I’m a TCK and I work in Parliament
“For me it’s never been a case of ‘choosing a career path,'” Victoria Moore-Jones said. After traveling around the globe for two decades, she found her career as a policy writer in New Zealand’s Parliament.
All posts tagged: United States
Research update: female minority expatriates
When Kendra Mirasol and Charisse Kosova of IOR Global Services noticed more minority women going abroad, they wondered if minority status made expat assignment easier. Since good expat research is hard to come by, they decided to conduct their own investigation. The focus: female minority women going abroad for business. A study can’t get much more specific than that, which meant preliminary research included only 25 respondents, 13 of whom went through extensive interviews. When they presented their findings at the Families in Global Transition conference in March, the numerical data was unsurprising: “Is the overseas assignment a developmental part of your career plan?” 83 percent said yes. “Did any of the company’s preparation focus on female minority issues?” 89 percent said no. Instead, the most interesting results from their research came from the anecdotes collected through extended interviews. Here are some quotes from female minority expats that Kendra and Charisse presented: “People assumed I was Filipino and had married my husband because I was his maid. It fit their sense of order.” “Initially [the …
Faces at FIGT – Reiko: “I’m a reverse TCK”
Have you ever heard of a “reverse TCK?” I hadn’t either, but after meeting Reiko Baumgarten, 24, at the FIGT conference, I’ve decided that I am one, too. A reverse TCK is someone who has grown up with the expat community, even though he or she has not moved a lot. Hit me. “Where are you from?” I was born and raised in Japan for 19 years. I’m actually the reverse role of most TCKs. I didn’t move around, everybody else around me moved around. My experience was everybody moving. Why was everyone moving around you? My father is retired military, and we went to a military school [in Japan]. Everybody else was in military school — all the military brats that moved around to different places. So… do you “get” what it means to be a TCK? Oh yeah, definitely. Coming to FIGT, everything opened my eyes. …I feel what most TCKs feel, just from my experience coming abroad as well — since I lived in Japan, coming here [to the U.S.], the culture …
Faces at FIGT – Adam: “TCKs can change the world”
This week I’m attending the Families in Global Transitions (FIGT) Conference, which is a wonderful resource for anyone trying to learn more about Third Culture Kids. At this morning’s workshop I met Adam Browning, 21, and pulled him aside for a quick TCK chat. This self-proclaimed “airforce kid” recently discovered the language of Third Culture Kids and has fully embraced it as a way to change the world. Currently in college, Browning has lived in Germany, Thailand and five different U.S. states. He sees TCKs as model citizens of the future. What do you say when someone asks you, “Where are you from?” I say, “Funny question.” At this point my family lives in Portugal, I’m going to Abilene [Christian University in Texas], and I moved from San Antonio to go to school. How did you discover the term “TCK”? I learned the lingo my sophomore year in college… Dr. Carley Dodd, a professor of mine, was instrumental in this epiphany for me. Up until that point I was under the impression that I was …
Olympics: American family competes under Japanese and Georgian flags
Olympic contenders Allison, Cathy and Chris Reed are all siblings — but they are competing for two different countries. The Reed children were born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, to a Japanese mother and a Nebraskan father. They all have dual-citizenships: United States and Japan. None of them are competing for the U.S. Olympic team. Allison, 15, found an ice dancing partner in Otar Japaridze, 22, a Georgian athlete. For them to compete, the Georgian government quickly ushered her citizenship application through. This February, she marched as a Georgian athlete in the Olympic Opening Ceremonies. She has never been to Georgia. For Allison’s siblings Cathy, 22, and Chris, 20, qualifying for the U.S. Olympic Team for ice dancing would’ve been very difficult. Instead, the two nabbed a spot on the Japanese Olympic team. According the New York Times, the siblings speak little Japanese, and their mother translates conversations between them and the Japanese skating federation. Making citizenship “work for you” is not uncommon in sports. I’ve seen Singapore poach athletes from other countries to have them win …
Massachusetts Senate race: Do TCKs vote?
Massachusetts Democrats are in danger of losing late Sen. Ted Kennedy’s seat to the GOP on Tuesday, thereby surrendering their 60-seat Senate majority and jeopardizing health care reform plans. It’s not looking good for the Dems. Democratic candidate Martha Coakley is 7 points behind Republican Scott Brown, and with President Barack Obama dropping in on the campaign trail — it is critical that voters turn out Tuesday. Which leads me to wonder: do TCKs vote? Fellow Denizen writer Suzanne Leung has previously tackled the concept of expatriate patriotism. But, are TCKs apathetic about their home countries because they have never lived there? Or, are apathetic about their host countries because they are not citizens and cannot vote? Or, are they wildly motivated about political causes because of their international experiences? In 2008, I volunteered on the Obama campaign even though I couldn’t vote. It was an incredible learning experience for me, since I had never been involved in anything political before. Do you, as a TCK, vote? Do you participate in political movements around the …
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