Publisher's Synopsis
What is TCK? Third Culture Kids are children who grow up in foreign cultures, outside their own native land. I am a TCKer, who grew up during the post WWII years, when our country became prosperous, transient, and shifted from rural to suburbia, from thriftiness to consumerism. This is the third book in a series that chronicles my life-long journey as a Navy brat, and later, as a diplomatic and single teacher TCKer. As a child, we moved at least a dozen times between 1952 and 1970. It was inevitable that cultural differences would add new dimensions to our everyday living. My sister and I attended five public schools and two DOD schools before graduating in 1970; to say there were gaps in my learning is an understatement. Learning Spanish in kindergarten, graduating in French Morocco (think Casablanca) has definitely affected my outlook. Only now, 60 years later, are the effects of all those moves being studied in the field of Education, called Third Culture Kids [TCK].Vol 3 Kazakhstan 2011-2012, covers the unexpected job opportunity in Atyrau, that came my way after our school in Tripoli, Libya was closed and the faculty evacuated in 2011. This Chevron-sponsored school was a classified as a hardship posting. But for an elementary teacher, it had just about every amenity one could ask for, and even some kindred spirits. The 10-foot snow drifts we had to navigate each winter, as we drove from Asia to Europe, where the physical school building was located, became something of a daily adventure during the winter months. The first several months I attended host nation language lessons to learn Kazakh, the natural language of this former Russian satellite country. It was just a detail the everyday street language was still Russian. Vol 3 Kazakhstan 2011-2012 is written in diary form, providing a day-to-day account of people, places, and events this year, as I adapted to this Eur-Asian culture.
