Friday 30 August 2013

Third Culture Kids, Blogging, Books and More

I always love reading other blogs and especially when they are written by someone who grew up abroad. I want to share a few blogs that I have been reading the past few weeks. I like Susanne's blog. She was born in Bruges, Belgium, lived in Poland, Japan and America. Susanne writes:

"Moving around for me, at the time, was just a part of life."

"When we moved back to the Netherlands, my past became a burden."

She writes about what it is like to be a third culture kid, read her story here. Growing up in Poland there was a time when Susanne spoke Polish fluently. To her regret she does not speak Polish anymore. Do check her blog. Did your past ever become a burden for you?

I read an interesting article on The Benefits of Reading As a Third Culture Kid. Rowena is a third culture kid who lived in Blantyre, Malawi, just like I did. We "met" online by the way. She has a great love of books and reads many. Books had a stabilzing effect on her life while she made an international move as a pre-teen. Rowena says: 

"Books helped me learn more about my culture and my surroundings. I was supposed to know all about a culture I had never lived in, but I didn’t."

I must admit I love reading too. Sometimes I wonder if I read to be able to travel. So when I am actually not moving and travelling in real life, I can travel while I read stories about life abroad. Am I escaping real life too when I read books? I love having breakfast and then getting back in to bed to read a good book, that's like heaven to me. It does not happen often but when it does it's pure enjoyment. 
Are you a third culture kid who loves reading? Why do you love reading? 

I want to keep you updated in how the blog is going. Well in July 2013 there were a record amount of pageviews. Thank you for stopping by and reading this blog. I have not been blogging very frequently but behind the scenes I am trying to write a book, I had a holiday in Belgium and France, I try to spend time with the family and read some books too. I will be reviewing "The Stress-Free Guide to Studying in The States" by Toni Summers Hargis soon. The book is on my bedside table at the moment. 

Books I recently received & want to read!
I did a skype interview this week with Emma, she is a university student studying anthropology in England. She interviewed me for her research on third culture kids. I am so glad that there is ongoing research on what it is like to grow up in other cultures. I also want to let you know that I have added a link on this blog to YouthCompass. They are an organisation that have been working with TCKs since 2001. I hope to post an interview all about YouthCompass in the future. I must admit that I had never heard of YouthCompass.

Have you read any interesting third culture kid blogs recently?

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2 comments:

  1. Thanks for a lot of interesting reads:-) We are european expat family in India- so I so relate to alot of what you write about. Great blog:-)

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  2. Hi Eli, thanks for stopping by and for your encouraging words. I really appreciate it. I saw you have nice recipes on your blog. It must be interesting living in India with teens. Have you heard of the book Expat Teens Talk? I have reviewed it on the blog here. Might interest you.

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