Dear Americans,
The music was blasting, there were dancing bodies everywhere, we were all having a good time when I suddenly looked around me and felt so incredibly isolated from you. All I could think about was how American you are.
And yet I'm American, but I'm not at the same time.
That's the struggle of Third Culture Kid; parts of us identify with everyone while parts of us are lost.
Our number one dreaded question is, "Where are you from?" Do you mean where was I born? Where are my parents from? Where did I move from?
We don't want to always bring up the places we've lived or travelled because you'll think we're showing off, but then we get semi-interrogated about our upbringing. Total Catch-22. Often, I will completely avoid telling you where I'm from because of the attention it draws. Yes, it's pretty cool to be from somewhere that you are so fascinated by, but it's an extremely strange feeling to watch you take a double-take of me and ask me to repeat myself in case you heard wrong.
Oh, and documents asking for our "permanent address" give us a mini anxiety attack.
We have an internal conflict when choosing which temperature filter to choose on Snapchat. Also, we still think in our own currency and have to convert the prices of things in order to understand the prices here or to translate the prices of purchases from home.
We forget that songs we played at home aren't always a thing here. But yes, we do know "your" music too.
We've had multiple passports since we came out of the womb, but a driver's license is another story...
Speaking of travel -- we almost all have a favorite airport. And don't ask us to count how many countries we've been to.
We've all encountered that awkward moment when you ask us where we got our clothing item from, and we drop another country's name.
Our Facebook newsfeed is full of multiple languages and global perspectives that keep our fellow international friends close.
We have multiple friends that we haven't seen in years but still consider our closest friends. We also almost always have a place to stay in each country due to this international network of friends.
When we think about where we'd raise our future families, it's an eternal debate of whether we'd give this experience to our children of belonging everywhere yet nowhere simultaneously.
We want you to understand that just because travel is an essential part of our life, it does not mean we are all rich kids rolling in money. I've noticed during my time here that a significant difference in our experiences is how our families prioritize our money. Travel and education are the utmost values in my family, while several Americans prioritize real estate and fancy cars. By all means, spend your money how you like, but take some time to reflect on what you will choose to prioritize as you spend your money. Experience or materials?
Lastly, some self-education on the world would be appreciated. I apologize for my generalization, but there is a common view of Americans as very ethnocentric and closed off from the rest of the world. More times than I can count, you've thought that my home was in an entirely other continent than it actually is in, or in another country, or have thought that my city is a country.
So, there's a bit on us Third Culture Kids. Yes, we are so fortunate to have experienced the world in the way we have and I am in no way complaining about that. However, when it comes to our self-identity and relating to others who aren't like us, it's a forever long party in which we're looking around wondering who we are as the music rings in our ears.
