Introducing myself

Posted by Jeremy on April 14th, 2008 | Categorized as General Forum | 222 views and 5 Comments

Hello tckid!

I’ve been visiting this site several times daily for over a month now, and figured that it was well past time to introduce myself. I’m Jeremy, an MK “from” the Philippines. “Home” for my parents was in Pennsylvania, although my dad grew up all across the US, and in Brazil. I haven’t been to the Philippines for almost six years, since I was 12. I’ve now lived in Ontario for the last 5 years (with only a two-month stint in Iraq in there), which is the longest I’ve ever spent in one place.

I’ve known about TCKs for as long as I can remember, so finding this site wasn’t as much of a revelation for me as it’s been for other people. However, since moving to Canada, I tried to downplay my TCKness as much as possible. I guess I just wanted to fit in… I explained my oddities as a result of being from Pennsylvania, even though I never fit in there. In fact, in my fourth year of high school, some of my friends were surprised to find out that I had grown up in the Philippines.

A few months ago, I found an old friend of mine from the Philippines on Facebook.  Talking to her brought back so many memories of things that I hadn’t thought about in years… How much I missed pansit, my old house in Iligan City… even the extreme heat or having people point at me in the streets because of the color of my skin. I think I felt at home in the Philippines because it was obvious that I didn’t “belong”. It explained all the oddness about me. In North America, it’s not obvious that I’m not from here.

Anyway, as a result of finding my friend on Facebook, I started looking for TCK sites. I found this one and spent hours reading, until it was 4 in the morning and I was too exhausted to continue. I missed quite a few classes over the next week because of my late night reading sessions causing me to oversleep. Although I haven’t posted here much, I’ve become completely addicted and I probably visit this site more frequently than any other. I love the community at TCKid, and the sense of belonging I get since I can identify with almost everything posted here.  This may sound a little silly, but it seems like tckid has helped “fill” a part of me I didn’t know was there. Thank you very much to everyone at tckid!