1 . Did you grow up in one culture, your parents came from another, and you are now living in a totally different country?     1    

The term “third-culture kids” was invented in the 1960s by U.S. sociologist Dr. Ruth Hill Useem. She first encountered this phenomenon when she researched North American children living in India.     2     Caught between two cultures, they form their own. While growing up as third-culture kids may sound challenging, these children often benefit from their multicultural background. In general, they often reach excellent academic results.     3    

Ginny, aged 20, was born in the U.K. Since her early childhood, she had lived abroad moving around with her parents every few years, before she returned to the U.K. to study. When returning to the U.K. to go to university, she realized she had benefited a lot from her years overseas.     4     While many other undergrads seemed unable to cope on their college life, she was easy to adjust to it.

Yet being a third-culture kid is not always easy. In fact, many hardships may arise from this phenomenon. A third-culture kid may not be able to adapt themselves completely to their new surroundings as expected.     5     Besides, when they return home, the home country can prove to be more foreign than anything they came across before. The peer group they face does not match the idealized image children have of “home”. This often makes it hard for them to form their own identity.

As a part of the growing “culture”, TCKs may find it a great challenge for them to feel at home in many places.

6 . “So what are you?” I often get questions like these from passerby’s wondering where I come from. Immediately, I _______ the word: Filipino (菲律宾人).

So each time I get asked the same question, and I _______ my situation before finally saying the only seemingly _______ answer: “I’m Filipina.” I say, but inside I know that I have _______ due to the fact that I am not Filipina, but Filipina-American. I’ve _______ with this issue my entire life. How two words can be so simple but still reflect so much _______ and complexity.

Though _______ in between two cultures, I am completely Americanized, born in Texas, raised in Tennessee _______ still grasped under the values and _______ of a Filipino family.

My mother and father immigrated to the States right after they were married. My father was studying to become a doctor, hopeful about the opportunities of a ________ new world. My mom: a young wife who had been ________ educated in a Catholic school under the ________ of nuns (修女) throughout her primary and undergraduate education.

As I grew up and made friends, I saw the interaction between them and their mothers to be ________ different from the one with mine. Sometimes, I would get ________ of “disrespect” because of the language I talked with my mother and I never ________ it because when I saw my friends do the same and speak in the same ________.

My liberal (自由) political beliefs cannot be ________ due to the strict upbringing of my mother, my interest in boys as a 16-year old girl are ________, the ideas that being a(an) ________ is the only way you can make a difference. Sure, not all Filipino parents are like this, but this sure isn’t what I ________ from America.