People of the World
Raising a Third Culture Kid
I have recently become fascinated by the idea of TCKs, or third culture kids. What is a third culture kid? According to the TCK site, “a third culture kid is a “person who has spent a significant part of his or her developmental years outside their parents’ culture.”
The other definition on the site: “TCKs are the prototype citizens of the future.”
Being a third culture kid: the paradox of belonging to many cultures, and none at the same time
Although I had never considered it before and certainly never even heard the term until a few years ago, I myself am a third culture kid. I was raised in Mexico City, moved to the US in my pre-teen years. Even when living in New York, after returning from Mexico, I very much considered myself a part of the world as opposed to just an American. I was a bit surprised when I moved to Spain aged 26 and people there considered me so “American” when most of my peers back in the US considered me the opposite. It was almost like I belonged to both… and yet neither. My son, born in London to American parents, has been a bit of a migrant since his birth- first London, then Rio, then Montevideo, and now his longest run (9 months) in Bali, Indonesia. Although we adore Bali, we’re travelers at heart and this won’t be his last move, so he’s just as likely to spend his childhood years in South America as he is in Asia, or somewhere else altogether.
How to spot a Canadian hockey fan
This post had the intentions of being a good-natured poke at the Canadian Hockey Fan; for if there’s one thing we love to do, it is to tease ourselves. The hockey fan deserves it, too. We are a superstitious, loud, moody bunch who truly believe that we can affect the outcome of a game.
In this year’s hockey championships, The Stanley Cup Playoffs, Vancouver’s team, the Canucks, made it to the final round. Soon, came Game 7 in a best of 7 series. This was a ‘do or die’ situation. To put things into perspective, I quote a friend who played baseball in university: “this is the most important sporting event of my life.” I have to say, I fully agreed with him. Us Canadians are crazy about hockey.
Team jerseys, old and new, everywhere you look
An international snacker
Sasa is from New Zealand and Japan and currently lives in Austria with her Austrian partner. Her blog Sasasunakku shows her passion for discovering and sharing new foods (sunakku is the pronunciation of ‘snack’ in Japanese), and you can find recipes from the various countries in which she has lived. Let’s find out more about Sasa’s international experiences.
You describe yourself as being from New Zealand and Japan. Is that because of your parents or the fact that you lived in both places as a child?
I was born in Sapporo in the northern island of Hokkaido in Japan to a Japanese father and a mother from New Zealand. We lived in Sapporo and Yokohama before moving to Auckland in New Zealand when I was six so my first language was Japanese though I express myself better in English now.
Nine books about moving abroad
Ever wondered what life would be like in another country? What is it like to pack up and leave forever to start again in a new place? A good story is still the best way to experience life through someone else’s eyes. These ten books tell about life from the perspective of migrants – of all kinds: first generation, second generation, and people living abroad for shorter periods of time.
Sudanese impressions of US culture
If you have lived abroad, if you’re a perceptive traveller, or if you have spent time talking to people from other places, you are probably aware of the vast differences which can exist between how countries are viewed by the rest of the world and how they actually are. The USA is no exception.
This video from National Geographic shows a group of young Sudanese and their impressions of North American culture before and after moving to the USA.
A blogging bootmaker with a passion for volunteering
The photo above, shared by Jim McIntosh, was taken during his volunteer placement with the Elephant Human Relations Aid (EHRA), a Namibian organisation working on long-term sustainable solutions to facilitate the peaceful co-habitation between farmers, the community and desert elephants.
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