Culture in the Blender

China has been in the news a lot lately, and for some reason I’m missing 北京 (Běijīng) something fierce. I’m meeting a friend for drinks tonight, and I desperately want to go to 三里屯 (Sānlǐtúnr). I want to walk out into the 北京 (Běijīng) night into my safe, familiar third culture world. I want to float around in that mix of fashion, drinks and cosmopolitanism. I want to talk to the people that end up in the company of foreigners. I want to watch and learn, tell and teach. I used to laugh at people who drank on 三里屯 (Sānlǐtúnr). Now I wish I was one.

Maybe it has something to do with missing being in a place where I visibly live in the third culture. Here in the US, I’m a hidden immigrant. Sometimes I just want permission to be weird and go with it. I met another TCK through Facebook here where I live, and she mentioned that some of my feelings are being out of step with your peers. She’s right, that’s another thing – I want to do things that my peers here don’t want to do, like sing karaoke and go clubbing. I want to go have fun in new ways my parents didn’t, and that makes me out of step with my peers. And missing other places where people do those things.

It might also have something to do with another thing my friend said. She described where we live as ‘monochromatic’, and I know exactly what she means. Being in contact with several cultures at the same time is like living in a rainbow of color and texture. Living in only one culture can be boring, frankly, and maybe I just want out for the sake of getting out, and what better place to experience it all at once than in the third culture?