third language — Stories

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

I Am Not a Tourist Here

I knew that people could look at us and know we were not from there, yet I tried desperately to fit in in this place that I called home...

Self Worth, SchoolBy Molly Kaitlin (From Peru, Costa Rica, Minnesota & Florida. Living in Tennessee)28 October 2019hometown, language, third language, self-worth, local, home, third culture kid, perspectives, school, tourists, TCK TOWN, Tck, TCK, PeruComment

The Brave TCK (Or Not)

There are three traits that are key to living as a nomad...

Heroes, ConflictBy Anthony Arcis (From America, London, Istanbul, Bangkok & Toronto (mainly). Living in The Philippines)26 October 2019tck, TCK TOWN, TCK, third culture kid, third language, heroes, hero, nomad, nomadic life, moving countries, moving, bravery Comment

Following the Tuscan Sun

Once I stopped holding myself accountable to the status quo, I uncovered incredible niches that were a perfect fit for me...

HeroesBy Ava Senaratne (From Sri Lanka, Dubai & Melbourne. Living in Sydney)12 June 2019hero, heroes, tck, TCK training, TCK, third language, third culture kid, movie, lessons, life experiences, life, plans, fear, braveryComment

Staying True As A Javanese Woman

I was afraid that by identifying as a Javanese woman, I would be mistaken for being submissive, accepting and feminine. I would be misunderstood as being passive, when there is power in subtlety, courtesy, initiative, emotional mastery and consciousness...

Are You Fucking Crazy?

Mental HealthBy Paul Kennedy (From The Western Pacific, South East Asia, Europe & Alaska. Living in Tokyo)4 August 2018third culture kid, friendship, japan, mental health, cultures, TCK, third languageComment

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...

The Vanished Marzipan House

As much as I vaguely wonder about what a brick-and-mortar home could have been—I am completely free...

Adulthood, Self WorthBy Ava Senaratne (From Sri Lanka, Dubai & Melbourne. Living in Sydney)17 February 2018tck, third culture kid, third language, TCK, TCK TOWN, atck, adulthood, adult, home, identity, history, familyComment

Teach A Man To Fish

The three of us viewed the crowded steam venting streets being worked for subway tunnels as an industrial Disneyland. Men swarmed up and down bamboo scaffolding. We snaked our ways along the queues for the old red double decker buses that bumped their way around Kowloon...

CDs to MP3s; Turkish Pop to Tinnitus

I find the Turkish language so beautiful, and when it is sung it becomes even more so. It didn’t hurt that I had crushes on most of the popular female Turkish pop singers back in the 1980s either...

News Flash: Jimi H is Black

“Jimi Hendrix is black?!” It was a rhetorical question I suppose.

MusicBy Sarah Stoner (From Uganda, Thailand, Belgium, Morocco & the U.S. Living in Seattle)23 August 2017Tck, TCK TOWN, TCK, third culture kid, third language, culture, music, guitar, Jimi Hendrix, U.S., college, dorm, colour, skin, listen, storyComment

The Grass is Green Wherever I Am

I was surrounded by music and swing-dancing and prayer and a community of 400 people that attended the wedding. In my Dusty Rose dress in line with the other girls I felt like I was playing dress-up, assuming my part in an American wedding movie...

Behind Closed Doors

What happens behind closed doors between an unmarried man and a woman “is a matter of function”, however when the tables are turned, it becomes a matter of honor. Somehow, society takes collective action to cast verdicts on female honor, which keep her from realizing her own worth...