Stories — TCK TOWN

Every time he would be the absolute best human and make me want to be more like him. Nothing was more important to Sisto than the people he worked with and his loyal customers…

Friendships, HeroesBy Eisha Gupta (from India, Dubai and Melbourne. Living in India.)29 December 2018TCK TOWN, TCK, Tck, Melbourne, Australia, café, Immigration, migrate, cultural icon, Italy, death, beautiful person, mourningComment

Moose Tongue

It was about half an hour in, and most of the attendees are comfortably settled into the conversation. It is the right time to hurl a brick through a stained glass window during a funeral. “I was thinking of boiling a tongue today for dinner...”

Home Tastes Like Chicken Adobo

The meal is comforting but a little bittersweet, since the usual suspects aren’t around the dining room table tonight for this adventure with my Lola’s written recipes. The food just didn’t seem as complete without my Lola hovering over us to see if we’ve gotten enough sauce over our rice mounds…

FoodBy Sara Kline (From California, Philippines, India, & Thailand. Living in Washington, D.C.)19 December 2018TCK, TCK TOWN, tck, third culture kid, food, grandmother, grandparents, familiy, travel, homes, Philippines, chicken, adobo, cooking, recipeComment

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…

The Steam Bun Shell Game

I couldn’t make up my mind so I bought one of each. My fingers were the worse for wear because the bags were only big enough to cover them, not carry them…

FoodBy Paul Kennedy (From The Western Pacific, South East Asia, Europe & Alaska. Living in Tokyo)1 December 2018TCK TOWN, TCK, Tck, steam buns, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Kowloon, sweet bean, Japanese, Seoul, philippines, Thai, Thailand, kombiniComment

The Travelling TCK Tea Towels

It’s a tea towel. Why apologize?

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…

Riding with Cigarettes in the Rain

I’m sitting under a small stone shelter on Hibiya Dori. It’s raining, and businessmen and women are hurrying past under their umbrellas…

CitiesBy Ava Senaratne (From Sri Lanka, Dubai & Melbourne. Living in Sydney)10 November 2018TCK TOWN, TCK, Tck, bicycles, Japan, Sri Lanka, Tokyo, Imperial gardens, onigiri, new home, rainComment

The Haunted Ice Rink in Deira

HALLOWEEN SPECIAL:

The golden part of the evening, though, was trick-or-treating. For those of you who may have already thought ahead, yes oh yes, that meant the building became a 31 storey candied lolly-land, with at least 20 apartments on each floor to choose from—though chose we did not—we made sure to pay a visit to every single one…

Traditions & CustomsBy Ava Senaratne (From Sri Lanka, Dubai & Melbourne. Living in Sydney)31 October 2018tck, TCK, Tck, third culture kid, Halloween, Dubai, Deira, U.A.E, home, apartment, childhood, childrenComment

Owning My Culture Crown

HALLOWEEN SPECIAL:

I put my gown on and placed my tiara on my curly updo. Finally, I awarded myself the “Miss America” sash that I had marked with a sharpie to say “Miss ATCK,” instead…

Karma In A Candy Twist

HALLOWEEN SPECIAL:

In the Pacific, we wore our polyester costumes as loosely as we could to avoid sweating in them. Some of us only wore underwear under them…

Traditions & CustomsBy Paul Kennedy (From The Western Pacific, South East Asia, Europe & Alaska. Living in Tokyo)24 October 2018tck, TCK TOWN, TCK, third culture kid, Halloween, customs, traditions, traditional, children, childhood, funComment

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...

Micronesian Chinese Money in Alaska

My family lived abroad. The arts embraced in Micronesia were very different from those in British Hong Kong. There was little chance to delve into interpretive or classical art. When you weren’t taking the aspects you liked, discarding what you didn't and establishing your own local spin on painting, dance and music, you had to go microcosmic...

Food for the TCK Body & Soul

Before speaking to my mom, I believed I had no habits to uphold as an adult living on my own, but perhaps I was wrong…

Future Friendships Start In The Past

My new friend told me that we share the same piece of land, and the same group of people, so I’m Omani and he’s Pakistani…

The Siren Speaks

Never mind the ancient routes that fed, blended and bumped you and I together - I know that you want nothing more than to fit me into your size 9 1/2 shoe box, and tell me about the great Lebanese place that serves tabbouli...

Where Are You From?By Farah Beaini (Living in the land of the Kulin nation)29 September 2018TCK TOWN, third culture kid, journal, where are you from, question, eastern, western, Lebanese, culture, kitchen, foreign, Afghan, Andalucia, Persian, books, belong Comment

Up In The Air

I can’t fly on this damn plane because, at age 27, I have lost two wonderful people in my life. Two people who had come to define my experience of being free of boundaries, and my freedom to live fearlessly. I feel my mortality more than I ever did before...

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...

Where Haven’t I Been Yet?

My passport tells an improbable tale of birth, country of origin and address of emergency contact….

Where Are You From?By Paul Kennedy (From The Western Pacific, South East Asia, Europe & Alaska. Living in Tokyo)19 September 2018tck, TCK TOWN, third culture kid, where are you from, Nebraska, Americans, America, USA, Japan, Japanese, parents, family, languageComment

It's a Japanese Thing

I’m quite certain that was the moment I realised that it wasn’t just the language I had absorbed…