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Calling third-world TCKs

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Author:
anoutsider

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Weird title, I know…But the notion of “TCK” is often reduced to children from rich countries who go live in the third world. However, I’m guessing I’m not the only one here who’s gone the opposite way: from South America to the States and Europe. I think it’d be nice to share our experiences and discuss how they might be different from that of traditional TCKs. I’ll start with mine, and hope some of you will relate :)

I was born in Caracas, Venezuela to a family of recent immigrants from Europe and the Middle East. We weren’t ridiculously rich landowners or anything of the sort, but I did belong to the urban bourgeoisie that  travels, goes to college, continues its education abroad, etc. Overall, my life consisted of going to a private Catholic school where everyone was white, well-off and conservative; weekends at the beach club, and summers at my family’s country house.  In Caracas, the nightclubs where the well-off hang out require membership…Needless to say, all these people do is mingle with others who think exactly like them. As a child, I never thought of Venezuela as a poor country, nor did I realize that I was living in bubble. Sure, there were some poor people, but we had oil, for crying out loud.

Everything changed when I was 10 and my parents decided to get postgraduate degrees from the US. I traded my upscale private school for a public international school where I met kids from all races, nationalities, and ethnic backgrounds…and I loved it. Right away. As stupid as it may seem, no experience has changed me so much as the two years I spent at that elementary school in a university town. I loved my new lifestyle: I did odd jobs for my neighbors, sold Girl Scout Cookies to earn money for a trip, and engaged in community service. I only realized how much different from my Venezuelan friends I’d become when, two years later, I went back and showed them a picture of me with a friend from Nigeria. When one of my former best friends asked, “Ew, who’s the black kid?”, I knew that I could no longer relate to my childhood friends. Only now that I’m familiar with the expression “reverse culture shock” can I put my finger on what I felt. And I think reverse culture shock is much harder to deal with than plain culture shock.

Anywho, I now live in Europe and the chasm only continues to grow…I long ago gave up on keeping my old friendships: I hated their country club mentality, their reliance on maids and overall narrow-mindedness. What’s been more hurtful, though, is growing apart from my family.  Ever since Chavez took power, my family, formerly left-wing, at least in comparison to others in our environment, has become increasingly reactionary. I once suggested that figures like Chavez were in power because our elites had no interest in benefiting anybody but themselves, and I had my aunt insult me. My grandmother feels that I’ve become too “liberal” (whatever that means) and wants to see me married soon (I’m 21)…she worries that I don’t go to enough cocktails, weddings and other “social gatherings” here in Europe and is always urging me to go to the hair salon or to get my nails done. Oh, and no one knows why on earth I’m studying Humanities because over there only Engineering and Economics are acceptable majors for intelligent people.

So, summing up, being a TCK has changed me in that I  set myself free from that uptight society full of stereotypes where I was born….I’ve experienced open and mobile societies, the middle class lifestyle, and levels of tolerance only found in the first world.

Well, I don’t know if any of this makes any sense to anyone else, but please tell yours stories, too!


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July 17, 2008 | Filed Under Blog 

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11 Responses to “Calling third-world TCKs”

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  1. 11
    cadpig
    cadpig Says:
    August 3rd, 2008 at 6:29 am

    Reverse-culture shock!xD I had no idea there was a word for it! Anywho I didn’t grow up in a third world country but have had this.

    “As a child, I never thought of Venezuela as a poor country, nor did I realize that I was living in bubble.”

    I too have lived in a bubble. None of my friends ever cared what I was. I wasn’t even sure they knew at times because we were all little kids growing up in Japan and they only thing that mattered was enjoying our childhood.

    I was in complete utter shock when one day I believe I was 6 my parents told me we weren’t Japanese. From that day on everything seemed clearer, I finally figured out why I couldn’t speak or understand some of my peers as a kid, why I was a shade darker than them, and why I was always going to the Philippines on vacation.

    Then came the day 14 and 1/2 years later that we moved to the Philippines. I thought it was going to be fun at first cause it would be like an extended vacation but I was wrong. The Philippines of my childhood might as well have been an entirely different dimension. I never thought of myself as rich cause I was always middle class but coming here I find I’m actually high up in the social ladder. That was something I never comprehended as a child and that I understand now, but still don’t feel as if I am “that status”.

    It was horrendously hard in private school because I too didn’t fit in with those who thought of themselves so highly. I’m also very liberal as opposed to the people here like others have said. My gripe here the most is cleanliness. In Japan I had things like “pick up a wrapper and throw it in the garbage bin” engrained into my head. Even now I can’t understand why people don’t do the same.

    They always tell me it’s the janitor’s or whoever elses job. I even had some girls reprimanding me for cleaning a room that I wasn’t told to clean.xD I was friends with my school and rec center, heck even the hospital janitors in Japan. They were absolutely fine people who told good stories and some even loved their job! ‘Course, they didn’t mind having help once in a while. *le sigh* Childhood in another country is awesome.^_^

    (Is this spam?)

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