These past two days at PFO have been really emotionally draining ones. Yesterday the main focus was on Third Culture Kids (TCKs for short) which are the students that I am going to be teaching. TCKs are children who have spent part of their developmental years in a country different from their Passport country. They find themselves fitting in best with others who have had the same experience of living overseas and yet feeling at some level a stranger in this foreign country. However, when they return home to their Passport country it no longer feels like home because of the unique experiences they have had adjusting to another culture and living overseas. It was incredibly interesting yet also heartbreaking as we learned much of the hardship that comes along with being a TCK.
Today we spent most of the day hearing about transition, both what we are experiencing now as well as what it will be like once we get overseas. I don't think I realized that I had already begun this long and messy process of transition until today. I heard that the many things I have been feeling and experiencing are normal. The thing I heard over and over again was that grief is normal and will probably last a long time. We heard today that it takes about a year and a half until we step into the last phase of transition and where a person really feels at home in the new place they have moved to overseas. Lucky for us it only gets harder from here! :) After we land in the new country the next phase begins and today we were told that phase is called CHAOS. Many people who have already been living overseas agreed that this is exactly how they felt at some point in their transition experience.
2 comments:
Hey randomly stumbled upon your page. I was searching for stuff about TCKs as I am one myself. I just wanted to let you know something. While all the stuff about grief and hardships is true we (TCKs) are incredibly happy that we are TCKs. I've never lived anywhere for more than 4 years and I'm aways making and, yes, losing friends. But its an incredible experience, I wouldn't trade it for anything. You'll be hard pressed to find TCKs that would trade it.
Quick tips about moving overseas(maybe you already have I don't know): Don't worry about what you can't get in your host country compared to your home country. No cake mixes, try that local pastry you've never heard of before. Make sure get out of your house during the move in period. DO NOT spend all your time unpacking inside or you'll get depressed. Unpack the essentials and a few things that make you feel "at home" and then go explore either by yourself or with friends (new or old)!
Enjoy your time as a TCK educator. Don't judge us too much on our seemingly arrogant attitudes. Sometimes we'll seem way more mature than our peers an other times you'll think you're teaching lunatic kids who are acting 2 or 3 years younger.
I could go on and on.
If you've got any questions give me an email at geoffpurdy(AT)gmail.com
If it wasn't for people like you willing to teach overseas there wouldn't be any TCKs.
Hey, I also stumbled upon your site as a TCK searching for some information. I agree with Geoff that we TCKs are quite glad to be them! There are complications - homes and friends and family strewn across countries and continents, languages, cultures, creeds, etc. In the last few days - maybe there's something in the air - I have found three other TCKs, my best friends growing up that I had lost track of for 10 years, and it's amazing that we can continue our conversations as if they had never left off.
Those of us who are diplomatic or military 'brats', the children of overseas teachers, to become TCKs, we also are likely to become them ourselves: a testiment I think not to being lost in the world but of being at home in all the world.
Annamarie
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