Third Culture Talks

For our season 3 premiere, we invited Ruth E. van Reken, the co-author of "Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Between Worlds" on the podcast! We chat about the history of getting Third Culture Kids as terminology into publication and its development over the years with now three editions of the book, the wider umbrella of increasingly diverse cross-cultural stories, and how culture is a shared concept, which is what makes TCKs a collective of individuals that are, themselves, each a collective of cultural influences. Buy us a coffee at our Kofi page! https://ko-fi.com/thirdculturetalks Music: Funkorama by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3788-funkorama License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

The TCT duo meet another boat kid and decided it was time for our two boats to clash! Bringing back Selene Collins from season 1, who grew up on a sailboat around Latin America, and Rob Renger, who grew up on a mission ship travelling around the world. They compare notes about storms, happy stickers and box people.  Buy us a coffee at our Kofi page! https://ko-fi.com/thirdculturetalks Music: Shades of Spring by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4342-shades-of-spring License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Today we feature another guest who reached out to us to share her story. Born to Dutch and Bolivian parents, Anne grew up in rural Peru, Bolivia, Nepal, before questioning her identity in the Netherlands. She shares stories about fishing for piranhas, working with mobility preparation for local schools with cross-cultural kids, and reinventing herself as a teenager in Nepal.  Buy us a coffee at our Kofi page! https://ko-fi.com/thirdculturetalks Music: Shades of Spring by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4342-shades-of-spring License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In a new milestone where we got to try out new technical issues, Dan invited one of his oldest friends, Armand, to share embarrassing stories from their childhood for Caye's amusement. Half French, half Chinese-Malaysian and having significantly lived in Indonesia, Thailand and the UK, Armand offers his perspective on cultural tourism, their shared experience in Jakarta, and his disappointing experience travelling America as a child. He even reveals Dan's childhood fear.  Buy us a coffee at our Kofi page! https://ko-fi.com/thirdculturetalks Music: Shades of Spring by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4342-shades-of-spring License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

This episode's guest is Jane Wang, a life coach, intercultural trainer, and overall inspiration to self-actualise your life by discovering your own goals rather than those arbitrarily set by society. She joins us for discussions about identity crises, international dating commitment issues, and a lot of Wang puns.  Buy us a coffee at our Kofi page! https://ko-fi.com/thirdculturetalks Music: Shades of Spring by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4342-shades-of-spring License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Caye and Dan return to a two-person format to celebrate the completion of his bachelor's degree. We take the opportunity to talk about architecture, modern German culture, movies, tourism, the experimental nature of exploring ourselves through the safe space of fiction, and how Caye is actually the old soul deep inside.  Buy us a coffee at our Kofi page! https://ko-fi.com/thirdculturetalks Music: Shades of Spring by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4342-shades-of-spring License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Our guest for this episode, Keren Wang, grew up between Germany and China before now more or less settling in Switzerland. Find out how he went native, about his work in Swiss media, his bonding with Caye about their similar voices, and his complex thoughts about art history and cultural tourism. You might even find out what a Bünzli is.  Buy us a coffee at our Kofi page! https://ko-fi.com/thirdculturetalks Music: Shades of Spring by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4342-shades-of-spring License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

On this show our guest is Ben Voegele, an American TCK who grew up in Hong Kong and Taiwan, later also working in Shanghai for some time. He calls in from Utah to share his story with us, involving music puns, the global nature of McDonald's, and well, more name puns. Check out his live webcasts featuring travel and intercultural stories at Ben There on YouTube and Facebook, as well as his other writing work on BenThere.org.  Buy us a coffee at our Kofi page! https://ko-fi.com/thirdculturetalks Music: Shades of Spring by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4342-shades-of-spring License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Our guest in this episode features a very funny friend of the show, Ivana Cvijanovic, who grew up in Serbia, Germany and Switzerland. She talks about the prejudices in central Europe against the Balkans, the communal benefits of co-living in shared housing, and learning languages from TV.  Buy us a coffee at our Kofi page! https://ko-fi.com/thirdculturetalks Music: Shades of Spring by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4342-shades-of-spring License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

We start the new year with a very special guest Danau Tanu PH.d, author of the book "Growing up in Transit: the Politics of Belonging at an International School." We discuss the themes of her book, examining the Third Culture experience from different post-colonial perspectives, identity crisis in later life, and the processes of adjusting to new environments. This may include how to cross the street.  Buy us a coffee at our Kofi page! https://ko-fi.com/thirdculturetalks Music: Shades of Spring by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4342-shades-of-spring License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In this episode, we welcome our guest Megan C. Norton, intercultural trainer, podcaster and Adult Third Culture Kid. Currently based in Michigan, we get to share notes on that most particular of states, but further get to explore her more classic story of global nomad life: constantly moving every 3 years as the child of a diplomat and then for work in her adult life. We also discover why a Vietnamese Texas Oil Man might juggle geese.  Buy us a coffee at our Kofi page! https://ko-fi.com/thirdculturetalks Music: Shades of Spring by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4342-shades-of-spring License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Dan and Caye take an episode for themselves to talk about something else cultural: subcultures. They discuss some subculture trends in music, geek culture, and their changes over time. The conversation also moves on to discuss how trying subcultures can relate to belonging, growth, and identity, but also be a bit of a human tendency towards tribalism. They even discuss whether Third Culture Kids are a subculture and whether it can ever actually go mainstream. Don't worry, some gutter humour makes it through.  Buy us a coffee at our Kofi page! https://ko-fi.com/thirdculturetalks Music: Shades of Spring by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4342-shades-of-spring License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

For this episode, Dan invites a friend, Borna Forsek, who was born in Croatia, grew up in Syria, studied hospitality with Dan in Switzerland, worked on cruise ships and is currently settling in Ireland.  He shares stories of growing up in Damascus before the war, life as a hotel management student in Switzerland,  and some hijinks in the hotel and cruise industry, much to Caye's pleasure.  Buy us a coffee at our Kofi page! https://ko-fi.com/thirdculturetalks Music: Shades of Spring by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4342-shades-of-spring License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Cayetano returns, this time with a guest from his own adolescence in Michigan, David Flores. He and Caye go down memory lane, particularly of their music journey together, but also include Dan in the discussion comparing International Baccalaureate programs between an American high school and an International School. David even provides a possible exploit for up and coming IB students. Nevertheless, Caye and David get to share aspects of the 10 years of their friendship, even across the Atlantic Ocean.   Buy us a coffee at our Kofi page! https://ko-fi.com/thirdculturetalks  Music: Shades of Spring by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4342-shades-of-spring License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Caye has been flooded with real-life and had to sit out this episode, so Dan pulled in a comedian friend for a hangout session. Harry Fücks is half-English, half-German and a single dad of two living in Zürich. He has thrived in the local English-speaking comedy scene in Switzerland with his deadpan tone and dark humour. He also co-hosts the XYZ Podcast with two other Zürcih-based comedians. Harry and Dan chat about a variety of topics, including comedy, parenting, over-achievers and the self-discovery story of a sex club in France.  Buy us a coffee at our Kofi page! https://ko-fi.com/thirdculturetalks Music: Shades of Spring by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4342-shades-of-spring License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/