Home Sweet Home

I went for a stroll in downtown Seattle today, the weather was very un-Seattle-like (read Sunny) and I'd frankly missed it coming back from a long vacation.

Coincidentally, I found a store that sells small antiques and other seeminly random but somehow interesting things imported from Namibia, Kenya, and a couple other countries according to the owner. A quick chat started by the owner asking me where I'm from, playing the guessing game, and failing, as has become the norm for me around here (you *have to* make them play the guessing game when it's a (cute) girl asking you where you're from, playing the game is optional when it's guys asking you).
Anyway, it turns out the guy is from Guinea and has been in Seattle for 12 years.
Interestingly, the guy voluntarily admits that he'd like to go home (not Seattle). I'm puzzled.
'But 12 years is a really long time, it (Seattle) must feel like home to you now, no?', I ask.
'No, I still want to go back, I go on vacations and it may be a worse place but I like it better, there is no place like home', the man replies.

The conversation ended pretty soon, and I felt exactly what his last statement would make most people feel. A mysterious admiration for the man's "loyalty" for his place of birth.
But I really don't know why we feel that way.

First of all, I'm hard pressed to find a definition for "home". We use the word everyday and one would think the definition is clear, but is it?
If a man is born and lives in country A for 20 years, and then relocates and moves in country B for 20 years. Which country is home now for him?
And it can't be defined as the country of birth, because a person who is born in country A but only lives there for a day, after which he moves to country B would never call country A home.

And the definition of 'home' is not the only problem...

Loyalty to one's home, however we choose to define that home, is usually perceived as a virtue, but again the reasons are unclear to me.
Most people will admit having a familiar warm fuzzy feeling and feeling mysterious admiration after hearing the phrase 'There is no place like home' or the seemingly-deep-but-actually-not-so-deep "Never forget where you're from".
A lot of people will say either phrases and countinue to live on somewhere else anyway, go figure.

Maybe I need to study ethics?