An Insight...

Hi folks. Charlotte here. Things are going swell in snowy Pristina (even with the no heating dilemma) and each day things get easier and easier as we get more comfortable in our routines.

However, no matter how smoothly things are going, how well I feel like I'm adjusting, or how happy I am in a new location, something that I always experience when moving to a new place is an overwhelming feeling of being utterly lost - and kind of being OK with that. I feel like I'm not really fitting in, but I don't really feel like I need to either. I find myself wanting to meet new people, make new friends, and invest in a place, but at the same time feeling a strange dislike for this idea. These feelings usually fade after a few weeks, but they are always there, time and time again, for at least the first little while.

Over the last couple of years I have come to the conclusion these feelings are largely due to my 'Third Culture Kid' status. For those of you who are not familiar with this term, my trusted friend Wikipedia defines a Third Culture Kid as "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."

... THIS IS ME! (!!!)

There is a lot of writing out there about the TCK thing, and I find it incredibly interesting. The more I read the more I identify and understand parts of myself that I have always struggled with/ wondered about/ felt like no one else understood.

So anyway I wanted to share the following with you all, dear readers. The whole article can be found on the US Department of State website, http://www.state.gov/m/dghr/flo/c22473.htm.

'Because TCKs have developed a unique culture of their own that incorporates elements of varied cultures, they often feel more at home with other TCKs, with no regard for nationality, rather than those of the passport culture. Many TCKs experience cultural marginality in which they do not fit perfectly into any specific culture where they have lived, but on the other hand, fit comfortably on the edge or margin of any one of them. In essence, they feel at home anywhere and nowhere at the same time. TCKs who feel at home anywhere may exhibit constructive marginality in which they feel different from others, but are able to use their differences constructively. Those who experience encapsulated marginality have a feeling of being trapped or encapsulated by their sense of being different. Therefore, they may feel at home nowhere and might have a sense of falling off the edge of the cultural mainstream.

[...]

They may feel out of place and alienated [...] they tend to cope rather than adjust, becoming “a part of” and “apart from” any situation (Smith, 1991). The TCKs who exhibit encapsulated marginality and fel[t] isolated may have difficulty in maintaining commitments and may avoid solving problems up-front (as they have learned that problems tend to move away).

Interesting, eh?