Any fellow Third Culture Kids around? :)

"Third culture kid (TCK, 3CK) is a term coined in the early 1950s by American sociologist and anthropologist Ruth Hill Useem "to refer to the children who accompany their parents into another society".[1] Other terms, such as trans-culture kid or global nomad are also used by some. More recently, American sociologist David C. Pollock developed the following description for third culture kids🦇2][page needed]
— A Third Culture Kid (TCK) is a person who has spent a significant part of his or her developmental years outside the parents' culture. The TCK frequently builds relationships to all of the cultures, while not having full ownership in any. Although elements from each culture may be assimilated into the TCK's life experience, the sense of belonging is in relationship to others of similar background."

^That description is totally me^


For the other TCKs here..do you feel you attract pretty much only other TCK when it comes to romantic relationships?

This list is hilarious, pretty much all of them apply to me, how about you?

You know you??re a TCK (Third Culture Kid) when:

1) You struggle to answer the question —where are you from—
2) You speak two (or more) languages but can't spell in them.
3) You are asked, —Where are you from— has more than one reasonable answer
4) You feel odd being in the ethnic majority
5) You look like everyone else around you but still don?t fit in
6) You have the urge to move to a new place every couple of years
7) You go into culture shock upon returning to your —home?? country
8) You have a passport, but no driver??s license
9) You don't know where home is (besides saying, ?planet earth?, which is usually not accepted)
10) Your life story uses the phrase —Then we moved to??_?? three (or four, or five??_) times.
11) You think VISA is a document that's stamped in your passport, not a plastic card you carry in your wallet.
12) You sort your friends by continent not color or religion.
13) You believe vehemently that football is played with a round, spotted ball.
14) You feel that multiple passports would be appropriate.
15) Half of your phone calls are unintelligible to those around you.
16) You know the geography of the rest of the world, but you don't know the geography of your ?own? country.
17) You??ve gotten out of school because of monsoons, bomb threats, and/or popular demonstrations.
18) You often speak of your ?home? country in the third person as if it were not yours.
19) You constantly get labeled being from another country than ?yours?. (Usually one you lived in at one point.)
20) You have friends from more than 30 different countries.
21) You realize it really is a small world, after all.

I read an article on this years ago-- about a kid who spoke English around adults, and Spanish around kids.

But he had NO idea that they were 2 different languages-- he just thought that was how it was.

Cool thread-- wish I had more to contribute, but my life isn't that interesting. 🙂

Thats a true TCK there! He probably doesnt even know or speaks Spanglish! hahah

In my case my whole family and me moved to this country (The Netherlands) when I was 16 years old, so I was lucky to be young enough to learn the new language pretty easily whilst retaining much of my original country's traditions, still almost 14 years later I dont really super emotionally-attached to either country, so I may have lost some of my roots but what I got back is much more awesome..I basically feel home everywhere and anywhere 🙂

And Wanderlust is a bitch sometimes 😉

Wanderlust!

It strikes now and then, but the moment always comes when I wake up and realize I'm not at home.

Which I know now is more about where 'my people' are, more than the location.


I bet the Netherlands are (is?) lovely, though-- and then, there is Amsterdam. 😄

Why?