t c k an acronym for the longest time I
thought meant something illegal turns
out it stands for third culture kid
definition that I’m an example of an as
are many of you in this room a third
culture kid is someone who was born or
raised in a culture that’s different
than their parents background for
instance my parents are from the
greatest country in the world Africa
[Applause]
we excel in every sport and we never run
out of melanin unfortunately those are
not traits that I developed through my
genetics but my hair is legally
classified as its own building I am the
daughter of Somali Canadian parents who
met in Houston Texas raised dust in
Saudi Arabia and shipped me off to
boarding school here in beautiful
British Columbia because of my parents
effectiveness of shaping myself and my
siblings to become some young competent
cross-cultural citizens I’m guilty of
always wanted to travel to new places
safe to say that where are you from it’s
quite a difficult question to answer
without giving a stranger the entirety
of my life story for the longest time
since I still believe that money girl in
trees I’ve always wanted to go to China
when I asked my parents if I could go
they said you want to go to China so
I thought about their answer for only a
sliver of a second before I shrugged it
off but during my momentary train of
thought what they said kind of made
sense close your eyes for a second and
think about your dream destination think
about smelling the cherry blossoms of
Tokyo walking through the streets of
Rome standing in Times Square New York
standing on top of a sand dune looking
at camels in Dubai stepping through into
a closet through the gates of Narnia now
imagine yourself logging online going
onto your bank account and seeing all
those zeros if you’re anything like me
these zeros are all after the decimal
point and if you’re not like me then my
PayPal was that little Java dollar a
dollar sign dollar sign dollar sign I
for one have been really taking
advantage of Google Maps Street View of
course meaning I’ve basically been
around the world in 80 seconds often
times when told to go out into the world
and experience new things we generally
think travel but why everyone’s urged to
travel is triggered by something whether
it be a two-week holiday after finishing
school or a longer trip to some exotic
country people feel the need to
experience something new think about a
time when you express your yearning to
travel abroad in some eternity I said
well why don’t you do what you pause and
think hmm eventually you just go with an
life is messy but if you have a longing
to learn more we have never lived in a
more perfect period than now it isn’t
just about going around the world in 80
seconds on Google Maps it’s about
becoming more of a global citizen in a
time when we are more connected than
we’ve ever been
in the middle of the night can’t say I
remember exactly one but around 249 a.m.
i found myself laying awake in bed bored
anxious a little confused
the usual my brain juices were flowing
while I was having a riveting
conversation with myself Lulu come up
with a mind-blowing talk that no one has
ever heard before something that is the
furthest from one day yes Lulu you’re
absolutely right the significance of
multiculturalism and cultural diversity
within communities is a talk no one has
ever given before brilliant
season 1 episode 11 of a mediocre disney
show called Jessie got the ball rolling
to cut a long story short for your sake
and mine this episode was essentially
about a spoiled rich girl living in the
Upper East Side of Manhattan who had to
take a train across the city to go to a
cultural fair for a social studies
project although she ultimately got lost
by repeatedly taking the wrong train
that landed her all over the city she
found herself in places like Chinatown
the little Caribbean little Germany and
other small ethnic communities within
the city of course because it’s Disney
Channel spoiled little rich girl in a
bad lesson about cultural diversity
about a level I don’t have an epiphany
about cultural awareness by watching
this but it did get me thinking a little
bit thinking about my life where I grew
up my terrible choices in TV shows it
wasn’t until several weeks later when I
came across this picture of my grade 9
year back in Saudi during an
international week in this picture are
12 different students 14 different
countries represented and 15 languages
spoken amongst us kids ranged from
Russia all the way to go to old culture
I’d be lying if I said that I actively
went out of my way to learn more about
these people’s cultures the fact of the
matter is the minut size of my
tight-knit town was the guiding factor
to me making an appearance at these
functions the free food was of course
what kept me there I mean international
week was filled with singing dancing
storytelling from over 25 different
countries there were also rama dog
dinners Easter gatherings the Diwali
festival of light celebrations some of
you may not have a clue what on earth I
just said and that’s okay planning your
New Year’s kiss since January first is
time-consuming I know my point is my
point is when someone comes from a small
community or from a larger city with
multiple ethnic enclaves it makes it
that much easier to get a peek into
various cultures without having to go
too far you can probably learn something
sitting right here take that Dutch
Canadian girl over there who lives in
Turkey
she probably has a thing or two to say
about whirling dervishes or air21
planned for international domination or
even that girl over there who’s
originally Haitian and Swiss but also
hold a Canadian passport the perfect
or maybe even that point over there who
may not be as interesting as the others
but is only hot Indiana quarter Japanese
in a thermic in an eighth German who
lives in Hong Kong and studies here in
Canada no biggie
I could say with full confidence that
these people season their food with much
more than just salt and pepper so go to
their houses for dinner I could stand up
here preaching all day about talking to
someone new but you’re already
surrounded by such a diverse group of
people both here and wherever you live
so make an effort beyond the obvious
like getting on a plane or a train we
can all take advantage of the
opportunity in front of us to have a
conversation with someone about where
they come from and most importantly how
it all matters thank you [Applause]
thought meant something illegal turns
out it stands for third culture kid
definition that I’m an example of an as
are many of you in this room a third
culture kid is someone who was born or
raised in a culture that’s different
than their parents background for
instance my parents are from the
greatest country in the world Africa
[Applause]
we excel in every sport and we never run
out of melanin unfortunately those are
not traits that I developed through my
genetics but my hair is legally
classified as its own building I am the
daughter of Somali Canadian parents who
met in Houston Texas raised dust in
Saudi Arabia and shipped me off to
boarding school here in beautiful
British Columbia because of my parents
effectiveness of shaping myself and my
siblings to become some young competent
cross-cultural citizens I’m guilty of
always wanted to travel to new places
safe to say that where are you from it’s
quite a difficult question to answer
without giving a stranger the entirety
of my life story for the longest time
since I still believe that money girl in
trees I’ve always wanted to go to China
when I asked my parents if I could go
they said you want to go to China so
I thought about their answer for only a
sliver of a second before I shrugged it
off but during my momentary train of
thought what they said kind of made
sense close your eyes for a second and
think about your dream destination think
about smelling the cherry blossoms of
Tokyo walking through the streets of
Rome standing in Times Square New York
standing on top of a sand dune looking
at camels in Dubai stepping through into
a closet through the gates of Narnia now
imagine yourself logging online going
onto your bank account and seeing all
those zeros if you’re anything like me
these zeros are all after the decimal
point and if you’re not like me then my
PayPal was that little Java dollar a
dollar sign dollar sign dollar sign I
for one have been really taking
advantage of Google Maps Street View of
course meaning I’ve basically been
around the world in 80 seconds often
times when told to go out into the world
and experience new things we generally
think travel but why everyone’s urged to
travel is triggered by something whether
it be a two-week holiday after finishing
school or a longer trip to some exotic
country people feel the need to
experience something new think about a
time when you express your yearning to
travel abroad in some eternity I said
well why don’t you do what you pause and
think hmm eventually you just go with an
life is messy but if you have a longing
to learn more we have never lived in a
more perfect period than now it isn’t
just about going around the world in 80
seconds on Google Maps it’s about
becoming more of a global citizen in a
time when we are more connected than
we’ve ever been
in the middle of the night can’t say I
remember exactly one but around 249 a.m.
i found myself laying awake in bed bored
anxious a little confused
the usual my brain juices were flowing
while I was having a riveting
conversation with myself Lulu come up
with a mind-blowing talk that no one has
ever heard before something that is the
furthest from one day yes Lulu you’re
absolutely right the significance of
multiculturalism and cultural diversity
within communities is a talk no one has
ever given before brilliant
season 1 episode 11 of a mediocre disney
show called Jessie got the ball rolling
to cut a long story short for your sake
and mine this episode was essentially
about a spoiled rich girl living in the
Upper East Side of Manhattan who had to
take a train across the city to go to a
cultural fair for a social studies
project although she ultimately got lost
by repeatedly taking the wrong train
that landed her all over the city she
found herself in places like Chinatown
the little Caribbean little Germany and
other small ethnic communities within
the city of course because it’s Disney
Channel spoiled little rich girl in a
bad lesson about cultural diversity
about a level I don’t have an epiphany
about cultural awareness by watching
this but it did get me thinking a little
bit thinking about my life where I grew
up my terrible choices in TV shows it
wasn’t until several weeks later when I
came across this picture of my grade 9
year back in Saudi during an
international week in this picture are
12 different students 14 different
countries represented and 15 languages
spoken amongst us kids ranged from
Russia all the way to go to old culture
I’d be lying if I said that I actively
went out of my way to learn more about
these people’s cultures the fact of the
matter is the minut size of my
tight-knit town was the guiding factor
to me making an appearance at these
functions the free food was of course
what kept me there I mean international
week was filled with singing dancing
storytelling from over 25 different
countries there were also rama dog
dinners Easter gatherings the Diwali
festival of light celebrations some of
you may not have a clue what on earth I
just said and that’s okay planning your
New Year’s kiss since January first is
time-consuming I know my point is my
point is when someone comes from a small
community or from a larger city with
multiple ethnic enclaves it makes it
that much easier to get a peek into
various cultures without having to go
too far you can probably learn something
sitting right here take that Dutch
Canadian girl over there who lives in
Turkey
she probably has a thing or two to say
about whirling dervishes or air21
planned for international domination or
even that girl over there who’s
originally Haitian and Swiss but also
hold a Canadian passport the perfect
or maybe even that point over there who
may not be as interesting as the others
but is only hot Indiana quarter Japanese
in a thermic in an eighth German who
lives in Hong Kong and studies here in
Canada no biggie
I could say with full confidence that
these people season their food with much
more than just salt and pepper so go to
their houses for dinner I could stand up
here preaching all day about talking to
someone new but you’re already
surrounded by such a diverse group of
people both here and wherever you live
so make an effort beyond the obvious
like getting on a plane or a train we
can all take advantage of the
opportunity in front of us to have a
conversation with someone about where
they come from and most importantly how
it all matters thank you [Applause]
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