Website for Us Third Culture Kids

I came across a terrific site, "What Is a Third Culture Kid?" yesterday and encourage any of you readers who may have spent part of your adolescence abroad to check it out. You can register and become part of the online community and share your experiences and challenges with others who will really understand. There are other related sites but I believe they all stem from the book "Third Culture Kids."

An Invitation to all American Expatriates

As an American born and raised to a large extent overseas (Athens, Ankara, Baghdad, and Beirut), I have had an unusual upbringing, but one that I am certain has a great deal in common with hundreds of thousands of others. They call us expatriates, citizens living abroad for one reason or another. Usually, Americans choose to live abroad due to a job placement overseas. And that was the case for my family. My father's job with an educational non-profit organization took him to some rather exotic locales. (At least they were considered rather exotic back in the 50's and 60's...This world has become so connected now through the internet and media that now the cities I listed above are pretty well known.)

So what does it mean to be an expatriate? I'm inviting all American expatriates out there who happen to come across this new blog to put in their two cents on the subject. What has it meant to you personally?

I'll begin by saying it made it very difficult to answer one of the classic conversation starters here in the States: "So, where are you from?" What was I supposed to say? After all, I spent my first two years in Greece, then a couple back in the States (California), then two years in Turkey, then back to the States for a year or two (the D.C. area), then 5 years in Iraq (thankfully, before Saddam), then 6 years in Maryland, and finally finished up my last two years of high school in Lebanon (good old ACS). All through college back in America and for several years afterward, I dreaded that question. It only reminded me of my rootlessness. Gradually, I found that place wasn't so important in terms of where I was "from." It was my family that provided my place in this world.

But I certainly felt blessed and enriched to have lived in more of this world than your average American. It opened my eyes to other cultures, languages, traditions, and ways of thinking. I soaked it all up without even realizing the bathtub was different...until I came back to the States. Then those differences were all too apparent. I had almost assimilated to these foreign lands too well. Were it not for family and friends who had also lived abroad, it might have proved too difficult to take. Now, I've been back in the States for so long that I can hardly recall my worldview and, I must admit, that fact is rather unsettling. Perhaps that is why I have finally settled down to write stories related to my colorful past. "The Reckoning" is the first.

Anyway, that's my short take on the subject of what it means to be an American expatriate. Please respond with your experiences. And feel free to post pictures, as well. (The picture above is of some of my American Community Center school classmates in Baghdad...I'm in the middle of the second row from the bottom to the right of the sign. My older brother is in the top row in the dead center of the doors behind.)

I will try and post articles of interest as I come across them to further the discussion and, knowing my interest in politics, I will likely be making comments on the foreign policy positions of our presidential candidates, as well as our current president. For the most part, however, I want this to be a sounding board for Americans who have lived, or are living, abroad. While my particular area of interest is the Middle East, I recognize that you come from experiences in every part of the globe.

Welcome!