I was born in Houston, TX, and lived a pretty average life….

Posted by scott on October 12th, 2008 | Categorized as Introduction, Stories | 326 views and 13 Comments

well, the main objective of this i suppose is the reception of a lolcat(thanks to mariabay :P). but nonetheless, I shall give a fairly brief summary of my existence, just in case anyone was wondering.

I was born in Houston, TX, and lived a pretty average life. I went to public elementary school, went over to peoples’ houses, and generally had quite a typical suburbia experience of life. All of this changed when my dad’s oil company merged with another one. There were tons of layoffs, and my dad’s only real oppurtunity was to move to Cairo, Egypt. They gave us 24hrs to decide on this, and despite my cries not to go, we decided to. 6 months later we were on our way. I watched disney’s “a bug’s life” 4 times on the tranatlantic flight(i can still quote that movie). anyway, we landed in Cairo with 24 boxes, 4 siutcases and 4 carry-ons. Needless to say costoms searched through all of them at 2am. One thing i will never forget- The smell of dust as we decended in to land. Sahara dust is a really powerful memory, and whenever i smell something like it it just brings up so many emotions.

I was 11 at the time, just entering 5th grade. All the sudden my little suburban world had been blown apart. Here i was, standing at the pyramids, looking at the progression of humanity through the centuries. It blew my mind- i just remember intense curiosity about everything. Everything was so different. and yet, at the same time it felt normal. everybody does this, right?

And so I grew up there- the company paid for vacations as well, so we travelled to about 2-3 countries per year. Getting on a plane every few months was second nature- almost like breathing. Everywhere i went there was more amazing and wonderful things. I did have trouble at school with my social life. I virtially didn’t have one for most of 6th grade. But I began to belong there by 8th. But, as usual at an international school, stability is short lived. allot of my good friends left- never to return. 9nth grade was probably one of the best years ever- I joined the creative writing club, i felt more indipendent, i had a stable group of friends- things could not have gotten better. But good things do not last- and I had to move. To Trinidad &Tobago. I remember living in a temporary apartment before we moved, in the dense cairene way, and i just engrossed myself in feeling alive. The honking horns, the quiet sidestreets where bowaabs(litterally meaning’door man’) watch the donkey carts and bicycles go by- The rutsle of the dirty leaves, the poorly equipped guards at school standing and arguing about something. The rush of crossing the street- the sweet smell of leather cricket balls we played with at school- the marble staircase, The call to prayer. I did not want this to end. In our last meeting, i could not bring myself to say goodbye to my best friend there- and so i simply said “see you later” and tried not to cry.

We took a trip around the world to celebrate the move i guess. Cairo to Singapore, then to new zealand for a week, then Hawaii, then Houston and Cleveland for the summer, then to Trinidad. I got to celebrate my birthday twice, as we crossed the int’l date line. But somehow i felt empty, hollow. Like i had abandoned a good life.

Trinidad was beautiful. I started to connect with a few people there- I was somewhat able to pursue my dreams of playing cricket. I attended cricket school, and did tons of other after school activites. But the school itself, from an academic standpoint, wasn’t nearly what Cairo was. So me and my parents decided that boarding school would be a good choice, especially to allow me to get used to the culture of the US again. and so, with but a year under my belt, I strode off to a dusty boaarding school in central Arizona.

I met my room mate, who happened also to be a TCK. It was an amazing experience, but there were downsides. I hated the structured days, and the endless required activites. But being forced to live together meant that we all had a bond, and by my senior year, i had grown well into the community. everyone knew me in some compacity. Then came College.

I didn’t really know what i was looking for- I just chose something cheap and pretty nice. It was definately not the greatest choice out there for me, but hey- it was something. When i got there, i didn’t feel right. as the weeks went on, i just felt neutral, like i was getting nowhere with people. I felt so alone, like something was wrong with me- i did not get the culture at all(and this is my ‘home’ state!!!). What was i doing wrong?

First i thought i needed a relationship- but nobody really poped to mind. It just would not work. Then i thought something was wrong with my beliefs- my religon. I looked at all sorts of things, from becoming an atheist to a Bahai. It was in this moment I discovered the term ‘TCK’ and shortly afterward this website. All the sudden things started to become clear- I knew why i felt the way i did; why i didn’t fit in; why I just didn’t click. It rescued me from going insane. I met people who knew how i felt, that i connected with extraordiarily well, even though we have never met in person. I felt, in a sense, like i belonged.

I looked at transfer schools, but then my dad fell ill, and so I am stuck here. Despite all of my efforts, I am not able to escape. So instead i decided to get a study abroad program going. even though it is still a long way off-(over a year from now) i think it will heal me. I have never been back to the places I once lived or visited since i left, and i hope the oppurtunity arises through this.

well, that was the closest thing to an autobiography i have ever written. whew. well, i hope people find this interesting, amusing, whatever. I just want to thank the entirety of TCKid for being here. right down to the motherboard. and of course the geniuses who made this place(dan, brice, and the rest of the gang). Get yourselves a ____________(insert favorite dessert here)

anyhow, yeah. now you know.

lived in Houston, TX, Cairo, Port-of-Spain, Mayer, AZ and Huntsville, TX.