Are You New? Join The Most Active Community for TCKs/CCKs >>
Want to be notified of new posts? Get the RSS Feed or Register by Email

The TCK ‘Moments’ Thread

Unregistered

Author:
Isa

This post has 314 views




Hey

Well, i thought that i would make a thread where we could post about the TCK ‘moments’ that happen in our lives. Random/funny/infuriating things people say. What we say.

For example, i was buying something and paying by credit card and the lady goes “On your visa?” I just look confused and thought “Huh? I’m not travelling overseas yet, i don’t need a visa….” Then i realised that she was gesturing for my card. Whoops!

And i am still laughing over the fact that i thought that passports were given out like birth certificates! I just thought it was a normal thing. You just received it as a child. I just never had any cause to think otherwise.


What do you think of this post?
1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (No Ratings Yet)
Loading ... Loading ...

February 6, 2008 | Filed Under General Forum 

Related Posts



Comments

17 Responses to “The TCK ‘Moments’ Thread”

Pages: « 1 [2] Show All

  1. 11
    Unregistered
    Antonie Says:
    February 9th, 2008 at 12:51 pm

    Hello!

    Nioucha
    what you wrote sounds so typical German to me that’s really incredible!!! Well, I must also admit that I can’t say that German police is really a very intelligent sort… ;-)

    Last week, as I was in Dubai I also had one of those moments… An austrian friend asked me, whether two cities are close to eacht other. I just looked at him and didn’t know the answer. I could only tell hem, that as he grew up in the neighbour country, he could now!
    I have never hat German geography in school! I learned all the french rivers, the states in America and the different reagions ins Colombia… BUt Germany??? Well: It’s just my passport-giving-country, isn’t it??? :-)

    TOni

    (Is this spam?)

  2. 12
    nioucha
    nioucha Says:
    February 10th, 2008 at 3:50 pm

    Hi Antonie!

    Yes, well, it seems that whenever I go through Customs at the airport of any country that’s when I have the typical TCK moment. I actually, do feel a connection with my passport givng country, but in the same way, I feel it with the other places that are either part of my cultural heritage or where I’ve lived extensively. The problem is, and what I think, others such as Justin, pointed out is that because we really feel participant in more than one culture it makes it harder for others to want to categorize you…hence, the frequent faux pas that come up when people generalize about “Americans” , “Germans”, “French”, “Japenese” etc. It’s their limitedness of perspective to some degree and it’s easier than being truly objective, isn’t it? Generally, my TCK moments occur when someone says things like “You (enter nationality)” or just makes off-handed generalizations about a particular country.

    (Is this spam?)

  3. 13
    Unregistered
    Isa Says:
    February 24th, 2008 at 4:28 am

    bump!

    (Is this spam?)

  4. 14
    aradhana
    aradhana Says:
    February 26th, 2008 at 6:43 am

    Warona - I totally share your expereince! I was on the move since birth. I must have been about just shy of 2 years in my first passport picture. The signature box had the note “too young to sign”. I too thought that passports were given out at birth. It wasn’t until I was in my late ‘teens/early 20’s that I realized that some people didn’t have them. While I was in DC for college I met someone who had never even been out of the city thier entire life which completly blew my mind.

    TCK moments arise for me when I have to remember the differnet names for things in different countries. When I was bout 11 I had asked for chips at a Pizza Hut in Vermont and for a few seconds I was totally purplexed as to why the waitress brought me a bag of potato chips. Most of the time it’s simple things like heater/clothes iron, petrol/gasoline, jumper/sweater. But it often becomes more complicated wwhen I have to go between languages. There are times when I totally go blank and I can’t remember the English word forthings at all ( btw- English is my native language)

    (Is this spam?)

  5. 15
    Unregistered
    sophia Says:
    February 27th, 2008 at 7:57 pm

    I know what you’re talking about, I also used to think everyone got passports when they were born…and I also thought that everyone switched countries every one or two years, I only found out in 4th Grade that that wasn’t the way it works jaja.

    Well, my moments are mostly cultural mistakes…kissing people on both cheeks when I meet them, talking to waiters in the wrong language when I’m visiting the U.S., things like that.

    Or I know French grammar, but no English since I was in French school in elementary, and since I’m fluent my teachers don’t get it. Or I know the in-depth history of countries like Bolivia but I don’t know who made the American flag…It can get kind of awkward.

    I also have a huge problem with spanglish, franglais, french/spanish…It’s just the way I talk at school and with my families, but my non-TCK friends stare at me really weird when I interject my sentences with buenos, say mince when I make a mistake, talk to my Spanish teacher with random words in different languages, things like that. Or when I pronouce things wrong, say “Euh…” when I’m thinking, says jes instead of yes (y is pronouced j in Colombia), or it’s even happened to me to start speaking the wrong language in class, and my teachers are like, “Uh…Isn’t this supposed to be English class?” Whoops.

    There was also a funny moment with my cousin last summer.

    Her: Hey, that’s a cool belt. Where’d ya get it?
    Me: France.
    Her: Oh. Okay. What about your shirt?
    Me: Peru
    Her: And the pants? China?
    Me: No. Colombia.
    Her: Jesus! And that necklace?
    Me: Egypt
    Her: You know what? Forget it, okay. I don’t wanna know.

    It kind of made me realize for the 1st time how strange my life was.

    (Is this spam?)

  6. 16
    Unregistered
    lauren Says:
    February 27th, 2008 at 10:10 pm

    Funny moment for me was in 11 grade, a yearish after I had moved back to the sates, we had a map quiz on the US. and I only knew where 5 states were on the map. That quiz was followed by a Europe and middle east map quiz where I happened to score a 95%. haha my friends thought I was crazy, and my history teacher was really confused by my inability to label US states. “well aren’t you American?” was his response.

    Oh and the grammar problem. I dont know the grammar terms in English or German I just know what is write and wrong growing up speaking them. Teachers really never understand when I tell them that I have no clue what…. means. Ect. Or why this sentence has this word order. That is just the way it is… ha ha..oh man. When I am tutoring german…that logic doesn’t work out very well. ;-)

    (Is this spam?)

  7. 17
    Cynthia
    Cynthia Says:
    February 28th, 2008 at 4:04 am

    Since I’m a lazy bum, I dug up the post way back in December:

    http://www.tckid.com/group/a-tck-moment/

    :D

    (Is this spam?)

Pages: « 1 [2] Show All

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.