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Familiar Bangkok

Saturday, January 7th, 2006

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Arrived in Bangkok on Jan 3rd on China Air after 17 hours and stops in Anchorage and Taiwan. There has been a cooling in Asia (northern India actually falling below freezing) and it has been mild with a nice breeze here.

Bob is somewhere else in Thailand I guess…he left a New York a few days before I did.

But it has been fun to have Doug and Luk stay with me in Bangkok this last week. We have been running errands…went to American Consolate to get more pages added to my passport and Doug ordered a new passport as his got wrecked when he was drenched in the water festival last spring. Then to Thai Consolate. Luk is delighted to have a new Thai passport with her married name on it! Now there are two Mrs. Goetz’s in Bangkok!

They will return to their home on Koh Samui Friday on the train. I will meet them on the island at the end of the month when my remaining dental work will be completed.

Third Culture Kids

Monday, October 17th, 2005

Third Culture Kids are children of expatriate families who live for a significant proportion of their lives in a culture other than their own, where they travel to many countries other than their own passport country. This results in the adaptation and incorporation of certain characteristics from a variety of cultures into their own personalities.

These kids were first studied in significant numbers by sociologists in the 1960’s and the initial subjects were drawn from American children of missionary, diplomatic or military families. Other terms that have been used are Global Nomads, army brats, transnationals, transculturals, and internationally mobile children.

Researchers discovered that overwhelmingly and across the globe TCKs merge their birth culture with the culture of the host countries they’ve lived in to create a third, very distinct culture of their own. What was surprising was that there were also a distinct set of personality traits exhibited that were not dependant on the countries in which they grew up or their family background. In other words, an Australian missionary kid who grew up in the Philippines, Zambia and Brazil, would share a distinct set of personality trais in common with a Swiss diplomat’s child who had lived in Japan, America, Fiji and Spain. These trais were defined as being ‘third culture” thus giving birth to the term “Third Culture Kids.”

The major problem that TCKs face as they grow up is to define where they truly belong. They are products of the sum of their experiences, rather than a product of the native soil of their passport country. Their multicultural upbringing encourages a stronger worldview and well-developed cross-cultural skills. These kids are able to get along with people of many different races. Having a less clearly defined sense of belonging to one definite “us” means they are less comfortable with dealing with a foreign “them.” They are able to view events from a wider perspective, more used to adapting to the view points of the people and cultures where they have lived as well as to the views of the people of their passport country. Some TCKs, however, experience rootlessness and a constant, unresolved grief due to the loss of contact or breaking off of relationships. Life becomes even more difficult for them when they go back to live in their own country where defining social signifiers like fashion trends and music have changed.

Even those of us in the West who travel to many different countries over a long period of time as adults, however, often find ourselves developing a “Third Culture” personality, more elegantly described by Pico Iyer in his book “The Global Soul.”

For more information you can visit www.tckworld.com.

Terrorists In Thailand

Tuesday, July 19th, 2005
Last year Thaksin's government sent in police militia to quell fundamentalist Islamic violence in a southern Thai province that is populated primarily with muslims. As a result over 60 combatants were kiilled. In retaliation, the jihadists continue to ... [Continue reading this entry]

Thainess And The West

Sunday, July 17th, 2005
The July 2005 edition of the slick upscale magazine for English-speaking foreigners called The Big Chilli ran an article with interviews of prominent Bangkok residents to get their views of what constitutes Thai culture. Two were Thai and two ... [Continue reading this entry]

Walking Out On The Iranian Ambassador

Thursday, July 14th, 2005
The Foreign Correspondents Club hosted another panel discussion last night with the Iranian ambassador to Thailand, H.E. Mohsen Pakaein Western observers were confounded by the surprisingly strong victory in Iran's recent presidential election by dark-horse candidate Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a conservative ... [Continue reading this entry]

Press: Enemies of the Thai State?

Thursday, July 14th, 2005
The Foreign Correspondent's Club hosted another panel as part of it's occasional series on freedom of the press this week. Panel members were Anchalee Paireerak, operator of www.fm9225.com, one of two closed�websites, and executive director of and political commentator for community ... [Continue reading this entry]

“11 Minutes” Outranks Mao

Thursday, July 14th, 2005
On my way to my BTS Skytrain station, I stop for lunch at The Emporium, an upscale indoor shopping mall where there is a variety of restaurants on the 5th floor. A young Asian woman sitting next to me ... [Continue reading this entry]

Stories Of The Bangkok Street

Tuesday, July 12th, 2005
Ten baht (25 cents) for a motorcycle taxi gets me to the American educated dentist down the soi and around the corner in little more than a minute...scared to death that the trucks, cars, motorcycles, light poles, ... [Continue reading this entry]

A Fine Balance

Monday, June 13th, 2005
Listening to an expat radio station on the internet today, I discover that in Bangkok 2006 there will be an International Summit on Public Toilets...

Inconsistent Thai Values

Thursday, April 28th, 2005
After nearly a dozen visits and about six months time in the city, over the last several years, we have gotten to know Bangkok a little. In this city with a population of over 9 million people we can ... [Continue reading this entry]

A Talk By Shirin Ebadi

Thursday, April 14th, 2005
Bob has been in the north for the last week so I joined the Foreign Correspondents Club the other day as a way of meeting other English speaking people in Bangkok. Membership is reciprocal with Foreign Correspondents Clubs around ... [Continue reading this entry]

Royal Wedding

Saturday, April 9th, 2005
I have both CNN and BBC on my television in my apartment so I often switch back and forth. It was interesting to notice after the nuptual blessing that the Royal couple was barely out of the church when ... [Continue reading this entry]

Keeping Body and Soul Together

Friday, April 1st, 2005
In Bangkok we got a good deal for a month in a beautiful completely furnished apartment on a dead-end street in the upscale Saladaeng area...close to the Skytrain and the new subway that is running again after a recent accident. ... [Continue reading this entry]

Vibrant Bangkok

Friday, March 11th, 2005
Bangkok Air From Koh Samui to Bangkok again. Not a pretty city but it's vibrant. The populace, as with much of Asia, lives outdoors-almost all 10 million of them. It is increasingly cosmopolitan and this year seems ... [Continue reading this entry]

Post Christmas in Bangkok & Escaping The Tsunami 2004

Wednesday, December 29th, 2004
1wXSp3CkNsDoJl3s0SgHmw-2006171170004499.gif A month in Bangkok On the morning of December 26, 2004, after a bowl of spicy Thai soup on the street outside my Bangkok hotel, I returned to my room and flipped on the ... [Continue reading this entry]

Ayutthaya

Monday, August 12th, 2002
Our friend Jiraporn let us gas up her car for a trip to Ayutthaya, ancient capital of Thailand about 60 miles north of Bangkok. Founded c. 1350, Ayutthaya became the second Siamese capital after Sukhothai. It was destroyed by the Burmese ... [Continue reading this entry]

Expatriates

Tuesday, August 6th, 2002
There are many expats in Bangkok who love this city and it's people for many reasons. One day I struck up a conversation with a Brit woman sitting next to me on the SkyTrain who worked for an international ... [Continue reading this entry]

A Bit Of Thai Culture

Tuesday, August 6th, 2002
Thai people are usually friendly, warm, charming and hospitable. Sanuk, the Thai word for fun or enjoyment is paramount to the Thai�s way oflife. For something to be worthwhile it must be sanuk. If it is not sanuk ... [Continue reading this entry]

Thai Food!

Tuesday, August 6th, 2002
Our favorite in all the world! In Thailand a fork in the left hand is held upside down and used to push food onto a large spoon that is held in the right hand (reverse for left handers of ... [Continue reading this entry]

Skytrain Tuk Tuks Cycles & Boats

Tuesday, August 6th, 2002
The SkyTrain is an air conditioned jam-packed elevated transportation system financed by the World Bank that can scoot you quickly from one part of the city to another but for some reason, probably due to corruption, is in the ... [Continue reading this entry]

Krazy Khao San Road

Monday, August 5th, 2002
There is no limit to the colorful variety of activities that draw your eyes in all directions. Almost everything happens on the sidewalks or the canals and rivers...floating markets with fruit and vegetables andflowers, vendors selling everything ... [Continue reading this entry]

Sex In The City of Angels

Sunday, August 4th, 2002
August 6 2002 Bangkok Thailand The Indian pilot lovingly set the Air India wheels down on the Bangkok tarmac... Being in Thailand feels good even when you know Thais will use those beguiling smiles and soft voices to extract ... [Continue reading this entry]