It just looks so forlorn when it says “No bread baking.”

ah, i’m a TCK too. maybe not in as direct a way as you, but i know that kind of loneliness. i grew up in france with grandparents of japanese and jewish descent, so it’s a super specific and weird mix of things that makes me feel at home.

We’ll all three be Global Nomads. =D

Well, yours was pretty direct as well. You grew up in France and are now here. Do you ever feel stuck? It’s a strange confused mix of what makes me feel at peace as well.

*hugs and love fellow TCK*

Thanks for commenting, it helped make me feel a little less lonely.

that was an interesting article.

ah, i meant not as direct in that i would only spend holidays and summers there. i meant to include that; it sort of changes the nature of the situation in other people’s eyes, i think (in that they view it as less of a ‘home’ because it’s transitory in some way).

to answer your question, i do feel stuck sometimes. for as long as i can remember i’ve also dealt with brief states of disorientation and anxiety in which i suddenly feel alarmingly displaced and have to ‘imagine myself back’ to someplace familiar, even if i’m technically familiar with my surroundings. i can’t say that the two are definitely related, but i know that TCK experiences plant sort of a wanderlust in you that can be hard to satisfy, and when there are obstacles to that, it can really hurt. i spend a lot of not so productive time trying to work out how to travel and work ‘nontraditionally’.

AHHH! It makes me SO happy to see someone else experience such a struggle! I know that’s really awful of me, but it’s so relaxing to see that I’m not alone in this sort of situation. And yes, I have some anxiety issues too-

but i know that TCK experiences plant sort of a wanderlust in you that can be hard to satisfy, and when there are obstacles to that, it can really hurt.

YES.

i spend a lot of not so productive time trying to work out how to travel and work ‘nontraditionally’.

DOUBLE YES.

I’m sorry you are stuck feeling this way, but I’m so glad that you are because now I feel much better about being stuck in the first place.

*HUG*

well that’s wonderful to hear! and i’m glad you can relate :D

Huh, interesting. That makes me a quasi-TCK or something, then, as I’ve actually grown up here. There’s a lot of self-conflict and it’s been a life-long thing but I still lay claim to two different national anthems, for what it’s worth.

Also, that Okinawa saying is really something.

Very poignant Sara… I’m a TCK too, ‘though this is the first time I’ve realised that there’s a name for it! And, like you, it was the Far East (Malaysia in my case). I felt like an alien when I moved to England (supposedly “home”) in my teens, which goes a long way to explaining why I’ve kept moving (and why I lose myself in Asian cinema at every opportunity - btw, do you know “Tokyo Story”?). I went back for a visit 3 years ago, but everything had changed out of all recognition, and my whole history and frame of reference dissolved in an instant, so “Global Nomad” is right. I’d like to live in Asia again one day.

Yes! Tokyo Story! We had to watch it for class a long time ago. But something you said strikes home- you said you went back to visit and everything had changed beyond recognition. That scares me. I have been gone for so long and when I go back I’ll feel even more alienated because I’ve missed so much.

It sucks.

Oh! Perfect job!
Very interesting and helpful post.
Thx, your blog in my Google reader now