| Contributions
from adults
Parents,
Teachers, Administrators, this is the place to let others
know what it's been like to work, live and/or to raise a family
away from your 'home'.
I was a Third Culture Kid and Didn't Realize it
by Channtal Fleischfresser Multimedia Journalist I was born in São Paulo to Brazilian parents, and while I grew up speaking both English and Portuguese, I was well on my way to becoming a regular Brazilian like everyone else. When I was seven and a half, my dad’s job transferred him to New York, so my mother, father, grandmother, brother and I moved to Scarsdale, NY, a few miles outside of Manhattan. We were English speakers, but culturally very much Brazilian.
Naturally, we missed many social cues, and some cultural do’s and don’ts had to be learned the hard way. My first summer in Scarsdale, I took a walk with my grandmother. I... read more
On that boat...
by Tam-Anh Pham San Jose, California, USA My father had been in the South Vietnamese army, and after the North defeated the South, our family was branded "nguy," which meant we were second-class citizens. My parents initially made two failed attempts to escape from communist Vietnam. Then, almost two years after the fall of Saigon, they decided to try again. "freedom or death," my father said.
We moved to a small village at the tip of the Saigon Delta and pretended to be fishermen. My eighteen-year-old brother learned to operate a boat and studied the tides and the comings and goings of the military-patrol vessel. Around the sam... read more
Bringing Back Memories
by A. B. Rhode Island, USA I'm not exactly a third culture kid, but sort of; a kid born in the US but going to Holland on 'home-leave' to visit grandparents, speaking Dutch at home, and being jeered at by nasty little Dutch boys because I was wearing jeans as I rode my bike.
My parents came to NY from Holland in 1939. My father came to study at Fordham Law School, intending to return. Luckily he was convinced by the consulate in Amsterdam to get an immigration visa. However they never became citizens. He worked as a Dutch national for the World Bank. My brother and I attended a formerly French School in DC transit... read more
Connected and Disconnected
by Eddie A. Shanghai Community International School When you are an immigrant, you notice things like make-shift signs in convenient store windows advertising sale items and generic alternatives; old men in the park just sitting watching the time go by without a care in the world; vendors pushing carts in the streets – the knife sharpener, the plastic collector, and the umbrella repairman; families having parties and speaking in other languages; old ladies with cheap gold jewelry and second hand shoes (some with the obvious Botox and cheap plastic surgery scars); a beautiful young girl with brown eyes who is wearing blue contact lenses; the wom... read more
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