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Third Culture Mama

Raising bridge-builders

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Third Culture

Third Culture

My English name is Jack.

June 18, 2020June 18, 2020 Third Culture Mama

Our oldest son is a cultural chameleon. His language and his behaviour change depending on the cultural environment. The timber in his voice will switch. He’ll count starting from a […]

Multilingualism

Let the Summer of (multilingual) Reading begin!

June 7, 2018June 7, 2018 Third Culture Mama

If there is one thing I miss from our previous life in America, it’s got to be the library system. I’ve written about American libraries before. I remember the kids’ […]

Third Culture

5 wonderful new cross-cultural books well worth your time

May 2, 2018May 2, 2018 Third Culture Mama

Following a stint of abandoned books, I’ve had the pleasure of reading a few phenomenal ones that have really broadened my horizons. What a relief! It made me think of […]

Third Culture

You belong here.

February 8, 2018February 8, 2018 Third Culture Mama

These days, I have been filling my fringe hours preparing for an upcoming Third Culture Kid speaking engagement. In my very early morning researching, there has been a most peculiar […]

Multilingualism

The day they asked me to speak to them in different languages

January 19, 2018January 19, 2018 Third Culture Mama

Some of our family’s best conversations happen around the dinner table. I’ll reassure you, some of our worst happen there too. Dinner in a home of young ones is a […]

Third Culture

Welcome back to America, Third Culture Kids!

November 8, 2017February 8, 2018 Third Culture Mama

The kids were delirious by the time we reached the rental car place in Denver. They kept flipping from giggling to crying, while I tried to make sense of the […]

Third Culture

When cross-cultural kids are rejected by their own family

June 9, 2017June 9, 2017 Third Culture Mama

From this side of the ocean, I don’t have a chip on my shoulder. Those little moments of laughter or mimicking or side comments are natural and usually not out […]

Third Culture

Third Culture Kids in marriage: 10 survey results & trends

May 15, 2017May 18, 2017 Third Culture Mama

This past month of focusing on Third Culture Kids in relationships has been a thrilling roller coaster to say the least. It all started when the 2017 EuroTCK consultation invited […]

Third Culture

Third Culture Kids in love: Jackie’s story

May 6, 2017May 6, 2017 Third Culture Mama

Welcome to the third and final part of the “TCKs in Love” interview series. Join me as I interview part Chinese-Malaysian, part Filipino-Chinese Third Culture Kid Jackie who is married […]

Third Culture

Third Culture Kids in love: MaDonna’s story

May 1, 2017May 1, 2017 Third Culture Mama

Welcome to part two of the TCKs in love series. Join me as I interview MaDonna, who was raised in small town America and has been married to her German-Taiwanese […]

Third Culture

Third Culture Kids in love: Suzanne’s story

April 23, 2017May 1, 2017 Third Culture Mama

Welcome to a three part series all about married Third Culture Kids and how their Third Culture affects their relationship. For our first interview, I really wanted to hear from […]

Third Culture

TCK love and marriage: survey and giveaway!

April 19, 2017May 1, 2017 Third Culture Mama

Calling all Third Culture Kids in love, married TCKs or all you brave monoculturals married to TCKs! 🙂 I am collecting some data for a workshop I am hosting for […]

Third Culture

6 Ways to show some love to a TCK

February 13, 2017February 13, 2017 Third Culture Mama

By now, you know what a Third Culture Kid (TCK) is. It’s highly possible TCKs are all around you. They are the expat kids, military kids, missionary kids, navy kids […]

Third Culture

Where do I belong? The early years.

January 24, 2017January 26, 2017 Third Culture Mama

Could my young children already be wrestling with their cultural identity? In preschool?? As with many profound reflections, this one came about at the table, where precious friends asked us […]

Third Culture

Growing a world-shaped heart

July 27, 2016 Third Culture Mama

I just love that French word “terroir”, most often used in reference to wine. Terroir describes that dynamic process by which the whole environment: climate, geography, soil, air – gives […]

Third Culture

The fantastic gift of being a Third Culture Kid

July 20, 2016July 21, 2016 Third Culture Mama

Hey kiddos, it’s your own Third Culture Mama here (with papa chiming in!). It’s your parents who watch from the edge of our seats as you slowly attempt to recreate […]

Third Culture

New Eyes for an Old Home: Adult Third Culture Kids

June 29, 2016June 29, 2016 Third Culture Mama

“I am sure you’ll be so thankful to be back home in your country” wrote my friend in a farewell card as all the cogs were in motion for us […]

Review

All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes

January 23, 2016January 25, 2016 Third Culture Mama

I jumped right into All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes, the fifth of Maya Angelou’s seven part autobiographical series and I thoroughly enjoyed it. In this installment, Angelou writes about […]

Third Culture

6 tips for TCKs returning “home”

January 18, 2016January 19, 2016 Third Culture Mama

The move to my passport culture, a country I hadn’t lived in for 20 years, was littered with pain and grief. I felt the physical ache in my heart as […]

Multilingualism

New language goals!

January 8, 2016January 8, 2016 Third Culture Mama

You might remember how down I was on New Year’s resolutions in 2015. I didn’t set any goals at the beginning of last year other than the resolve to just […]

Multicultural

“They’re gonna hate you for it”

July 16, 2015July 17, 2015 Third Culture Mama

I have been grateful for so many encouraging comments and emails about traveling with small kids, multilingualism, and cross-cultural living on social media. Then, almost out of nowhere, this one […]

Third Culture

On saying goodbye

July 2, 2015July 2, 2015 Third Culture Mama

Saying goodbye is nothing foreign to expats, Third Culture Kids or highly mobile people. Sadly, though, many of us are known for being quite poor with our farewells. We may […]

Multilingualism

Bilingual Avenue Podcast

June 17, 2015June 17, 2015 Third Culture Mama

I am really honored to feature on this week’s episode of Bilingual Avenue, a weekly podcast with insightful tips and advice from language experts and normal parents like us, raising […]

Third Culture

Good grief.

March 26, 2015March 28, 2015 Third Culture Mama

Late last night, I mustered up the courage to flick through my old blog that accompanied me like a best friend from graduate school, outlasting even my first two real […]

Third Culture

Ditching Brittany

February 10, 2015June 19, 2015 Third Culture Mama

I sat in my favorite solid wooden chair at our kitchen table and stared out the window. Many an “aha” moment has come to me on this comforting chair with […]

Third Culture

That global vs. local tension

December 3, 2014May 6, 2015 Third Culture Mama

A friend of mine recently sent me a message with a question that got me thinking. He asked me how I developed a hunger for both local and global experiences, […]

Multicultural

Advent around the world

December 1, 2014December 1, 2014 Third Culture Mama

Living in Germany first gave me an insight into the craft of the homemade advent calendar. Ten years ago, a German friend of mine showed me a perfectly engineered cardboard […]

Cultural Reflections

God Bless America.

July 5, 2014March 5, 2015 Third Culture Mama

The first Fourth of July I experienced as an Adult Third Culture Kid was in 2008. We went to some highly political parade in the middle of the country. We […]

Pico Iyer: Where is home? (TED Talk)

August 1, 2013November 23, 2014 Third Culture Mama

I posted this beautiful TED talk by Third Culture Kid author Pico Iyer to my Facebook wall the other day, but I am not sure the fast pace of social […]

Spirituality

The early years…

February 18, 2013November 24, 2014 Third Culture Mama

My first two were spent aboard the floating hospital in this 12 minute clip, which aired on 60 Minutes this past weekend. True story! That’s me pictured with my brother […]

Things are getting messy…

January 30, 2013January 30, 2013 Third Culture Mama

Third Culture

Just another beautiful day…

January 24, 2013November 23, 2014 Third Culture Mama

   

Musings

Visiting Mrs. L

January 15, 2013November 24, 2014 Third Culture Mama

Mamie has forever suggested taking Ayo to a nursing home to provide some cackling cheer to sweet grannies. We finally got a chance to do so yesterday. Tata Mimi, our […]

The end of innocence

January 10, 2013January 10, 2013 Third Culture Mama

Pic and caption stolen from Time magazine (Jan 14th): A schoolgirl astride a toy pony looks up after hearing the sounds of shelling in the war-torn Syrian city of Aleppo. […]

RIP Nirbhaya

December 30, 2012February 7, 2013 Third Culture Mama

To our friends in #India: we share your outrage over an act of unimaginable cruelty against one of our sisters. RIP Nirbhaya -Susan Rice, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, […]

Picture of the day

December 2, 2012 Third Culture Mama

Ayo and Mamie

November 7, 2012 Third Culture Mama

Baby jetlag

October 29, 2012November 2, 2012 Third Culture Mama

Well, as uneventful as the flight was, baby jetlag has been pretty bad for the past three nights. At 3.5 months Ayo had no issues at all adjusting eight timezones […]

Mesmerized by the snowdrifts

October 28, 2012October 28, 2012 Third Culture Mama

Cultural Reflections

American dental skepticism

October 23, 2012November 24, 2014 Third Culture Mama

It all started as an innocent visit to the dentist for a cleaning and check-up late August. We brought Ayo to the dentist in his car seat and meticulously coordinated […]

A walk in the park

October 15, 2012October 15, 2012 Third Culture Mama

Outside: Golden leaves glistening in the late afternoon sunlight on a warm autumn day. Inside: One baby-on-the-mend who had been quiet in his PJs all day. One papa that could […]

Third Culture

There’s no place like Asia…

October 3, 2012November 24, 2014 Third Culture Mama

except for downtown Los Angeles! Sometimes you just need an Asian day. That’s how I felt yesterday! So, we enjoyed a Korean BBQ lunch in K-town, home to the largest […]

At the park with Gramps

September 23, 2012 Third Culture Mama

Five.

September 23, 2012February 7, 2017 Third Culture Mama

It is hard to believe we got married five years ago. Since then.. -I have changed my hair color four times. -We made croissants three times – you’re lucky if […]

Cultural Reflections

TCK goes to hoity toity hair salon

September 18, 2012November 24, 2014 Third Culture Mama

I got my hair cut on Saturday. I don’t cut it that often so it was a rare treat. It’s even more of a treat now that getting a haircut […]

September 13, 2012 Third Culture Mama

Champignons de Paris

September 6, 2012September 6, 2012 Third Culture Mama

I found this glossy ad inside the front cover of a food magazine (left). It’s an advertisement for champignons de paris, or agaricus bisporus, also known as.. good ole button […]

Carseat face

August 28, 2012 Third Culture Mama

 

All Americans speak French

August 13, 2012August 14, 2012 Third Culture Mama

Ayo and I went to our city’s central library this morning (pictured above). We sort of had to. Bringing up Bébé was due on Saturday (thankfully, there is a two […]

Bilingual dawg

August 13, 2012August 13, 2012 Third Culture Mama

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