Friendships — Stories

The Roots We Carry

Though I may have felt alone at times, I never really was…

Friendships, Moving, Where Are You From?, ChangeBy Anita Krishnan (From Singapore, Australia & the United States. Currently quarantined in India, due to COVID-19)20 March 2021TCK, TCA, TCK TOWN, moving, university, friendship, friends, relationship, relationships, family, traditional, past, LDRComment

The Bittersweetness of an International Friendship

One of the neighbours we connected with was a family from the Netherlands. Their lives mirrored our own as they too had recently relocated with a toddler in tow, exactly the same age as ours...

Love For The Moment

I will always be on the move. I will always choose this path no matter how lonely it may get sometimes...

When Manchester and Lima Collided

I taught my friends bachata in the middle of Manchester. My worlds were colliding…

Letting Go of Family (Dis)honour

How lonely my life could’ve been had I stuck to my culture which tells me to value the thick ties of family above all else...

We're Inspired, Advantages, Family, FriendshipsBy Farah Beaini (Living in the land of the Kulin nation)14 November 2020tck, third culture kid, TCK, TCK TOWN, family, cultures, culture, cultural, Lebanon, Lebanese, mother, parents, views, violent, relatives, sister, sisters, aunt, Australia, Australian, British, Canberra, Scottish, brother, Greek Comment

Friendly Data Dump

We have a subconscious understanding that we may not be around for very long, so we don’t really have the time to waste in making a friend...

Friendships, RelationshipsBy Anthony Arcis (From America, London, Istanbul, Bangkok & Toronto (mainly). Living in The Philippines)25 January 2020Tck, TCK, TCK TOWN, third culture kidComment

Aerogrammes

A stamp printed on blue paper in a stingray shape (blame the flaps). Just enough space without lines, to let others know you are still alive…

FriendshipsBy Paul Kennedy (From The Western Pacific, South East Asia, Europe & Alaska. Living in Tokyo)28 September 2019TCK, TCK TOWN, Third Culture Adult, third culture kid, writers, writer, writing, friendship, friends, multiculturalComment

Warming Hearts, Warring Worlds

You wonder whether you have traded one death sentence for the next as the engine fails and the old boat moans under the angry tumbling of ocean...

Sisto Malaspina—Amore Segreto

Every time he would be the absolute best human and make me want to be more like him. Nothing was more important to Sisto than the people he worked with and his loyal customers…

Friendships, HeroesBy Eisha Gupta (from India, Dubai and Melbourne. Living in India.)29 December 2018TCK TOWN, TCK, Tck, Melbourne, Australia, café, Immigration, migrate, cultural icon, Italy, death, beautiful person, mourningComment

No Formalities

Sara promptly opened the fridge, retrieved sustenance in the form of canned tuna and continued. After the session was over and everyone had left, I returned to my fridge and to my horror (distaste, displeasure, disdain, etc.) saw $1.10 lying on the counter…

FriendshipsBy Danish Khan (From Melbourne, Perth, Karachi & Islamabad. Living in Karachi)21 July 2018TCK TOWN, tck, third culture kid, Friendship, friend, relationships, university, Australian, Australia, Melbourne, degree, education, friendship, friends, studyComment

The TCK Disconnect

We are in constant contact with everyone, so we forego personal contact with loved ones…

FriendshipsBy Danish Khan (From Melbourne, Perth, Karachi & Islamabad. Living in Karachi)20 June 2018TCK TOWN, tck, TCK, third culture kid, friendship, friend, relationships, relationship, college Comment

Separating Across Tokyo.

Schedules fill with meetings across Tokyo. I might pass through 80 stations on the subway in a day. My mind wanders on the rides. I look at ads and listen to music and the flashes of light on the glass turn into mirrors in the dark tunnels. I can almost see you standing next to me in the reflections like you did when you lived here.

Resilience, FriendshipsBy Paul Kennedy (From The Western Pacific, South East Asia, Europe & Alaska. Living in Tokyo)27 December 2017mate, together, TCK, separation, subway, work, staff, Tokyo, friendship, TCK TOWN, third culture kid, stations, tck, friends Comment

The Mooncake Meeting

I revelled in the power of my many homes. I sit in my room for hours and listen to that Thai singer.
and muse about the camels from my Arab home...

The Grass is Green Wherever I Am

I was surrounded by music and swing-dancing and prayer and a community of 400 people that attended the wedding. In my Dusty Rose dress in line with the other girls I felt like I was playing dress-up, assuming my part in an American wedding movie...

My First Two Favourite Tokyo Boys

I liked his big, round glasses and how he drew Mount Fuji for me on a spare piece of paper because I was disappointed that it was again obscured from our view ("now you can say you've seen it"). I became quickly smitten...

The Friend In The Mirror

People will say one nation or region is more friendly than another. I honestly can say I think that people are pretty much the same all over the world. So if you are an asshole in Baltimore, moving to another country won’t magically transform you into everyone’s hero...

An Uncertain Delta

I met J in the flesh on a very cold January day in New York City. We were at the big Barnes & Noble in Times Square. I was only seventeen. I gave her my copy of Haruki Murakami’s South of the Border, West of the Sun as a first-meeting gift...

Better Late Than Never, FriendshipsBy Claire Rementilla (From New Jersey. Living in California)5 April 2017TCK TOWN, TCK, Better Late Than Never, new york, Murakami, new jersey, sisters, alien, United States, Demarest Hall, friendship, loss, goodbye Comments

Love On The Wires

You and I were practically joined at the hip. For every joke I heard, you laughed at the same point I did. Our humor was like honey poured into a biscuit, where each half reopened to show a mirror shape. You and I fit, we stuck together, we clicked...

Friendships, GoodbyeBy Paul Kennedy (From The Western Pacific, South East Asia, Europe & Alaska. Living in Tokyo)24 August 2016friendship, island, language, communicated, tribe, culture, third culture kid, tck, social circles, drifted, friends, jokes, connected Comment