English — Stories

Maybe not everyone will attain the same goals, but why can’t everyone be given the ability to do so?

Education, AsiaBy Paul Kennedy (From The Western Pacific, South East Asia, Europe & Alaska. Living in Tokyo)13 March 2021TCK TOWN, TCK, TCA, school, maths, teacher, teaching, Guam, parents, English, class, learning, embarrassment, Wester PacificComment

Keep It Secret

Anger is vicious, and knows not his strength. He wrestles and pulls, until Fear’s out of breath…

Anger, Asia, Black Lives Matter, MovingBy Shannon Irby (From Ramstein, Tucson, Okinawa, Adana, D.C., San Antonio & Houston. Living in Okinawa.)2 January 2021TCK, TCK TOWN, Third Culture Adult, third culture kid, anger, Tck, tck, social, socialize, secret, Korea, South Korea, EnglishComment

Not Of Blood

We have come together not because of blood, but because we share bonds of a common outlook on life…

Announcements of Love

I’m sorry. I’ll miss you terribly. You look at me hurt…

I Just Want a Matchstick

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

The Color of My Skin

I thought I was just like her and she just like me in so many ways. One day, she poked my freckles, giggling and asking me what they were…

AfricaBy Elizabeth Meier (From the Democratic Republic of Congo/Zaire, Tanzania, Zambia, Singapore, the US "Midwest" & Colorado. Living in Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands.)10 August 2019TCK TOWN, TCK, tck, Bukavu, Zaire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Swahili, English, French, evacuation, Kenya, Tanzania, USA, black, white, tattooComment

Monteverdean Skies

I am celebrating my 27th birthday zip-lining along the emerald enclaves of Costa Rica that strangely remind me of the yawning valleys of my own tiny Lebanese chouf village...

My Anger, My Shame

“He’s English, but we won’t hold that against him.” That’s probably one of the nicer remarks he invariably makes whenever anything touching the subject of England comes up…

Anger, FamilyBy Ashleigh Leyshon (From Melbourne, Tokyo & Nagoya. Living in Kharkiv)13 March 2019TCK, TCK TOWN, third culture kid, anger, parent, Dad, familiy, Mum, English, England, AustraliaComment

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

I Broke Up With Alabama

"Hi. Where are you going?," a man asked me as he sat across from me at the bus station in Alabama.

We just got off the same bus from Atlanta to some city in Alabama, Birmingham, maybe? I don't know the geography of Alabama at all. I still can't look at maps of Alabama without crying...

Vanilla’s Revenge

What is more iconic as a childhood memory than ice cream?

Self WorthBy Paul Kennedy (From The Western Pacific, South East Asia, Europe & Alaska. Living in Tokyo)28 March 2018Chamorro, Naha, Hawai'i, Japanese, English, ice cream, Honolulu, Okinawa, Guam, TCK TOWN, TCK, Tck, vanilla, chocolateComment

My (P)lucky Mum (An Inspiring & True Tale)

In the past 6 years I have watched my mum utterly transform - a shift that started the first day she stepped into her chosen university. She went from calling us about the location of her saved files to independently researching university databases and overloading her bookmarks tab...

Learning How to Date in My Passport Country

It’s easy to get caught up trying to fit in...

In LoveBy Molly Kaitlin (From Peru, Costa Rica, Minnesota & Florida. Living in Tennessee)3 January 2018Nashville, tck, TCK, TCK TOWN, America, fitting, relationship, romantic, Peruvian, authentic, Costa Rica, Spanish, English Comment

Bank Australia

Dinesh rubbed Mark’s arm with his thumb to help his partner feel comfortable as the crew gathered around behind the camera for the last round of shots for the day. “Is this too close?” Mark asked. Out of habit, I wondered if I would be reproached for the intimacy of the pose...

Home is Where You’re Asked for Directions

I think of a mental curse to send telepathically to the man as the dust settles. “May the sharks of this city devour you,” something along those lines, but much less poetic and much more livid. I feel like I am a character in a film, complete with a story unfolding in front of me...

It’s a Small World When You Are Japanese in Montana

When I was first hired to teach, there was something that used to rub me the wrong way; students would interrupt my lessons to ask me questions about my hometown or cultural practices...

Bridging WorldsBy Paul Kennedy (From The Western Pacific, South East Asia, Europe & Alaska. Living in Tokyo)16 September 2017TCK, Tck, TCK TOWN, US, Canada, Japan, Japanese, English, tickets, flight, Montana, Austin, Seattle, flight attendantComment

Krishni, the Creative from Sri Lanka

Krishni spoke Arabic and French and English with her classmates. They snacked on dates and learned about sushi and exchanged sandwiches for lunch...

Bridging WorldsBy Ava Senaratne (From Sri Lanka, Dubai & Melbourne. Living in Sydney)9 September 2017English, French, Dubai, Japan, TCK, Bahrain, Melbourne, Tck, thathi, Arabic, ammi, third culture kid, TCK TOWN, art director, bridging worldsComment

PAUL

My passports have always been issued from abroad. In the 1980s my passports were changed to blue "Z" instead of the standard blue. I was treated like a second class citizen each time I “returned” to the US and travelling in my 20's through Europe with it in the Cold War was sheer hell on the Eastern side of the Iron Curtain...

The Thermostats Of Strangers

Perhaps my sorry state tugged on this woman's strings of motherhood and allowed her to look upon me as just another uncomfortable human. There was a call to nurture and I allowed her to play mum for just the briefest of instances - so fast, if you weren't looking, you'd miss it.