tck — Stories — TCK TOWN

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

Worship in Sri Lanka

“Sadhu, Sadhu, Sadhu” is how we usually end Buddhist chants, or ‘gatha’s,’ many of which are recited in set groups of verses…

If Change Were a Person…

We were given one week’s notice to pack our bags and leave the country…

A Djinn By Any Other Name

I had felt the presence of Jaini high in the mountains of Iran, along the shores of the Caspian…

One Complimentary Black Friend

When planning a party, my go-to is to mix things up. I’ve found that including a flavorful assortment of people has always guaranteed my most memorable events...

Let's Party, Community, FunBy Nakate Kakembo (From Malaysia, China & Uganda. Living in Melbourne)20 January 2021TCK TOWN, tck, TCK, third culture kid, Let's Party, party, black, friends, friend, event, New Year's Eve, food, culturalComment

Returning to the Ocean's Wave

I know how older people feel, when they return to a country abandoned long ago…

Fear, Moving, Water, AdulthoodBy Shannon Irby (From Ramstein, Tucson, Okinawa, Adana, D.C., San Antonio & Houston. Living in Okinawa.)16 January 2021tck, TCK TOWN, Third Culture Adult, third culture kid, beach, ocean, childhood, resilienceComment

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

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

Not Of Blood

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

Recipe: Petrifying Pumpkin Curry

Roast raw rice and grated coconut in a dry pan till golden brown, taking care not to burn. Let it cool and grind down into a coarse powder…

In Good Taste, FoodBy Mano Senaratne (From Sri Lanka & Australia. Living in Dubai.)31 October 2020tck, TCK TOWN, third culture kid, ingredients, cook, recipe, Sri LankaComment

Making Americans Great Again

Are white, American men going to keep steamrolling over our cultures with their incorrect ideas about who we are and how our differences could harm them?

We Don't Fit In

I recognize Lilly’s distress because when I was nineteen I returned from where I had been living in Venezuela with my diplomat parents to my home nation of the UK to start university…

Bridging Worlds, North AmericaBy Clara Wiggins (From Cuba, the UK & Europe. Living in the Cheltenham)15 August 2020Tck, TCK TOWN, TCK, tck, third culture kid, travel, USA, Indiana, college, nationality, American, Saudi Arabia, diversityComment

Adulthood Across Three Continents

In places like East Pakistan (before it became Bangladesh), Kuwait, and Sierra Leone there just weren’t that many expat families…

Christmas, Costa Rica and Change

he busy streets normally filled with cars were replaced with loud, colorful parades…

The Tune of Soviet Tuesdays

He pulled out an old—but new for me—dusty book from his briefcase. Books belonging to the Soviet orchestra library...

Music, The ArtsBy Alexa Shearer (From the US, France, Germany, Georgia, Russia, Bulgaria & Italy. Living in Florida)11 April 2020music, Tck, TCK, TCK TOWN, tck, third culture kid, Soviet, metro, violin, orchestra, cathedral, crowds, station, train Comment

Driss and Philippe—a Friendship Beyond Their Borders

Latin American films (‘Amores Perros’ starring Gabriel Garcia Bernal), Israeli films (‘Waltz with Bashir’ by Israeli filmmaker Ari Folman), and Asian films (‘Yi Yi’ a film set in Taiwan following the lives of the Jian family from their alternating perspectives) — I revelled in them…

Binge Watching Brittany Murphy

Girl follows boy to foreign country, boy leaves girl there, girl falls in love with country (or food of said country) and decides to stay….

Kama Sutra & The Perfumed Garden

To an outsider, the Arab world may seem like a culture where norms propagate misogyny and inequality, but this quote showed that sex is a two way street, and pleasure is bilateral…

SexBy Danish Khan (From Melbourne, Perth, Karachi & Islamabad. Living in Karachi)4 March 2020TCK, TCK TOWN, Third Culture Adult, third culture kid, tck, atck, sex, sexuality, culture, India, Indian, Pakistan, Arab, Kama Sutra, The Perfumed Garden Comment

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...