I’m New
Ok, so my name is Patricia and like most people here I’m a TCK. I was born in the US but when I turned a year old my family moved to Japan. I’ve been there for practically my whole childhood. I’m also a Navy brat by the way and I must say it was the best childhood I’ve had the luck to experience. I’ve taken time to go back to the US and I always went to the Philippines for vacation because I’m a Filipina.
However, I’ve also been in China for a bit. Recently…about 3 years ago I moved to the Philippines and I thought it would be fine. How wrong I was. Pretty much I’ve hated my entire stay here (people just don’t understand and the country doesn’t agree with me weather and food wise) and pretty soon I’m going back to the US. I’ve been going through the dark side of being a TCK lately.
The depression and all but I’m glad I had my TCK friends for support even though my family doesn’t understand. The internet is like a blessing and so I found this site and was amazingly surprised. I had no idea there was such a term as TCK before until yesterday and I had no idea this was even considered a sub-culture of sorts.
So, hope to enjoy it here. ^_^ It feels like I’ve stumbled into a wonderful place like Alice’s Wonderland. If my intro sounds awkward it’s cause it is. I was never good at making intros.
May 25th, 2008 at 11:43 am
Welcome to the site! =) I just found it myself a few weeks ago, to be honest and only started really contributing last week =)
I’ll introduce myself to ya as well: name’s André, Filipino passport holder, grew up in India and Europe. Spent a considerable amount of time in the US as well. I am currently in France, studying. Going back to the Philippines for a year or so, then coming back =)
Trust me, this site has done a lot for me than I thought it would ever do and I’m glad I found it. I’m sure it’ll help you as well =) Good luck and enjoy!
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May 25th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
Cadpig,
I am so glad you found this website! When I first came here, it was revolutionary for me–the fact that there were people out there who felt the same way I did about many things and I could instantly relate! Whoa~~~ I am sooo happy for you!
Feel free to check out my intro here: http://www.tckid.com/group/little-mints-about-miyon/
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May 25th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
Welcome Cadpig,
I’m almost the opposite of you where I moved from Japan to the Philippines when I was two, going back to Japan on vacation, etc.
It’s always hard to go back to your passport country because people will expect you to be like everyone else and will wonder what’s wrong with you…but take heart…there are lots of us here!
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May 25th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
Hey Cadpig!
Haha, I’m Filipina too, and that’s not the only thing we have in common. I don’t like it much over there either. I mean, for a visit, I would enjoy it, but I’d hate to live there. Like you said, people just don’t understand. Kinda like my cousins over there - we never get along. I mean, I can’t even understand them (I mean I’m fluent in Tagalog but they speak another dialect.. so yeahhhh).
My bestfriend repatriated over there a year ago and she still hasn’t adjusted.. if I moved back, I’d DIE. My dad threatens to send me back down there whenever I screw up, haha.
Well, just hang in there. Make yourself feel at home!
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May 25th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
I had it easier I guess…adjusting to life in the Philippines. I spent my last two years of high school (IB1 and IB2) in the European school so it was like a mix of my usual life with my new life and it made the transition easier.
However, it was when I decided to attend University that I realized how different life is over there. It took me about a year to completely adjust to life there. But I considered it as part of my life’s adventure and I made the most of it!!!
In the beginning though, I was “labeled” as an “ingelesero” because of my Tagalog - which was taught to me by my parents, and hence, old fashioned…by a few decades, hahaha - so I tended to speak more English, a language in which I am fluent. That’s just an example.
What helped me adjust was just immerse myself in the University culture. I joined student clubs and it helped me adjust a lot…I learned the “normal speak” as well as made a lot of friends. My “best friend” in University, however, is someone I met in my first week there. He is a local, born and bred, so he helped me even more to adjust…though he still makes fun of me sometimes!!! Hahaha. I know we’ll never completely understand each other’s mindsets but that’s ok!!!
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May 26th, 2008 at 12:50 am
That’s a nice example of integration, Andre.
It’s always easier when you become friends with someone who’s ‘local, born and bred’ because they will instinctively know all the unwritten and written rules of the community.
So far the only place I’ve failed to do that is in Spain but then again Malaga isn’t the best place for meeting people in general even if you speak Spanish perfectly well. Seems my Italian friends who do, have trouble making friends here… When I attended a company party of some friends of mine in Madrid I have to say the conversation was far more stimulating and interesting (where we kept reverting from Spanish to English to Spanish etc)
Malaga is quite provincial so a lot of conversation centers around different types of ‘gossip’…which I frankly find bores the ********* out of me.
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May 26th, 2008 at 2:03 am
Thanks for the warm welcome!O_O Still tryin’ to adjust to the “familiarity shock”. It’s like someone is reading my mind. Haha, I’ve gotten local born friends and we understand eachother. We speak the same dialect but sometimes they still make fun of the accent. I don’t understand Tagalog at all.^_^;
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May 26th, 2008 at 2:33 am
Cadpig welcome to tckid! you are going to love it here, still seems like you had the right mindset on what to do, i did the same thing. Like Ayako said “they will instinctively know all the unwritten and written rules of the community.
“.
I too have different accent(s) from my friends here in the States and wow do they make me know it. You know accents at times just shows where you been and that who have some global experience, and may I say it helps alot in a very social setting, use what you got indeed!:D
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May 26th, 2008 at 6:17 am
Haha, don’t worry about it Patricia! I got the whole accent treatment as well. It’s not just that, it was the vocabulary too!! And of course, there are a lot of words I couldn’t pronounce properly - because I think Filipino is a sort of syllabic (is that the right term??) language as well, right? I mean the word “basa” can have to different meanings, depending on which syllable the stress is on! =)
You’ll get the hang of it and I’m sure you’ll be ok!! Where do you live in the Philippines then? I moved back to the Philippines in 2003 and I left last year but I’m going back again by August/September!! =)
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May 26th, 2008 at 6:55 am
I’m living in the Visayas specifically in Negros Oriental. True about the syllables. I’m leaving soon though and most likely before October.
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