tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5175562867822111389.post5197673457376083215..comments2023-11-03T07:29:16.334+00:00Comments on The Potty Diaries: Third Culture Kids - and what it can mean.Potty Mummyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04751869800592294891noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5175562867822111389.post-78935411265755179532011-09-24T02:00:53.145+01:002011-09-24T02:00:53.145+01:00Thanks for the link, Potty! That quote really does...Thanks for the link, Potty! That quote really does sum it up. Probably why I still remember it so many years later....MsCarolinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03623997911568143459noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5175562867822111389.post-31853045033926197802011-09-16T00:16:33.628+01:002011-09-16T00:16:33.628+01:00I am an 'adult TCK' and I would have to sa...I am an 'adult TCK' and I would have to say that we do have a different culture and a different outlook on things. I am certainly adaptable and open-minded, but I am also very sentimental: the way frequent moves affected me is that I cling very tightly to my friendships; I am still in almost daily touch with friends I met as long ago as when I was 10 years old and many, many, many moves ago. I also find that I don't take anything for granted, since I know how quickly people can come and go. <br />The worst part of being a TCK - at least for me - is not really ever quite belonging anywhere, and not really having a 'home'. My parents moved several more times after I left for university, and the town and state where they retired - and my mother now lives - is a place I have never lived myself, so there is never any 'going back home' to my childhood home or hometown; the same goes for my husband, also a TCK. Even when I go back to places that we lived in the past, I still don't have a place or a home where I specifically belong. I can't imagine what it would be like to always live in one place and be able to come back to it and see it as 'home.' In fact, I still struggle with an answer when people ask me where I come from. We lived for 6 years in Texas and own a house there, but would I say I am a Texan? Not in the least, and I suspect most Texans would agree with me.<br />I must say, though, after having moved frequently throughout the US, I am really enjoying living in Seoul and being part of the expat community here. I feel much more comfortable meeting people here than I ever did when we moved to new places in the US, where people tended to have lives that were already settled and therefore were not necessarily thinking about adding any newcomers to their roster of friends. The best has been running across people who have lived in countries/cities where I have also lived; I even ran into an alumna from the International School I attended in Taipei. <br />I'll leave you with this quote from one of my favorite childhood books, <br />'When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_Hitler_Stole_Pink_Rabbit.) I read this book when I was 9 or 10, and this quote has always resonated with me as a TCK. Anna and her family are refugees from Hitler, and have escaped first to Switzerland, then to France, and eventually to England. Anna asks her father, "Do you think we'll ever really belong anywhere?"<br />“I suppose not,” said Papa. “Not the way people belong who have lived in one place all their lives. But we’ll belong a little in lots of places, and I think that may be just as good.”MsCarolinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03623997911568143459noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5175562867822111389.post-23995722872447412412011-09-15T21:32:12.438+01:002011-09-15T21:32:12.438+01:00We lived out of the US for eight years, our kids g...We lived out of the US for eight years, our kids grew up in the Netherlands. The danger is that the easy sociability turns into superficiality - and the the annual goodbyes mean you never invest much in friendships. But they do gain a lot from being third culture kids - they're open-minded and adventurous and take nothing for granted.Keren Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13121027210783177857noreply@blogger.com