The Enigma of Arrival
I’ve landed, but where am I? In German, to arrive, “ankommen,” is understood to be a longer process, one that could take days or weeks.
Author: Brittani Sonnenberg
Detective Work
Nancy Drew never solved a mystery by googling it, let’s keep the TCK identity mysterious.
Chosen
For years, my family moved according to the whims of my father’s company. My parents had some say, of course, and there was always an electric charge in the air when such a “decision” was being made. Then came the news, delivered to my sister and me on various sofas in living rooms across the world.
Return to Sender
Considering my eight years growing up in Asia were characterized by a feeling of foreignness, it is ironic that returns to the region are characterized by a deep feeling of homecoming. It seems like something akin to Stockholm Syndrome – you adore the very presence that hurt you so much at the time.
Speechless
Foreigner! I am in Shanghai, 12-years-old, the only white person on a Chinese basketball team, the subject of hilarity as I run the wrong way on the court, having misunderstood the instructions, related in speedy Shanghainese. Bun dan! the coach shouts at me, and my teammates giggle shrilly.
thank you to those who commented on “zwischenmiete”
hi guys, just wanted to say how grateful I was for the feedback and kind words on my piece… I’m working on putting together TCK workshops/ a TCK English curriculum for international school kids right now, and it was so inspiring to hear your voices on ways that reading about other tck experiences is meaningful for you, too. best, brittani
Zwischenmiete
In my fourth sublet in Berlin in the past eight months, I am growing accustomed to another person’s things around me, to her life quietly insinuating itself into my own.
