tcks

The senior class of the international school - Amy and Elise: 5th and 6th from left

Yesterday was the last day of the school semester,

and it came with reminders again of the uniqueness of life overseas.

Since the Korean College year begins in February,

four of the Korean seniors graduated at first semester in order to enter college in 2014.

graduating seniors receiving their diplomas

The high school staff and students gathered around them to pray,

to entrust them to God's care,

knowing that this may be the very last time they are all together.

When you live overseas, 

and study with people from all over the world,

graduation means a severance of greater proportions, 

knowing that the goodbyes you say may be the last ones ever in person.

The senior class...photo thanks to Mr. T

Though our children are part-time students,

they belong here with these TCKs (third culture kids);

people who have moved away from their home land (first culture),

are living in a foreign country (second culture),

and have created a third culture here together where they all belong.

You know you are a TCK when:

1. "Where are you from?" has more than one correct answer, and you never know which one to use

2. You get nervous when college applications ask for your permanent address

3. You convert any price to two different currencies before making significant purchases

4. You know that McDonalds tastes drastically different from country to country

5. You are the token exotic friend among your national friends

6. You feel odd being in the ethnic majority

7. You have a passport but no driver's license

8. You think VISA is a document stamped on your passport; not a plastic card in your wallet

9. You get homesick reading National Geographic

10. Your circle of friends is as politically, racially and religiously diverse as the United Nations

11. You are really good at calculating time differences

13. You read the foreign news before the national news

12. You think that high school reunions are all but impossible

13. You can't find your family in an American store because everyone looks the same

14. You sort your friends by continent

15. You know that "home" isn't a place, it's the people in it

16. You realize what a small world it is, after all