Part 2: Un-masking me
I felt embarrassed and disappointed. At 9-years-old, being called stuck up and unappreciative was the worst thing anyone could do. “From now on,” I told myself, “I’m gonna hide it.”
I felt embarrassed and disappointed. At 9-years-old, being called stuck up and unappreciative was the worst thing anyone could do. “From now on,” I told myself, “I’m gonna hide it.”
To whom it may concern. Congratulations! You’ve recently befriended/started dating/have hired a Third Culture Kid. It’s likely you’ve already asked the “Where are you from?” question and were completely bewildered by the answer. Here are some tips for success.
When was the first time you heard about TCKs? I was 16 when a lecturer spoke at my international high school and said, “Who here HATES being asked ‘Where are you from?’” We all raised our hands. We laughed collectively. You are Third Culture Kids, he told us. You will want to date people who have grounded homes. You will meet fellow TCKs across the world and instantly feel at home. You will struggle with your identity, hate explaining your roots, and feel the need to travel. As he laid out our futures before us, he kept waving a purple and yellow book before our eyes. Since then, every time I’ve written an article or research paper on TCKs, this has become the ‘ultimate’ book, the Bible to understanding who we are. Third Culture Kids: The Experience of Growing up Among Worlds by David C. Pollock and Ruth E. Van Reken. It’s high time I read it. This is the first in a series called “Denizen Reads: We read TCK literature so that you don’t …