I feel so relieved now that suddenly I realize how tired I am. And have been. A huge weight has been lifted that I didn’t even know I was carrying. I can breathe again. And so now I’m going to roll over and get some sleep because I finally feel like I can. Goodnight.

I have been extremely homesick lately. But the thought confuses me. If I were to go there, they most certainly would take one look at me and say, “外人!” To which I get confused. My heart is there. I grew up there. I feel more at peace there than here. And here, when I came “home”, everyone called me that weird Japanese girl.

Third Culture Kids (abbreviated TCKs or 3CKs or Global Nomad) “refers to someone who [as a child] has spent a significant period of time in one or more culture(s) other than his or her own, thus integrating elements of those cultures and their own birth culture, into a third culture”.

Since the term was coined by sociologist Ruth Hill Useem in the 1960’s, TCKs have become a heavily studied global subculture. TCKs have more in common with one another, regardless of nationality, than they do with non-TCK’s from their own country.

There are different characteristics that impact the typical Third Culture Kid:

• TCKs are 4 times as likely as non-TCKs to earn a bachelor’s degree (81% vs 21%)
• 40% earn an advanced degree (as compared to 5% of the non-TCK population.)
• 45% of TCKs attended 3 universities before earning a degree.
• 44% earned undergraduate degree after the age of 22.
• Educators, medicine, professional positions, and self employment are the most common professions for TCKs.
• TCKs are unlikely to work for big business, government, or follow their parents’ career choices. “One won’t find many TCKs in large corporations. Nor are there many in government … they have not followed in parental footsteps”.
• 90% feel “out of sync” with their peers.
• 90% report feeling as if they understand other cultures/peoples better than the average American.
• 80% believe they can get along with anybody.
• Divorce rates among TCKs are lower than the general population, but they marry older (25+).
• Linguistically adept.
• Teenage TCKs are more mature than non-TCKs, but ironically take longer to “grow up” in their 20s.
• More welcoming of others into their community.
• Lack a sense of “where home is” but often nationalistic.
• Some studies show a desire to “settle down” others a “restlessness to move”.
• Depression and suicide are more prominent among TCK’s

If you’d like, you can take a short trip with me through some memories I encountered the other day, if not just skip this entry entirely.
[...]

I can’t even begin to describe my day yesterday, it was so busy! It started with my mom, Rue, and my little sisters going to Big Boy for pankcakes, stopping by to see where Rob and Ash work, and then heading to the pond so my little sisters could play. When I was little, my sister and I used to go play at this pond behind our elementary school, I even have a story to tell you later about a time when we got stuck in this tar pit and thought we were going to die. It’s really funny, actually, so I’ll tell it now.

As we all know everything is so much bigger when you’re younger, and keep in mind that my sister and I were roughly a year and a half older than my sisters were in these pictures, and that’s how big our bodies were. Well, by this pond there was this huge wooded area we used to traverse and explore and in the back there was this huge mud pit, I apologise for my exaggeration when I said tar, but it was as difficult to get out of as tar. Especially when you’re only three feet tall.

So this one time we put this board across this stream of mudtar because we wanted to cross it. Well, to make a short story even shorter, I dropped my walking stick in the mud, which was unacceptable, and so I stepped in slightly to get it. And that was the end of that. My boots went up to my knees and I was already down that far, and I couldn’t get back up. I started freaking out, begging for my sister to help me out.

So imagine two little girls in the back of some woods nobody goes to, screaming and crying because they’ve both managed to get stuck in this lake of mud. We’re both crying, my sister was screaming details of our most imminent death, and I was desperately trying to reach our one saving grace, a twig that looked like a branch only a few feet away. After at least an hour of struggle and tears, we managed to pull ourselves out and hobble home, both missing a boot.

We were so afraid of what our mother was going to say about our dirty clothes and losing a half of a pair of boots each, and we were still so terrified of being stuck in this tarmud, that we knocked on our own door. My mom came, opened the door, took us in and cleaned us, laughing the whole time, and then sat down to have hot cocoa.

Year after year we’d return to the pond, sometimes sticking clear of the lake of mudtar, except for a few times were we tried desperately to fish for our missing boots. When I returned yesterday, the whole wooded area was plowed, and where once were hundreds of trees, now only a mere handful survived. Newly developed houses stood in their wake. I was horrified. And the first thing I thought was, the lake is gone and I wonder if they found my boot!

Anyway, I went inside my elementary school yesterday and ran into two of my favorite teachers, in the same room even, and had a nice chat- which I will post about tomorrow.

After time with my mom and sisters, I went to Ash and Rob’s apartment with Tyler and Rue and we played a personalized version of Guitar Hero (people have found a way to put your own music tracks to Guitar Hero- Think In Flames, Sonata, and Final Fantasy VII) and this amazing card game based of D&D (we affectionately dubbed it D&D for those without imagination) called Munckin. We were out until three and it was positively a blast. But now, it’s late tonight and I spent the day with my mom, and then time with Tyler, and now Rue and I are going to watch this ridiculous chick flick. (We both wanted to see it so hush.)

I will catch you folks tomorrow.
I hope you’re having a fabulous weekend!