Third culture kid
I was born in Hong Kong to culturally Mexican and American parents. By the time I was 11, I had lived in four different countries and seven different cities. I have dual British and American citizenship. Even though I have lived in England for 12 years, the British think I’m American. And when I’m in America, they think I might be Canadian or maybe even Scottish. These experiences are not unusual to other people like me. I am a Third Culture Kid and this is my life.
Frequent moves
It is not commonly known that there is a group of internationally minded individuals in our midst referred to as ‘Third Culture Kids’ or ‘TCKs.’ The book Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds describes the TCK as ‘a person who has spent a significant part of his or her developmental years outside the parents’ culture’ (Pollock, D. & Van Reken, R., 2010). This often means that a TCK and his/her family have moved several times, as in the case of military or diplomatic families, or perhaps have lived in one foreign country for a long period of time, which is the case with many missionary families. In either situation, TCK families tend to develop a complex identity, having been influenced by a variety of cultures.