Introducing Myself
Well I just recently found this site through facebook. I have to say I’m totally floored that there are so many TCKers out there. I thought I was a rare bread.
I’m not sure if I fit the true TCK bill, but I know I’ve certainly traveled alot. The longest I’ve ever lived in one city/aka or house is 3 years. I tend to refer to my life by which state I formerly lived in instead of by cities. My dad worked as a food service manager for colleges until I was 8, and in that time I lived in 4 states, 5 cities. My parents divorced when I was 6, and when I turned 8 my dad decided to become a missionary, so I tagged along with him. Upon joining a missionary group we moved…again to another state, then hopped over to Mexico for a while, then back to a few more states, then back to Mexico, until most recently we moved to Thailand. I opted to move back to the States to attend college, which meant that I had to move again to stay with my relatives in good ol Tennessee. (It’s my second time living here though).
When friends ask me where I’m from I always say my birth city, Baltimore, but then as the conversation continues I tend to bring up every other place I’ve lived in because most of my experiences didn’t happen in Baltimore (my family moved from there when I was 6 months old, but I did end up back there between the ages of 14-16). Which then leads to the question…how the heck did you live in all those places? And then I have to explain my life story, but hardly anyone is captivated enough to listen to the whole thing, they just want to know a quick summary, which is kinda hard to do. I’ve tend to find people are quite open and think my life is “totally cool” because I’ve “been all over”, but I find it hard to have common links with people my age, like the ones that form real friendships.
Well that’s a quick recap of my life. If you have any tips on how to bridge the gap between “never left this city in my life” and a “world trotter/missionary kid/homeschooler” let me know.
Happy Holidays.
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7 Comments to “Introducing Myself”
December 27th, 2007 at 11:22 am
Hey Veronica! Welcome! You certainly straddle the line of “I’ve Never Lived Out Of My Country” and “I’ve Travelled the World”… Infact you’ve “travelled your country”.. I’m not sure how many people can say that! People travelling the world is common, but there aren’t many intra-country travellers as far as i know anyway. I think its the moving that shapes a TCKs mindset, and the culture part is a by-product. Anyway, Welcome! Hope you enjoy this place as much as i do!
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December 27th, 2007 at 1:03 pm
hi Veronica, welcome to TCKid!
I bet you’ve seen a lot of different things traveling in the USA, right? it’s a big country and I think there must be big differences.
Anyway, Brice will be here any minute to give you a proper welcome (usualy a cute cat picture
Enjoy the site, there are MANY people like you in the world, and a small part of them is here!
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December 27th, 2007 at 1:18 pm
Hey veronica
Yeah, we all get that as TCKs. The ‘cool life’.. I’ve even gotten this question: ‘are you rich’?
I just say, I WISH i was. People tend to mix up priveleged and rich.
Anyways, we’re all glad you found this site. This is where you’ll find others like us, and hey, if you wanna befriend non-TCKs, the best way is to be yourself and just find some people that you could get along with.. ones that listen to your story are most likely the ones you could be friends with.
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December 27th, 2007 at 8:48 pm
Hi Veronica, welcome to tckid! Yeah, you’re not alone and there are lots of us here
I hope you’ll find the discussions in the forums interesting.
“I find it hard to have common links with people my age, like the ones that form real friendships.”
Are you a student right now? What are your plans for 08, do you plan on moving?
To be honest, I naturally gravitate towards people who are either multicultural or have travelled often. I do love making friends with all kinds of people, but I seem to relate a lot more with people who are open-minded. You’re right, it’s important to have people who are willing to *listen*.
To befriend non-tcks, you have to spend a lot of time with them and open up. But that’s the problem for many TCKs, we’re scared of being vulnerable and put up barriers because we think we won’t be accepted.
If you haven’t read the TCK book yet, I highly recommend you take a look. There’s a link to an overview on the main site.
I hope you enjoy the discussions on the forum!
Here’s your picture welcome
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December 28th, 2007 at 6:15 am
Ahh it sucks to be back in Shanghai, Brice’s LOLcat pics don’t always show up
But welcome Veronica to TCKid.com!
We’re so glad you’ve found us and we’re so glad you are just as much of a “rare bread” as us XD I’m sorry, don’t mean to pick on your typo but I think “rare bread” is a pretty cool term 
There’s a lot of made-up words and phrases amongst us TCKs anyways XD
Please excuse the mess and the LOLcat pictures! Serious Cat has been working…seriously.
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December 28th, 2007 at 11:54 am
Heh, thanks for bringing up the typo…sorry about that.
And thanks guys for welcoming me. It’s great to be here.
About my plans for 08. I’m starting school in the fall. I want to start and finish school here, but after that I want to move around again.
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December 28th, 2007 at 3:39 pm
hello veronica.
ya, i always knew there were many tcks out there, because my high school had a lot, but weirdly we never talked about it, so i always thought maybe i was the only one having a hard time with it (even though mostly i LOVE it). its nice to find a group to talk to about all this stuff that has been building up for a bit, and even though you may feel, aw, my specialness is not that special, we are still a HUGE minority (is that an oxymoron?) so we’re still special ;o)
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