Relationships — Stories

My first relationship started in Costa Rica. Running around the city, beach trips, endless sunny days. It was perfect…

In Love, Adulthood, Better Late Than Never, Bouncing Back, Moving, Relationships, Resilience, WomanBy Molly Kaitlin (From Peru, Costa Rica, Minnesota & Florida. Living in Tennessee)24 March 2021TCK, TCK TOWN, Third Culture Adult, third culture adult, culture, story, identityComment

The Bittersweetness of an International Friendship

One of the neighbours we connected with was a family from the Netherlands. Their lives mirrored our own as they too had recently relocated with a toddler in tow, exactly the same age as ours...

Love For The Moment

I will always be on the move. I will always choose this path no matter how lonely it may get sometimes...

Caught That Yellow Fever. Not!

“They’re not even like real men, Ava! They’re all hairless under their shirts. Come on! It’s gross!” I remember zipping my lips shut right after my mate yipped that particularly distasteful ‘observation’ at me,..

Racism, RelationshipsBy Ava Senaratne (From Sri Lanka, Dubai & Melbourne. Living in Sydney)25 July 2020TCK TOWN, third culture kid, TCK, racism, bi-racial, Tokyo, Japan, Asia, Asian, relationships, love, attraction, travel Comments

Your Goodbye—My Hello

We met, a unit. Things progressed. New challenges, fewer meetings, simple distractions…

Goodbye, RelationshipsBy Paul Kennedy (From The Western Pacific, South East Asia, Europe & Alaska. Living in Tokyo)2 June 2020TCK, TCK TOWN, Third Culture Adult, third culture adult, culture, story, identity, goodbye, goodbyes, friend, friendship, leaving, travelComment

Dreams of Livvy's Paris

I hugged her goodbye and left for the train station. It’s been a year since and that was the last hug I would get from her…

Goodbye, RelationshipsBy Molly Kaitlin (From Peru, Costa Rica, Minnesota & Florida. Living in Tennessee)2 May 2020TCK, TCK TOWN, Third Culture Adult, third culture kid, languages, language, Paris, goodbye, family, cousins, cousin, memory, death, grief Comments

Condoms on Bananas & Toxic Attitudes

I still remember sex education class vividly. Condoms on bananas, cheesy videos, and the odd inappropriate comment from one or the other of my classmates. I was in an all-boys school in Perth, Australia…

Hope and Healing in Flores de Villa

As a child who grew up in a suburban bubble in Minnesota, coming to Flores de Villa was shocking. I was unaware of the poverty that existed, and to see it first-hand changed me forever...

Friendly Data Dump

We have a subconscious understanding that we may not be around for very long, so we don’t really have the time to waste in making a friend...

Friendships, RelationshipsBy Anthony Arcis (From America, London, Istanbul, Bangkok & Toronto (mainly). Living in The Philippines)25 January 2020Tck, TCK, TCK TOWN, third culture kidComment

Why I Date Guys Who Smoke

They think it’s because of their badass demeanor, their cocky swagger, their muscle cars, and their tough reputations...

I Will Carry That Rice Cooker Out Like a Purse

My “real” boyfriend has his family coming from Brazil. He politely tells me to “move out” for the duration of the trip. I pay half the rent…

Moving, Food, RelationshipsBy Cherysh Sullivan (From Hawai'i & Germany. Living in Tokyo)28 December 2019tck, TCK TOWN, TCK, Tck, third language, moving, world, Japanese, Japan, city, station, boyfriend, culture, cultural, divorce, new place, boxes, pack, packing, friend, unpack, Perth, Melbourne, Brazil Comments

Shattered Plates In Mexico

I'm attracted to other international souls. As a TCK, I am fascinated by different cultures and I seek to be a part of them in exchange for mine, no matter how muddled it might become...

In Love, RelationshipsBy Albert Kurniadi (From Indonesia, Australia & Canada. Living in London)25 September 2019TCK, tck, TCK TOWN, Mexican, British, accepting, sexuality, Heathrow, East, West, International souls, Canada, London, eloping, divorceComment

Metamorphosis of the Heart

When he and I are close, it feels like our two flames enliven us. But fire is also a destructive force. From destruction comes creation, I think to myself…

In Love, RelationshipsBy Claire Rementilla (From New Jersey. Living in California)7 September 2019TCK, TCK TOWN, Third Culture Adult, third culture kid, sex, love, relationship, relationships, travel, partner, loverComment

When It Could Be Love

The earliest memory of me actively rejecting romantic love was in middle school. When I saw how nosy, gossipy and intrusive all my classmates became if anyone decided to date, I resolved to not be a part of this experience altogether…

Fear, RelationshipsBy Shannon Irby (From Ramstein, Tucson, Okinawa, Adana, D.C., San Antonio & Houston. Living in Okinawa.)29 June 2019TCK, TCK TOWN, Third Culture Adult, third culture kid, intimacy, friendship, love, romance, salsa dancingComment

Love, Love, Love, in My Mind

The flight might have been long and I had worried about the cost of the airfare, but from where I was sitting, none of that mattered anymore and this was the sweetest part of my trip…

Family, RelationshipsBy Ava Senaratne (From Sri Lanka, Dubai & Melbourne. Living in Sydney)24 April 2019TCK TOWN, TCK, Tck, Sri Lanka, Sri Lankan, Sinhala, gathering, reunion, school holidays, left behind, bonds, absentComment

Nonna’s Lunch

Living half your life in the West and the other half in the East would render one ripe for an identity crisis...

Sawwah By The Sea

Your eyes watched me faithfully, fingers carefully following the dips and turns of my imperfect singing, matching the patchwork of words to the rhythm of music.

Thank You, RelationshipsBy Farah Beaini (Living in the land of the Kulin nation)26 January 2019TCK TOWN, tck, TCK, third culture kid, mountain, sea, ocean, holiday, summer, 2013, sun, skin, water, guitar, music, songs, sing, moment, human connection, connection Comment

Warming Hearts, Warring Worlds

You wonder whether you have traded one death sentence for the next as the engine fails and the old boat moans under the angry tumbling of ocean...

The Spaghetti Standoff

As a third culture kid, she looked for a partner from an Indian background to avoid having to explain her cultural specificities on an everyday basis. And look where it landed her…

Talk Cities to Me

My friends asked me why I went out with him at all, knowing that he wasn’t from here. I said that’s why I was attracted to him…