Category: Adult Cross Culture Kids

Adults who grew up between two cultures and constantly had to switch between their home culture and the culture they were living in, often making compromises between the two. These are our stories, through various lenses.

Beneath the Surface of Sauna, Salmiakki and Santa – intro

Like a celebrity, countries are excellent at putting out an image to the world of how they want to be seen. There’s the brazenly rugged terrain or the soft rolling hills, or the vibrant metropolis. No matter how a country decides to brand itself, there is always an element of truth, wishful thinking, a lie…

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The Po’boy as Metaphor for Finnish Society

But this was no Bono and the Corrs cover of Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra’s Summer Wine, this was essentially Summer Wind, something that maybe sounded similar to the untrained ear, but had no bearing in any way, shape or form on the original. Or as someone close to my heart – who would never utter a bad word against someone unless they absolutely had to – put it, “Jesus no! This is a toast. A toast with meat and some greens.” 

Life Hack Homesickness – Tip 2: Be a Tourist in Your Town

Truth is, I had never played tourist in Paris. The touristy places I visited were places of interest because of a certain exhibition or event, and the touristy places I’d frequented repeatedly were places that kind of just happened to be there and were attractive to me because of people, cafes or some energy that I liked. I always loved Sacré Cœur, but living so close meant that the path there was part of my fitness routine, as in I love walking and being asthmatic, this helped me gauge my fitness level on any given day. 

Moving from the Cross-cultural to the Intercultural – finding your identity through language(s)

The problem is that too often people tend to associate identity and belonging with language, and will label the speaker accordingly. For my part, I don’t want to be labeled as being part of a culture I either rejected early on or have absolutely no connection to by virtue of its changed geography. I also don’t want to come across as assigning more value to one culture than another

The (un)Glamorous Notion of the TCK / CCK Conundrum

The Personal Experience that Set the Initial Identity  I first came across the term TCK in college, when someone much older than me made me aware of the term. I devoured all the material available, only to realize that it ticked all the boxes. Caught between this culture and the next, check. Code switching on…

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A Few Thoughts On Regular Hangouts

The thing with bars, pubs and cafes that become regular places is that they can provide that home away from home where nothing ever changes, or only changes slowly, and where – as an additional bonus – you can always put your hat while not having to worry about much of anything else. Unless you…

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