I’ve learned more than a few things in my two decades of working with Third Culture Kids. I thought you might like to see a sampling of them.
1. Carpe Diem is too limiting. Not only do you need to seize the day, but the moment, the hour, the year, and eternity are all worthy of being grasped.
2. America smells a lot like Walmart.
3. A simple map in the back on an airline magazine is a reminder of a myriad of people and experiences.
4. In times of great stress dye your hair.
5. Calvinball is a good way to spend a Saturday night.
6. Possessing a passport and sufficient frequent flyer miles to travel to any destination generally happens before you have a driver’s license.
7. Airports are some of the most emotionally comfortable places in the world.
8. Every “Hello” has a “Good-bye” attached to it.
9. Family is an essential but fluid concept and often a choice.
10. Small talk revolves around the phrase, “When I was in . . . ”
What about you? What would you add to the list?
photo courtesy of m kasahara
2 responses to “A Few Things Learned”
Love this! Comments: #2 — barrels of new clothes also smell like Walmart when opened after a year or so. #4 — even better if you join a group and everyone dies their hair at once….been there/done that, lots of fun! Sure wish your passport and frequent flyer miles would being you HERE!!
When I was first at ICA one of the girls in Baraka asked me to come down to her room. She pulled out a ziploc bag with a pair of socks in it, cracked open the seal, shoved it in my face, and said, “Smell! Isn’t it wonderful?! It smells like America!” It took me a while to fully appreciate the way she’d shared.