Australian — Stories

Ping Pong Across the Indian Ocean

Many people didn’t know what Pakistan was. Right after 9/11, they did…

Raising The Bar

The scene of a Muslim family decorating a built-in home bar at Christmas felt normal to me at the time…

Letting Go of Family (Dis)honour

How lonely my life could’ve been had I stuck to my culture which tells me to value the thick ties of family above all else...

We're Inspired, Advantages, Family, FriendshipsBy Farah Beaini (Living in the land of the Kulin nation)14 November 2020tck, third culture kid, TCK, TCK TOWN, family, cultures, culture, cultural, Lebanon, Lebanese, mother, parents, views, violent, relatives, sister, sisters, aunt, Australia, Australian, British, Canberra, Scottish, brother, Greek Comment

I Am Australian

I loved that 'the girls part' of the song meant we got to climb over the lyrics and sing a higher harmony while the boys peeled the words apart down low…

Thank You, Music, SchoolBy Ava Senaratne (From Sri Lanka, Dubai & Melbourne. Living in Sydney)17 October 2020proud, TCK, teasing, school, Australia, sing, music, Tasmania, TCK TOWN, third culture kid, dreamtime, Australian, lyrics Comment

Vegemite Homesickness

When I think of Vegemite, I think of Japan—Tokyo specifically. When I first started working in Japan, about half of my co-workers were from Australia…

FoodBy Paul Kennedy (From The Western Pacific, South East Asia, Europe & Alaska. Living in Tokyo)1 April 2020TCK, TCK TOWN, Third Culture Adult, third culture kid, food, vegemite, Australia, Australian, Japa, Tokyo, Alaska, Amazon, family, visit, vacationComment

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…

A Community of Outsiders and Misfits

Some swore allegiance to Pakistan, others to Australia and others were in an existential crisis. There was a strange sense of community, which was dynamic and syncretic

I Just Want a Matchstick

We were in Costa Rica, two months in, on a year-long adventure of travel, volunteering, and growth…

Dear Chook-Chook (A Letter To My Daughter)

You once said to your father: “Papa, you are brown.” He gently took you to mirror, “Yes Chook-Chook, so are you”…

Her Wedding Purse

Even though my grandmother has been diagnosed with dementia, she still proudly kits up with her 'wedding purse' on her way to the bank, or to the grocery store…

Bundu Khan and BBQ Tonight in Australia

Known for its barbeque, it also has karahis, handis, and other such gravy-based dishes, which the Muslim cuisine of the Indian subcontinent is known for…

Not Just Halloween Pumpkins

Woody persimmons sit on a small Japanese table with dark marker grimaces. Acrid pumpkins from China are baskets for treats...

Americanah & Moving West

But that was just it. I had to fit in wherever I went. Nobody else had to mould their ways to engage with my understanding of identity and belonging…

Stand Out

I have a Chinese-Malaysian mother and a Ugandan father, I’m two parts of two continents, but since most people can’t guess that. I’m a black woman to them...

A 5-day Intensive to Remember

Getting to my final year, I had an existential crisis—I hadn’t done an exchange semester yet...

The First Three Goodbyes

The memories of the last goodbye would come flooding back — the guilt that I hadn’t embraced the moment, the feeling of contentment that I had made friends for life, the experiences I had locked into my memory, and most of all, the sadness that this all was all coming to a grinding halt…

GoodbyeBy Danish Khan (From Melbourne, Perth, Karachi & Islamabad. Living in Karachi)3 April 2019goodbyes, TCK, ATCK, TCK TOWN, third culture kid, cult, family, friendship, friends, moving, Australia, Pakistan, Pakistani, Australian, schoolComment

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...

FARAH

I am local. I am multi-local. My childhood is a collection of short stories that flit between Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Australia...

How Far Being a Banana Got Me

I still remember it vividly. I was 10 years old, and I had just come home from school. I opened the door to our townhouse and found my mum in a near foetal position on the chair sobbing. This was the first time I’d ever seen my mum in such a state...

Self Worth, AsiaBy Albert Kurniadi (From Indonesia, Australia & Canada. Living in London)13 February 2019TCK TOWN, TCK, Tck, Indonesia, English, Asian women, Australian, white culture, Asian, banana, Mexico, Canada, gay community, TOP TEN Comment

The Real Folk Blues

"愛してたと嘆くには (I was in love once, I sigh) あまりにも時はすぎてしまった (far too much time has passed me by)." There's an uproar in the karaoke box...

Music, AsiaBy Ashleigh Leyshon (From Melbourne, Tokyo & Nagoya. Living in Kharkiv)6 February 2019TCK TOWN, tck, TCK, third culture kid, music, karaoke, Japan, Japanese, Nagoya, Australian, Australia, school, lyrics, sing Comments