I met Marit online through our blogs. Marit grew up as a third culture kid, she lived in more continents than I did. We both spent some years in Africa, we nearly went to the same boarding school in Kenya. Marit writes a Dutch blog about her experiences growing up abroad: Opgroeien in het Buitenland. I invited Marit to share her experiences here. Now it's over to her:
Showing posts with label disadvantages of growing up in other culture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label disadvantages of growing up in other culture. Show all posts
Wednesday, 7 November 2012
Saturday, 18 August 2012
A third culture kid speaking "I'm not from anywhere"
"Where are you from?" is a difficult question for third culture kids (or expat kids). Often there is no simple answer. Just like Victoria explains on this video. She actually often answers "I'm not from anywhere". When you hear her story you will understand why she says that. For those who do not have time to watch I will let you in on her secret. The background of her family is Ukrainian but she was born in Richmond, Virginia, she lived in Russia, Italy, Syria, Germany, China and then back yo the USA. (Excuse some of the language in the video). I have included this video because Victoria explains what is was like to return to the USA. She discovered that she felt so embarrassed because she did not know how to say "the pledge of Allegiance" , she could not name all the American presidents, she had not had American history but I am sure she knew lots of other things. Victoria was teased for not knowing the names of all the presidents, imagine that. People asked her the dumbest questions: like did you ride camels wherever you went in Syria?
Moving was a constant factor in her life. There was always only a short time to make friends before she would loose them again because they would move on. She really wonders how people can live in one place all their lives, is it not boring? Victoria is looking for an international job because that's what she is comfortable with, that is what she knows. She says the best way to discover a culture is to eat the food. She ends by saying that she has to go and do something, learn a language or make a move.
Just like Victoria, I found it hard to answer the question: where are you from? I remember being embarrassed because there were things here in the Netherlands that I did not know about. To this day I am still not very good in Dutch geography, knowing where place are. I can tell you lots about places in Zimbabwe, would that do? I recently discovered that there is an online mentoring program for expat youths called Sea Change Mentoring. They aim to prepare young people returning to their "home country" to minimize reverse culture shock and to maximize the benefits of having lived abroad. That sounds really good, I wish there had been something like this when I moved from Bulawayo, Zimbabwe to university in the Netherlands. That was a real shock, I wrote about it earlier: The most difficult transition for third culture kids.
What was your experience like? Did you have embarrassing moments? Did you have a reverse culture shock? Do you have advice for kids returning to their "home" country? Do you know where you're from?
Related posts:
Moving was a constant factor in her life. There was always only a short time to make friends before she would loose them again because they would move on. She really wonders how people can live in one place all their lives, is it not boring? Victoria is looking for an international job because that's what she is comfortable with, that is what she knows. She says the best way to discover a culture is to eat the food. She ends by saying that she has to go and do something, learn a language or make a move.
Just like Victoria, I found it hard to answer the question: where are you from? I remember being embarrassed because there were things here in the Netherlands that I did not know about. To this day I am still not very good in Dutch geography, knowing where place are. I can tell you lots about places in Zimbabwe, would that do? I recently discovered that there is an online mentoring program for expat youths called Sea Change Mentoring. They aim to prepare young people returning to their "home country" to minimize reverse culture shock and to maximize the benefits of having lived abroad. That sounds really good, I wish there had been something like this when I moved from Bulawayo, Zimbabwe to university in the Netherlands. That was a real shock, I wrote about it earlier: The most difficult transition for third culture kids.
What was your experience like? Did you have embarrassing moments? Did you have a reverse culture shock? Do you have advice for kids returning to their "home" country? Do you know where you're from?
Related posts:
Saturday, 24 March 2012
The Downside of Growing up Overseas as a Third Culture Kid
Today I was reading an article about The positives of growing up overseas as a third culture kid, it's on Maria's blog I was an expat wife. I agree there are many positive aspects about growing up in other cultures. Earlier I wrote about My 10 advantages of growing up in an other culture but there is a downside too. I sometimes I have a feeling that expat parents don't want to hear the downside. They don't want to hear the negatives. That's your story and I am sure with my kids it will all be different. I suppose we all prefer to look at the bright side of life. I suppose we all prefer to hope that the road we are on will be a smooth nice tarmac road without too many potholes. Well let me assure you when you leave the main road and start making international moves with kids you will meet some potholes along the way. I know what I am talking about when I talk about potholes, there were huge ones on the Zambian and Ugandan roads. Some times I preferred a smooth dust road instead of an old tarmac road full of potholes.Just in case you are interested I have written about My 10 disadvantages of growing up in other cultures. I am starting to discover that there are more people who grew up as third culture kids and are writing about their experiences. I will introduce you to a few.
- James R. Mitchner writes a blog called Third Culture Kid Life. He has a blog post called The Price We Pay and it's all about growing up far away from his grandmother and not actually really knowing her.
- Heidi Sand-Hart has written a book called: Home Keeps Moving. It's worth reading if you are interested in getting a glimpse into the life of a TCK. “Heidi Sand-Hart’s “Home Keeps Moving” authenticates the TCK experience. Her personal stories demonstrate the tangible reality of the TCK theories we have been reading and hearing about for years.” – Tina L Quick, author of The Global Nomad's Guide to University Transition.
- Wout Wynants writes a blog called Memoirs of a Third Culture Kid. He is in the process of writing a book about his adventures of growing up in South East Asia. Recently he wrote about his close encounters of the slithering kind. It's all about his exotic adventures with snakes. That's one thing that's true. When you grow up overseas you go on adventures that many have difficulty relating to and people often don't want to hear about. I find it quite strange, but true not everyone wants to hear your story.
- Hey it's Johnny C has a blog and writes about his experiences growing up as a third culture kid too.
Related posts:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)