The term third culture kid (TCK) is used to refer to children who were raised in a culture outside of their parents' culture for a significant part of their development years. A lot of TCKs are children of diplomats, missionaries, and international business people who find themselves working overseas as expatriates. This expatriate kid lifestyle does come with a decent amount of glamor; from weekend trips paid by the company to Hong Kong, to flying four hours to another country for a community service conference. Some of us have probably spent more time stuck in airports and on airplanes that we'd like to publicly admit.

I am a third culture kid, born and raised in Asia to a Thai mother and Japanese-American father. I never lived in any of those countries, until I moved to Portland, Oregon to start my junior year of high school. The third culture kid experience was one I cherish more than anything in this world. While there were challenges growing up overseas and going through the international school system, I would never trade places with anyone for the traditional childhood. I am so lucky that I got to travel the world before graduating high school and would be overjoyed to work overseas and raise my kids the way I was. Sharing stories and advice with others about travel and life in Asia is something I truly enjoy doing, but when the question of where I'm from comes up, I like many others, know I am plagued with anxiety.

For many third culture kids, this idea of a permanent home is fairly foreign, especially if one has spent little time in their home country. Where does one say they are from when they've never lived in their country of citizenship or of their parents' citizenship? Do you tell people you're from the place you lived in the longest? Or is it the place you most recently lived in? "I don't know" never feels like the right answer even though it sometimes is the truth. Telling your whole life story becomes the norm, although it can be incredibly taxing at times. Home becomes a world used loosely to describe the places where the people you love are, where you had the most memories, where you felt the happiest at. It becomes numerous places, all of which hold important value in your life.

While I don't mind talking about my background, it brings back deep nostalgia and homesickness for each different place. Personally, being questioned by airport security and immigration is the hardest. I remember when I moved back to the States from China and being interrogated by immigration about why my parents weren't with me, why I had visited Thailand, Hong Kong, and China in the past three weeks, why I have family in Thailand, what brought my father to China, was my mother an American citizen, and the questions went on. And you know what question they began with? Where was home?

Being a third culture kid shapes you in so many ways from the way you see the world to the way you interact with others. It truly teaches you that home is where the heart it, that no matter how far you may be from someone there will always be a way to keep the connection strong. You are reminded from day to day that the world is your home. Home is where the memories are the fondest, where the people you love are, where you feel the most comfortable, and where you feel the happiest.