Abbie is about to move overseas to live and teach in Asia. But it won’t be her first time living overseas. She grew up on a team of ELIC teachers in China. Her parents were English teachers there, and it made for a unique upbringing! Kids who grow up in a culture other than their parents’ passport culture are often called Third Culture Kids (TCKs). Abbie describes it like this.
Let's say that my passport country is represented by a lump of blue Play-Doh and my growing-up culture is represented by a lump of yellow Play-Doh. When you mix both cultures together, you get a homogenous green Play-Doh made up of both blue and yellow, but the kicker is that the two are now indistinguishable. You can’t pick apart what the blue contributed or what the yellow contributed as much as you just know “This is green.” In the same way, my worldview was shaped by both my passport culture and my growing-up culture to the point where all I know is that “I’m just green,” and I can’t always tell which culture contributed to which part of me.
Whichever culture she’s in, Abby acknowledges the challenge that comes with the territory as a TCK.
I have never perfectly “fit in” with the social norms no matter where in the world I am…The hardest thing is that the part of me that I want to be known for is the part of me that is the most difficult to know.
I have found that because I grew up overseas, my interactions with the world start from a very different angle than most of my friends, and it took me a long time to understand what was going on and that there was nothing wrong with me…I just had a different foundation out of which I operate. It’s taken me until my early twenties to see and begin to understand the beauty of that gift.
And Abbie does see these challenges as a gift! They have helped her to grow in ways she would never have experienced growing up in her parents’ home culture.
One of the most valuable things I have gotten out of being a TCK is growing up learning how to embrace discomfort and be adaptable. I learned how to be flexible with changed plans and expectations starting from a very young age, and that has always served me well.
She talks about the privilege it is to understand others in such a unique way. She can see the intricacies woven into the cultures and people she has encountered.
Growing up overseas shaped my worldview to be flexible to what is deemed “normal” and adaptable to my surroundings.
When we asked her if it was worth it, her answer was an enthusiastic “Yes!”
I have the best fun facts for [the party game] “Two Truths and a Lie” or icebreakers! But I also have a valuable opinion and perspective that isn’t often already represented in whatever situation I’m in.
This year, Abby is taking her unique perspective, flexibility, and empathy back overseas as an adult to teach and impact her community. We can’t wait to hear the stories of how she puts the skills she gained as a TCK to work changing lives.
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