Talks with a TCK Friend

This episode kicks off the whole month of July, which will cover topics around all kinds of relationships. Joining us today is Chris Constantino, a fellow TCK and staff member of the company (check out his previous episode here!) He’s returned to the podcast to talk about relationships and we take a deep dive into our experiences with friendships as TCK.  

As both children of foreign service families, we are familiar with saying goodbye to the friends that we made as we grew up, moving from country to country and having these passing relationships has affected how we view relationships even as adults now. Through this episode we talk about how friendships are tested through time, distance, and how friendships can survive those periods of strain or difficulty. We share our experiences with different kinds of friends and our thoughts on how communication may differ from person to person. We also share how we handle our own friendships and our perspective on friendship dynamics.

As TCKs, we meet so many people but at the same time, we often have to leave those great people and the grief that follows is never easy, but this has helped us learn to appreciate our friendships even more.

At the end of the day, people take care of their relationships in many different ways, some people may talk every day, while others share their heart when you meet up in person, and still, others show how they care through their actions. Relationships are built on the choices you make to nurture them and having confidence in the friendships that you make will help them grow even stronger. 

Even the best of friends will go through periods where life gets busy, and communication may not look the same as it used to, but maybe all they need is a message (or meme) from a friend to cheer them up. 

Join us as we catch up and talk about what friendship and relationships look like from the eyes of TCKs and how our experiences play a role in the relationships around us.

If you have any questions of just want to reach out follow me on the following:

Instagram: @mariesuazoauthor

FB: mariesuazoauthor

Email: [email protected]

Music: Savour The Moment by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

—

Today’s episode features fellow podcaster Calvin Karuniawan Widjaja, the host of Global CKtizens. 

Calvin is a cross-cultural kid from birth as he is from an Indonesian Chinese family, with a truly mixed bag of cultures spread across his family. He shares his TCK story, about how he grew up in Indonesia and moved to Singapore to further his education and has lived there for more than twenty years.  

Calvin joins the podcast to talk about cultural identity and the roles that TCKs can adapt into the globalized world. As an advocate for intercultural and multicultural identity, Calvin offers insight about how TCKs are catalysts that can lead to a more unified world. Calvin also shares the meaning behind the name “@globalcktizens” and how he decided to pursue the idea of creating platform for the next generation to become pseudo TCKs through exposure in media content about cultures outside of their own. 

In this sincere discussion we touch different topics, we take the time to share some of the grief that we’ve experienced in our personal lives as well and how these life events have impacted our emotional health in our TCK journey as well. We hope that this podcast sheds some light on how we navigated these periods in our lives and that no matter what you’re going through, you aren’t alone in your struggles.

Tune in with us as we talk about cultural identity as a TCK, bridging gaps between cultures and some of the more intense and unseen emotions TCKs go through in their search for a home. 

Check out Calvin’s Instagram (@globalcktizens) and linktree to find out more about his projects. 

If you have any questions of just want to reach out follow me on the following:

Instagram: @mariesuazoauthor

FB: mariesuazoauthor

Email: [email protected]

Music: Savour The Moment by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

---

This week we’re joined by Julie, a friend of mine from my college days. Her TCK journey began when she moved to Indonesia with her family for business and then went back to her home country, Korea where she stayed for ten years; she currently lives in California. We discuss our understanding and experiences with reverse culture shock ( when a person living abroad returns to their home country: it feels unfamiliar, aka can be shocking), where you experience your “home” culture from an outside perspective. Julie shares some of her experiences as a TCK who returned to her home country without fully speaking the language, and the expectations and reactions from the people around her. This added a layer of difficulty to that transition, as there are many cultural and social cues associated with the understanding of a language.  A TCK’s journey is always a little different but the emotions we experience and the desires we have, to build a community and create bonds with others is something that brings us closer together.

Join us as we catch up and talk about reintegrating into our “home” culture, building lasting relationships and the pronunciation of the word “hierarchy.” 

If you have any questions of just want to reach out follow me on the following:

Instagram: @mariesuazoauthor

FB: mariesuazoauthor

Email: [email protected]

Music: Savour The Moment by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

---

Inga Aksamit is an an award winning author, a world traveler and a seasoned TCK. She was born in California and has lived in places such as Lahore, Pakistan, Peru, Bangladesh and Indonesia with brief stints in the USA as well. She wears her TCK badge of honor with pride and shares her travel experiences along with stunning pictures of her adventures on her blog. Inga’s TCK journey began when her father's job as an irrigation engineer took them around the world. Join us as we have an insightful conversation about being a cultural chameleon and share personal stories about cultural differences and how we understand them. We also talk about how the ability to adapt can be a double edged sword, and how it’s important to define your own values system as someone who is constantly exposed to new perspectives and experiences. Inga shares some advice on how to navigate new environments and the importance recognizing personal biases and staying true to oneself. We also talk about how to balance different aspects of being a TCK and how to cultivate deeper friendships. 

Being able to adjust to a new space or situation requires some degree of understanding of your personal values and moral stances, as you meet new people and find your place in the world. It might not be easy to make sense of everything but being a good listener and asking questions can allow others to meet you where you are. 

Join us in our talk about TCK adaptability, personal introspection and creating lasting relationships with others.

Find Inga Aksamit on her Blog Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. 

If you have any questions of just want to reach out follow me on the following:

Instagram: @mariesuazoauthor

FB: mariesuazoauthor

Email: [email protected]

Music: Savour The Moment by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

---

Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/marie-suazo/support

Culminating the staff month series, we have a special episode that was recorded a few months ago, back when the company first began to lay its foundation. 

In this special episode, we have the Staff of Talks with a TCK Friend in one room and we talk about what it was like meeting each other for the first time and how we could be our authentic selves without fear of being misunderstood and celebrating who we are together and as individuals. Through this talk, we all express that we have this sense of longing for a place where we belong, uninhibited by our insecurities, our differences, and our hurts. We managed to come together as a community of people with shared experiences and who want to support and be part of each other’s lives. 

We talk about the TCK scene in the Philippines and how it feels necessary to have a safe space like this for true friendships, growth, and healing. We also talk about a privilege that we have as TCKs is that by experiencing different cultures, we’ve become more adaptable, empathetic, and understanding as we grew older. We hope that you enjoy this open and honest episode where we share our hopes and joys about having a community that’s filled with love, support, and understanding. If we were able to find a community like this, yours is out there too. Don’t give up hope in finding your people; if you feel safe, that’s when you know you’ve made it to the right place. 

This episode represents one of the most life-changing aspects of a TCK’s journey, finding a community. Spend some time with me, Gene, Jaime, Gabe, Belle, and Jasmin as we talk about the community we’ve built together.

If you have any questions of just want to reach out follow me on the following:

Instagram: @mariesuazoauthor

FB: mariesuazoauthor

Email: [email protected]

Music: Savour The Moment by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

---

Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/marie-suazo/support

The whole month of May is dedicated to my company staff/fellow TCKs! Every week in the month of May you will get to know my staff a little bit as they share topics close to their heart. Today we are joined by Jaime Espanola, the community relations manager of the company. If you’re a TCK interested in guesting on the podcast, you’ll definitely be hearing from Jaime. Jaime was born in Saudi Arabia to a Filipino-Chinese family, and he spent his formative years in Saudi Arabia and has lived in the United States, and in the Philippines as well. Currently, he lives in Germany but in true TCK fashion, he is still searching for a place he’d like to settle down in. In our chat with Jaime, we cover a few different topics, focusing on our relationship with our parents, like what we wished our parents taught us as TCKs, and an open discussion about parent’s expectations as TCKs. We delve deeper into different emotions associated with these standards and how these things have affected us in the long run. We hope that this talk is relatable and gives you some comfort knowing that you’re not alone. Relationships can be difficult and require a lot of patience and understanding, especially the relationship between parents and children, but as we learn and grow, we realize that our parents do the same. We can only become better at communicating our thoughts, our hurts, and our expectations in order to heal together. Come join us in this candid discussion about parent relationships, the good, the bad, and everything in between.

Instagram: @mariesuazoauthor

FB: mariesuazoauthor

Email: [email protected]

---

The whole month of May is dedicated to my company staff/fellow TCKs! Every week in the month of May you will get to know my staff a little bit as they share topics close to their heart./ This week, we are joined by Belle, the marketing and social media mastermind of the company. Belle is from a Filipino-Chinese family, born and raised in Metro Manila; eventually, she moved to an underdeveloped island which is now a destination tourist spot in The Philippines./ Our main topic in this episode is grief. We take some time to be vulnerable with one another and share some of the grief that we’ve experienced in our lives. Losing a loved one comes with many emotions that surge like waves and can be difficult to navigate. We also share some of the ways that we have been able to process our emotions and the importance of being able to release those feelings. Grief is a universal experience and is not a sign of weakness. God allows us to come as we are with these heavy feelings and helps us make sense of what we don’t understand. At the end of it, we hope to come out a little bit stronger and learn more about ourselves in the process.

Instagram: @mariesuazoauthor

FB: mariesuazoauthor

Email: [email protected]

Follow Belle on IG: @bellepeppurr.piano

The month of May is dedicated to my fellow TCK friends/ Staff! Today we are joined by Gene who's band helped shape the music scene in the Philippines in the early 2010s to encourage more openness for different bands to put out their work. We chat about what it's like being a TCK what he went through as he immersed himself in the local scene connecting with other locals (in this case fellow Filipinos) after moving around so often.

Gene is a researcher by day and a musician by night. At his

If you have any questions of just want to reach out follow me on the following:

Instagram: @mariesuazoauthor

FB: mariesuazoauthor

Email: [email protected]

Music: Savour The Moment by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

The whole month of May is dedicated to my company staff/fellow TCKs! Every week in the month of May you will get to know my staff a little bit as they share topics close to their heart. Today we are joined by Chris, my business manager, who's different experiences from America, Europe, and the Philippines gave him a unique perspective of understanding different cultures in the workplace. We also chat about how we are able see different perspectives in the workplace and what we bring to the table just as we are. We even give a glimpse of our company culture and what a company that is run by TCKs look like. Hope you can relate to some of the topics we talk about and know your value as TCK in the workplace.

TCKs have special qualities that make them an asset in the workforce, something I personally didn't even notice since this is what I considered "normal" my whole life. Our special guest Karin has been in the workforce for over 20 years and in her years of experience has come up with a list of skills TCKs naturally posses because of our up bringing. Join us as we discuss some of the unique characteristics of TCKs and how just being us can impact the workforce.

If you have any questions of just want to reach out follow me on the following:

Instagram: @mariesuazoauthor

FB: mariesuazoauthor

Music: Savour The Moment by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com