About: starburst

Name:starburst
2008-01-11 03:45:48
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Posts by starburst:

Rugby Six Nations

Anyone of you TCKs been watching this? Who’ve you been supporting?

Long wait until the next fixture.

February 11, 2008 | Filed Under General Forum | 4 Comments 

Political leanings and TCK?

I don’t want to be controversial, but I was wondering if being TCK makes you more likely to lean to the left, politics-wise.

Maybe this has already been researched - I’m probably one of the few on this website who hasn’t read any of the TCK books - but from my own experience of other TCKs, this does seem the case. I mean I know that in every school, be it international or not, you’ll get the full spectrum of political beliefs but by and large, but I haven’t met too many right-thinking TCKs.

Is there something about living different cultures, being the ‘outsider’ (at least for some of the time for most of us),  having to adapt that makes you more likely to sit towards the tree-hugging liberal end, and less likely to sympathise with conservative right-wing end? I don’t know! I’m sure many other things shape ones views to politics, but TCK-ing has got to play a pretty big role, I’d imagine.

February 8, 2008 | Filed Under General Forum | 49 Comments 

Hello

I’m Deya. I’m 23 and I guess I am a K of the TC. Although from reading many of the introductions here it looks like there are fourth, fifth and eighth culture children around too.

Has anyone ever thought about city culture being ‘third culture’? As in, cities to which lots of people migrate having a ‘third culture’ of their own? London, for example, doesn’t share the culture of Essex or Kent or the rest of England, nor is it the culture of India/Bangladesh/Cyprus/etc etc, but is a mixture of them all. (Another TCK of my acquaintance claims the United Kingdom of London is his favourite country, and the UK of GB+I his least favourite..)

All my repatriations have been between such cities. Born in Calcutta in India. Moved with the parents to Singapore at the age of 4. Then back to Poona in India at the age of 10. And then Hong Kong at the age of 15. After which London by myself for university at 17. (All the moves combined seemed to result in me losing a year of school and starting university early). Six years in Londres and I currently live in Essex, which is the least multicultural of them all. The ‘rents then moved to Shanghai without me, and then to Calcutta again. My mum was a multiple TCK too, which I think has been helpful, especially in the move from Poona to HK when I was a stroppy reluctant teenager.

All the places I grew up in had expatriate communities with a culture different to the indiginous culture of the local population/surrounding country; so I had to adjust to the culture of the local international school as well as the culture of the place itself, and picked up bits and pieces from both to take to the next place. Bizarre!

Anyway. I love being a TCK for the most part. (I’m glad I have the term TCK at my disposal now. I just never knew what to call people like me; I’d be describing one TCK to another TCK  as, “Oh, she’s like us” - so vague). Sure there were lots of rough bits - it definitely was not love at first sight with Poona, HK or (yeah not even) London, as I’d come to love the predecessor-city and be biased towards it by the time I moved on. Now, if I have to pick a favourite, sorry Mum and Dad, it would probably be London (although using my theory above, I may end up loving Essex more before I’m through).

My plan is that I need to live in several more places before I retire from TCK-hood permanently - and no decision yet as to where this retirement would be. Home has always been a nebulous shifting thing.

My Mum would like me to say my home is where my parents are. This is true to an extent, but I do sleep in the guest room now when I go back to visit them - complete with towel on bed. There never has been a ‘family home’ where the parents have pickled my 0-17 room to stay looking exactly as I left it like so many of my friends have. Sometimes I wonder what that would be like. However, if I do have kids, and had the choice, I think I’d like to bring them up as TC’s, too. Let’s see.

Anyway. Hello!

January 10, 2008 | Filed Under Introduction | 3 Comments