TCK is short for Third Culture Kid. TCKs are people who grew up outside of the country or culture of their nationality. I grew up in Paris, Islamabad, Pretoria, Dubai and Japan, and moving around this much has had both positive and negative impacts on my life.
There’s a big online community for Third Culture Kids! I was recently interviewed by Mathilde from The Third Culture Kid Project. There are some questions that are difficult for TCKs to answer, like “where is home?” and “can you settle in one country?”
Here’s an except from my interview with her:
Do you picture yourself settling in a specific country? Why?
That’s a really tough question. Settling is hard for a TCK! I feel like many TCKs have commitment issues when it comes to choosing to live in one country. I enjoyed growing up having to move countries every few years, and it’s in my blood to want to move around a lot. If I get married and have children though, I’m not sure I’d want to subject my children to the stress of uprooting every few years, unless it was part of my job or my husband’s job. If that’s not the case, I would probably settle somewhere until my kids are out of the house. Then time to move around again!
In this video, I try to come to terms with mixed emotions surrounding my multicultural upbringing. This is the first time I cry on camera, which was a bit embarrassing, but I wanted to share my true feelings with you guys – also in the hope of meeting fellow TCKs.
Share your thoughts!