…constantly confused by the changes in seasons, I cannot get used to the sun rising and setting at different times.

…shop in small shops with limited choice, preferably with someone who speaks Hindi behind the till. Not that I really speak Hindi, but I find it reassuring.

…love the smell and life in markets

…am tolerant of lengthy journeys involving delays and changes

…do not understand why people clap the pilot when he lands. He’s just doing the job he was trained to do. If he didn’t land, I would be concerned.

…the majority of my friends aren’t white. This doesn’t strike me as odd until we go out and people stare at us.

… feel like a chocolate snowball – white on the outside and brown on the inside.

…can determine where I am by the smell of the garbage.

…secretly addicted to wai wais. My husband doesn’t understand.

…change my accent according to who I’m speaking to. My husband says this is very rude.

…still don’t have a satisfactory answer to ‘where are you from?’ My current answer is ‘at the moment, I live here’ (to which the response is ‘but you’re not from here are you?’ I’m never sure how to answer that.)

…do not understand connection to place, but really understand connection to people.

…have a whole different use for facebook than most people.

…still dream in different languages

…terrified of spiders. For good reason!

…find it easier to empathise with the international news stories than understand poverty in the UK. And I work for a charity that works to eradicate poverty in the UK!

…wonder which of my friends of family might be affected by the latest disaster in the news. And then have to get on facebook to make sure they’re ok!

…always go on holiday abroad somewhere. Preferably hot. I get itchy feet otherwise. It’s not so easy to run away when you’re married and have a mortgage!

PS. I’m 30 and have lived in Manchester, UK for 12 years – all my adult life. I came here for uni, and have never left. Perhaps that tells you more about me and being a TCK than anything else. In my childhood I lived in more houses than I remember in 5 countries.

  1. Anonymous says:

    As a CCK, I used to mix up that “how to eat” part. When in Japan, I was so used to holding my bowl in my hand when eating…which almost burnt my hand in Korea.