Third Culture Kids.
So, I stumbled across this totally at random and I'm kind of wondering - is this what I am?
My initial instincts say two things. Thing one: it's not entirely me, because I think it's a made-up name mostly aimed at kids who either grow up in more than two different cultures, or in a place that's a different culture to both of their parents, neither of which is strictly true of me. Thing two: it's often very appealing to have a cool, hip minorityish label to attach to yourself.
Of course, this leads to thing three: maybe third culture kids want a label so badly cos they've been denied one most of their lives, and that's definitely something that resonates.
I might not have grown up the child of a diplomat and lived in twelve different countries by the time I was eight, and I might not be a mulitlingual polyglot. But despite the rather odd notion that Britain and America are similar simply based on language, I'd argue that growing up bilingual in the minority group of Welsh speakers in Wales with an American mother and *distinctly* American home-life qualifies as a cross-cultural upbringing.
What mainly makes me ask the question is the seemingly key part of the definition - that you have these more-than-glimpses - these strong ties and deep understandings of multiple cultures - but you can't claim any as your own.
My Mom used to say, when I was a kid, it wasn't a matter of choosing between half American and half Welsh, I was all both. Because I was seven, I didn't say, "Bullshit," but I kinda thought it. It's a wonderful idea, but it doesn't work. I ended up neither. Everyone in Wales identified me as American (in order to explain my idiosynchrasies, because it was more exotic, because I was half American culturally and that just didn't fly in a militarily patriotic Welsh school? All of them, I guess). Everyone in America identified me as Welsh (or, a lot of the time, English).
I understand both cultures better than an outsider, there are aspects of both I am deeply in love with and miss horribly when I'm not there. I cannot say I feel totally welcome in either. It's probably self-indulgent to say it, but I'm an outside observer - one who's been around for a really long time - but still an outside observer, and I don't have anyplace to go where I'm not. I never will. It's a weird thing to think about if I think about it too much.
Also, apparently:
So I read one of these, "You know if you're a [insert] if..." things for Third Culture Kids. Here are a couple that apply:
You can't answer the question, where are you from? Sounds dumb because I do answer that question all the time. But I do feel like a fraud if I say, "Cardiff," or "New Jersey," and don't give the rest of the story. If I do give the rest of the story, it's a real case of TMI (too much info) and often isn't relevant to the discussion anyway. Plus there's the fact that whether I answer, "Wales," or "America," the usual reaction is disbelief. "You don't sound like you're from [insert]..." It gets to be a fairly cringe-inducing question, actually. Like my bloody surname.
You're bilingual. Yes. And while I didn't go to an International School, I do remember being thrown into a school where speaking english was a punishable offence, a year too late, and not understanding ANYTHING for months.
You flew on a plane before you could walk. I flew on a plane before I could hold my head up. I flew on a plane several times before I could walk. When I was a kid, I flew on a plane more than I rode on buses. I thought buses had captains.
You go home for your vacation. Also true. And I'm homesick now. So I routed my next vacation so I can go home again. I guess I should blame my mom for this one - she's the one who always insisted that we were "going home", who made sure I had friends, went to a little bit of school to see what it was like, had my own bedroom and posessions there.
You can speak with authority on the quality of airline travel. KLM has fantastic food but terrible entertainment and you're almost guaranteed to travel through Schipool (sp?). Virgin is pretty good all around but no longer as cheap as it once was. BA is improving on the entertainment front but not really enough to make up for the cost. Air India is cheap but might end you stranded at an airport hotel for three days after one of the engines blows up on the runway. We stopped flying Air Kuwait after that incident with the hostages getting killed and thrown out on the runway in, the late 80s I think? Local airline travel is usually short enough you don't need to care about food or entertainment, so fly cheap. There's not much difference between RyanAir, BMIBaby or EasyJet except for the airports they'll fly out of and the destinations they'll go to.
At 18 you had a passport but no driver's license. At 18 I had no driver's license and was on my 4th passport. Now I'm 23. I still have no driver's license and have had six passports.
You automatically take off your shoes as soon as you get home. This one, I just totally don't get. Everyone does this, I'm sure they do... Like, seriously, how is this anything to do with multiculturalness?
You have best friends in five different countries. No. But I have best friends in four. Also, this is mostly luck of the draw since I only come from two and have only lived in three.
Ultimately? I think that the ethos behind the whole Third Culture Kid thing is a little more geared towards non-western cultures and living in cultures that *are not part of your heritage* than simply coming from two different cultures and living in both. But I think that the issues raised by trying to come from two different cultures (one non-english speaking) are sort of similar in some ways.
My initial instincts say two things. Thing one: it's not entirely me, because I think it's a made-up name mostly aimed at kids who either grow up in more than two different cultures, or in a place that's a different culture to both of their parents, neither of which is strictly true of me. Thing two: it's often very appealing to have a cool, hip minorityish label to attach to yourself.
Of course, this leads to thing three: maybe third culture kids want a label so badly cos they've been denied one most of their lives, and that's definitely something that resonates.
I might not have grown up the child of a diplomat and lived in twelve different countries by the time I was eight, and I might not be a mulitlingual polyglot. But despite the rather odd notion that Britain and America are similar simply based on language, I'd argue that growing up bilingual in the minority group of Welsh speakers in Wales with an American mother and *distinctly* American home-life qualifies as a cross-cultural upbringing.
What mainly makes me ask the question is the seemingly key part of the definition - that you have these more-than-glimpses - these strong ties and deep understandings of multiple cultures - but you can't claim any as your own.
My Mom used to say, when I was a kid, it wasn't a matter of choosing between half American and half Welsh, I was all both. Because I was seven, I didn't say, "Bullshit," but I kinda thought it. It's a wonderful idea, but it doesn't work. I ended up neither. Everyone in Wales identified me as American (in order to explain my idiosynchrasies, because it was more exotic, because I was half American culturally and that just didn't fly in a militarily patriotic Welsh school? All of them, I guess). Everyone in America identified me as Welsh (or, a lot of the time, English).
I understand both cultures better than an outsider, there are aspects of both I am deeply in love with and miss horribly when I'm not there. I cannot say I feel totally welcome in either. It's probably self-indulgent to say it, but I'm an outside observer - one who's been around for a really long time - but still an outside observer, and I don't have anyplace to go where I'm not. I never will. It's a weird thing to think about if I think about it too much.
Also, apparently:
So I read one of these, "You know if you're a [insert] if..." things for Third Culture Kids. Here are a couple that apply:
You can't answer the question, where are you from? Sounds dumb because I do answer that question all the time. But I do feel like a fraud if I say, "Cardiff," or "New Jersey," and don't give the rest of the story. If I do give the rest of the story, it's a real case of TMI (too much info) and often isn't relevant to the discussion anyway. Plus there's the fact that whether I answer, "Wales," or "America," the usual reaction is disbelief. "You don't sound like you're from [insert]..." It gets to be a fairly cringe-inducing question, actually. Like my bloody surname.
You're bilingual. Yes. And while I didn't go to an International School, I do remember being thrown into a school where speaking english was a punishable offence, a year too late, and not understanding ANYTHING for months.
You flew on a plane before you could walk. I flew on a plane before I could hold my head up. I flew on a plane several times before I could walk. When I was a kid, I flew on a plane more than I rode on buses. I thought buses had captains.
You go home for your vacation. Also true. And I'm homesick now. So I routed my next vacation so I can go home again. I guess I should blame my mom for this one - she's the one who always insisted that we were "going home", who made sure I had friends, went to a little bit of school to see what it was like, had my own bedroom and posessions there.
You can speak with authority on the quality of airline travel. KLM has fantastic food but terrible entertainment and you're almost guaranteed to travel through Schipool (sp?). Virgin is pretty good all around but no longer as cheap as it once was. BA is improving on the entertainment front but not really enough to make up for the cost. Air India is cheap but might end you stranded at an airport hotel for three days after one of the engines blows up on the runway. We stopped flying Air Kuwait after that incident with the hostages getting killed and thrown out on the runway in, the late 80s I think? Local airline travel is usually short enough you don't need to care about food or entertainment, so fly cheap. There's not much difference between RyanAir, BMIBaby or EasyJet except for the airports they'll fly out of and the destinations they'll go to.
At 18 you had a passport but no driver's license. At 18 I had no driver's license and was on my 4th passport. Now I'm 23. I still have no driver's license and have had six passports.
You automatically take off your shoes as soon as you get home. This one, I just totally don't get. Everyone does this, I'm sure they do... Like, seriously, how is this anything to do with multiculturalness?
You have best friends in five different countries. No. But I have best friends in four. Also, this is mostly luck of the draw since I only come from two and have only lived in three.
Ultimately? I think that the ethos behind the whole Third Culture Kid thing is a little more geared towards non-western cultures and living in cultures that *are not part of your heritage* than simply coming from two different cultures and living in both. But I think that the issues raised by trying to come from two different cultures (one non-english speaking) are sort of similar in some ways.