Third Culture Kids. We grew up between worlds, away from the country our parents hail from. We feel comfortable living out of a suitcase. We are culture-brokers with a unique ability to bring reconciliation between people groups.
So there I stood at 9:59pm in a nearly empty house staring at my five open suitcases wondering where to put my teddy bear. With my flight due to leave Honolulu the next day, I could hear the clock ticking as I labored to clear my stuff out of my apartment by midnight. But my … More 5 suitcases 1 teddy bear
Today I opened a new book I’ve been meaning to read for over a year now and I found myself in the company of friends whose conversation hums at the same frequency as the constant debate in my head. They are Evangelical Christian thinkers and practitioners who are White, Asian, African, Indian, Native indigenous, and Feminist. Everyone is welcome at this round table of discussion and invited to have “the courage to differ graciously.” … More Evangelical Postcolonial Conversations
Recounting the second half of my Europe Voyage… I traveled for 105 days, to 11 countries, taking 13 flights, sleeping in 31 beds, with 50+ train rides, and plenty of new friends! I traversed beautiful landscapes in Europe and the US, enjoyed rich reunions with family and friends, and experienced meaningful paradigm shifts as I’ve encountered new ideas. … More Europe Voyage in brief PART 2
April 28, 2017 – I’m half-way through my “Europe Voyage”. Over the last 5 weeks my pace has kept me clipping along through England, Ireland, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Czech Republic, and Austria where I arrived last night. Here are some highlights from the first half of my trip… … More Europe Voyage in brief PART 1
Written on July 6, 2017 Today I return to my home in Honolulu, after three and a half months of traveling. That’s 105 days to be exact. I am so ready to go back! July 4 marked 3 years since I made the move across the Pacific and let my heart grow roots in a … More Hawai’i, I’m home.
Life is about the in between spaces, the liminality or limbo where you’ve left some place but you haven’t arrived in the next place yet. It’s like being a traveler in transit. I’m doing a lot of transiting (and train-sitting) on my Europe Voyage, and there’s something surprisingly comforting about it. As a TCK, Third … More In Transit
(This post has been churning within me for a couple years now. As we pry apart the crusty shell, I hope we’ll find a pearl…) When I moved to Honolulu a couple of years ago, my roommate kindly gave me her bicycle. As an independent-minded person, I much preferred cycling to riding the bus to … More Amphibious Cycling
I’m back after an unplanned 6 month hiatus. Why was I gone so long? I’m not sure… sometimes the journey of crossing oceans and bridging cultures is too raw to put in writing for the world to see. Other times I’m journeying alongside someone else’s story that is simply not mine to tell and I … More I planted a tree.
Home is like a ruptured star By Rachel Kuhn Written July 2013, revised June 2014 What is a TCK? A Third Culture Kid describes a person whose passport doesn’t match the place or places they’ve grown up. TCKs form a unique cultural clique. Together we don’t represent any single culture or ethnic group but instead … More Home is like a ruptured star…
Today I realized that I don’t love the United States of America. My childhood years growing up as an American expatriate in Asia laid a shaky foundation for patriotism, propelling me to consider becoming an ex-patriot by choice. Living abroad has formed in me a disdain for our greed-driven foreign policy, reproachful treatment of visitors … More Lord, I don’t love the USA.
crossing oceans bridging cultures 