followed for a month as part of the project Writing with a Seal at the Wadden Sea World Heritage Centre in Lauwersoog. My phone buzzes. I&#8217;m in the middle of a work meeting, but I decide to pick [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\/en\/naar-huis\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Leeuwarden City of Literature\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-16T06:55:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-09-16T07:10:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Kiko3-1.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cityofliterature\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cityofliterature\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\\\/en\\\/naar-huis\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\\\/en\\\/naar-huis\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cityofliterature\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\\\/fy\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d13422f52d0a5cba5508eb7197d23a52\"},\"headline\":\"Going home\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-16T06:55:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-16T07:10:53+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\\\/en\\\/naar-huis\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":825,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\\\/en\\\/naar-huis\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/Kiko3-1.jpeg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\\\/en\\\/naar-huis\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\\\/en\\\/naar-huis\\\/\",\"name\":\"Going home - Leeuwarden City of Literature\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\\\/fy\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\\\/en\\\/naar-huis\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\\\/en\\\/naar-huis\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/Kiko3-1.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-16T06:55:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-16T07:10:53+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\\\/fy\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d13422f52d0a5cba5508eb7197d23a52\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\\\/en\\\/naar-huis\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\\\/en\\\/naar-huis\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\\\/en\\\/naar-huis\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/Kiko3-1.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/Kiko3-1.jpeg\",\"width\":1600,\"height\":1200},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\\\/en\\\/naar-huis\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Going home\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\\\/fy\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\\\/fy\\\/\",\"name\":\"Leeuwarden City of Literature\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\\\/fy\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\\\/fy\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d13422f52d0a5cba5508eb7197d23a52\",\"name\":\"cityofliterature\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/7a365282b83b32d4ca9a455ec523072102adc401aa597dde7eebc606dc99d06e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/7a365282b83b32d4ca9a455ec523072102adc401aa597dde7eebc606dc99d06e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/7a365282b83b32d4ca9a455ec523072102adc401aa597dde7eebc606dc99d06e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cityofliterature\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Going home - Leeuwarden City of Literature","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\/en\/naar-huis\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Going home - Leeuwarden City of Literature","og_description":"This is a column by poet Laura Mijnders, written after the release of Kiko, the seal she followed for a month as part of the project Writing with a Seal at the Wadden Sea World Heritage Centre in Lauwersoog. My phone buzzes. I&#8217;m in the middle of a work meeting, but I decide to pick [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\/en\/naar-huis\/","og_site_name":"Leeuwarden City of Literature","article_published_time":"2026-09-16T06:55:34+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-09-16T07:10:53+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1600,"height":1200,"url":"https:\/\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Kiko3-1.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cityofliterature","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cityofliterature","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\/en\/naar-huis\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\/en\/naar-huis\/"},"author":{"name":"cityofliterature","@id":"https:\/\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\/fy\/#\/schema\/person\/d13422f52d0a5cba5508eb7197d23a52"},"headline":"Going home","datePublished":"2026-09-16T06:55:34+00:00","dateModified":"2026-09-16T07:10:53+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\/en\/naar-huis\/"},"wordCount":825,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\/en\/naar-huis\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Kiko3-1.jpeg","inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\/en\/naar-huis\/","url":"https:\/\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\/en\/naar-huis\/","name":"Going home - Leeuwarden City of Literature","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\/fy\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\/en\/naar-huis\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\/en\/naar-huis\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Kiko3-1.jpeg","datePublished":"2026-09-16T06:55:34+00:00","dateModified":"2026-09-16T07:10:53+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\/fy\/#\/schema\/person\/d13422f52d0a5cba5508eb7197d23a52"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\/en\/naar-huis\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\/en\/naar-huis\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\/en\/naar-huis\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Kiko3-1.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Kiko3-1.jpeg","width":1600,"height":1200},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\/en\/naar-huis\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Going home"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\/fy\/#website","url":"https:\/\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\/fy\/","name":"Leeuwarden City of Literature","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\/fy\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\/fy\/#\/schema\/person\/d13422f52d0a5cba5508eb7197d23a52","name":"cityofliterature","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7a365282b83b32d4ca9a455ec523072102adc401aa597dde7eebc606dc99d06e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7a365282b83b32d4ca9a455ec523072102adc401aa597dde7eebc606dc99d06e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7a365282b83b32d4ca9a455ec523072102adc401aa597dde7eebc606dc99d06e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cityofliterature"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27652"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27652\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27654,"href":"https:\/\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27652\/revisions\/27654"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leeuwardencityofliterature.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news_category?post=27652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}