Travel Blogging
Moving around so much, I’ve found that one of the best ways to process everything you see is by keeping a travel blog. While I won’t be posting as frequently on this Third Culture Kid blog (don’t worry I won’t give up on it I promise), I am more active on my travel blog. Check it out for travel tips, really cool places I have been, and my backpacking trip to SE Australia this June!
Evelyn’s travels:
The Beauty of Having TCK Friends
It’s been a while since I made my last blog post, but I thought it was time to get started again! Yesterday I received a pleasantly unexpected call from an old friend of mine, someone I haven’t seen (and talked to really) in over 6 months. Sometimes it gets really awkward when you haven’t seen someone for half a year and you’re expected to carry a decent conversation. But that usually isn’t the case with TCKs. It seems that we just pick up where we left off, no matter how long ago that was.
TCK friends are great to talk to, because we’re all experiencing the same thing, even if we were born on opposite sides of the Earth. The connections we make when we are younger can make us so much richer when we are older. It is in our late teens/early twenties that TCKs get dispersed, and everyone starts living their own life. A few years later, though, it seems that we realise how much we miss each other. That is when TCK friends are great, because it means we can visit them in countries all over the world. No matter how lonely we feel in our current geographic location, we will be rewarded in the future because of the amazing connections we forgot we had. Stay in touch, but even if you don’t, you’ll be surprised at how many people are actually on your side.
TCKs Around The World – Emese
Emese’s photograph at the Tate Modern last year. “I just found it extremely funny that people actually took chairs and stared at this specific piece of artwork.”
Emese, London
TCKs Around The World – Alexia
Photograph taken by Alexia during her community service and educational trip to China last year. “One small sassy Chinese girl in Shanghai.”
TCK Alexia, Shanghai
University – A Stepping Stone or a Stumbling Block for TCKs?
I’ve been speaking to a lot of old friends from high school, mainly through Facebook since most of us are spread around the world, about our experiences as third culture kids going to university, and the response I got was quite unified. We all seem to think the same thing…
Back in high school it was quite easy being a third culture kid. We were all expatriates, or at least we all went to an international school. Even the teachers (usually American, Canadian, or British) knew what it was like to travel a lot and be away from home. We grew up in an isolated community where people didn’t care about your accent or nationality, and bullying was very rare. In international schools there is a feeling of solidarity and trust that you will find in no other institution, because people realise that we are all essentially the same, no matter what background.
Going to university, I find myself yearning for the international school community more and more. Old friends I haven’t heard from in years are reconnecting, and my Facebook timeline is full of reunions between international students. We are at the point in our lives where we are no longer traveling with our families, but we are trying to find ourselves on our own. More than that, we have been thrown into communities of non-TCKs and come to realise that the expatriate world is a lot smaller than we thought. Don’t get me wrong, I’m definitely not complaining about my background as a third culture kid; I am just saying that the older we get, the more complicated the concepts of identity and belonging seem to become.
TCKs Around The World – Federica
TCK Federica’s picture taken at a volunteering trip to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, in the rural gardens where they worked for the villages’ plantation. ‘Squishy’ was one of the women’s sons – “his eyes are like two infinite pools of expressiveness.”
Federica, Zimbabwe
Brussels Sprouts With Bacon and New Potatoes
Ingredients:
– 300 grams Brussels sprouts
– 300 grams new potatoes
– 200 grams bacon
– thyme and rosemary (fresh or dried)
– salt
– black pepper
– olive oil
Directions:
Remove outer leaves of Brussels sprouts and rinse thoroughly. Boil Brussels sprouts and new potatoes together in a pot for 10-15 minutes.
Cut bacon into squares or buy pre-cut. Fry bacon in a pan. Add boiled Brussels sprouts and season with salt and pepper. Let fry altogether for another 2 minutes.
Put potatoes in a separate pan with a teaspoon of olive oil, thyme and rosemary. Swirl potatoes in pan to make sure they all have a seasoned coating of olive oil. Let fry for 2 minutes.
Serve as is or add roasted walnuts for the finishing touch. Serves 2.
The Piano Man at St. Pancras
I was out filming today in brisk, Christmasy London to get some footage for my upcoming video on third culture kids. The underground was crowded and pushy as usual, though nobody on the tube actually talked (it’s starting to seem like some kind of unwritten rule). But as I made my way to the arrivals gate of the Eurostar in St. Pancras International to film the visitors from Paris, something made me stop in my tracks, right in the middle of the station. And I wasn’t the only one.
The music was coming from a small, grey-bearded man wearing a Christmas sweater sitting at one of the pianos (there are several in the station). He was giving us a real show with his majestic movements and determined gaze, but you could tell that he was utterly talented and the music was beautiful. There was no turned-over hat for money; he was purely playing to brighten people’s day. And as the fast paced lawyer-type even stopped to listen, I knew that he had succeeded. After three songs the piano man gave up his seat for another volunteer. He gave us a small bow and everyone applauded. I would have liked to thank him for his performance, but he had disappeared before I had the chance.
The world needs more people like the piano man, especially in busy places where we become too focused on our destination and often forget to appreciate what and whom is surrounding us. So here is to the Santa of St. Pancras, only a month too early, thank you for the music.
TCKs Around The World – Jean
TCKs Around The World – Linn
Tasting food from different cultures.
Linn at an Eritrean restaurant in Brixton, London
Salmon Teriyaki With Broccoli Noodle Salad
Ingredients:
– 1 broccoli
– 50 grams fresh ginger
– 2 shallots
– fresh mint
– fresh coriander
– 1 to 2 tablespoons sweet chili sauce
– 1 teaspoon sesame oil
– 400 grams rice noodles
– 4 salmon filets (1 per person)
– 3 tablespoons teriyaki sauce
Directions:
Boil rice noodles and broccoli together in cooking pan. Meanwhile finely slice fresh ginger and shallots into thin strands.
Let rice noodles and broccoli cool slightly until lukewarm and mix in ginger, shallots, fresh mint and coriander (the last two chopped coarsely). Gently toss noodle salad with sweet chili sauce and sesame oil.
Fry salmon filets in oil on skin side, then flip after 5-6 minutes until cooked. Take pan off cooker and add teriyaki sauce to glaze the salmon.
Serve noodle salad in a bowl and place salmon filet on top. Finish off with a squeeze of lime on the salmon.
Variation: substitute salmon for chicken or beef if you prefer a teriyaki dish with meat.
Airports And Traveling Between Worlds
After having spent countless hours waiting on yet another layover or standing in the security checking queue with laptop, watch, and belt in one hand, and jacket, handbag, and boots in another, I’ve had quite the exposure to airport environments. Beside all the known discomforts, however, I have found that airports also make me the most emotional of all places, especially as a third culture kid.
When I was younger, the idea of flying always excited me. It either meant going “home”, Belgium, to see the family, or going back to my second home where I had my school, my own bedroom, and a group of friends. Now that I am a third culture kid at university, I usually end up flying alone and pondering the life I lead. My best friends are scattered all around the world now, and although Skype is an ingenious invention, sometimes virtual hugs just don’t do it for me anymore. The most philosophical moments happen mid-flight, probably somewhere over a great body of water, where I realize that I am truly between worlds. I literally have no physical ground under my feet and at that moment, I am also entirely alone. Quite a scary thought actually.
Airports can be magical too though. Like when you get off a transatlantic flight and use the time difference as an excuse to justify drinking wine before 10am. Some airports just make you happy. Here I’m talking about the ones with massage chairs, fish pedicures (although I would never get one), or Schiphol airport’s thousands of colourful tulips.
But even with the wine-accompanying breakfasts and pretty flowers, all you really want is for someone you love to be waiting for you at the arrival gate to pick you up and take you home. Airports are peculiar places, and although they lead me to fantastic destinations, they also bring about a roller coaster of emotions. Sometimes that’s okay, but it’s definitely not something I want to experience everyday.
TCKs Around The World – Marina
Some amazing photographs taken by third culture kid Marina in her current “home”.
Marina, Lausanne (Switzerland)
Belgian Pancakes (Pannekoeken)
Ingredients:
– 250 grams flour
– 1 tablespoon sugar
– 1 package of vanilla sugar
– 3/4 litre milk
– 2 eggs- pinch of salt
– 1 tablespoon oil
Directions:
Put all ingredients into a large bowl. Stir everything until the batter is smooth (no lumps).
Fry in a small pan (in olive oil). Makes 15-20 pancakes.
Serve with caster/light brown/dark brown sugar, strawberry jam, or vanilla ice cream.
Variation: add thin apple slices to the batter when frying the pancakes.
mythirdculture 