Recently I came across an article about third culture kids. It was about my own school, and it really made me look at my own life. I realized how much the article related to my own life. I have lived in Thailand for my entire life. As a Russian citizen, I return to my "Home" country every summer. But for me, its very hard to call Russia "Home"; I never lived there. But here in Thailand, I will always be what they call "Falang" or in English, simply a foreigner. In reality, I do not belong to Thailand or Russia, I am a third culture kid.

Follow up:

Ahead of me is the last year of one of the most elite schools in the world. At my hands I am provided with the most state-of-the-art facilities, gyms, and highly educated teachers. With the help of the school, its easier for me to get into certain colleges. I have access to some of the most advanced online education services available. I live and attend school with people in the 5% of the richest people in the world.

As a third world culture kid I am much more broad minded. I am able to make my own decisions that affect my future. I can debate politics with adults and able to avoid most propaganda. I am able to communicate with anyone from any background or culture. I am able to brush off cultural stereotypes. I am able to look at a situation, assess it, and come up with the right solution.

But there are some great drawbacks being a third culture kid. I have a maid, who cleans the house 5 times a day, washes the car, and takes care of all my laundry. There is a person who pumps and accepts money at the gas station. Food is cheap enough to eat at a restaurant 4 times a week. Passport or any other paperwork is handled by my dad's job or simply by my parents. Like most teenagers here, I cant and don't even need to work. Most of my friends have a driver or I can take a taxi, no need for public transportation.
As a person in such great conditions, I experience immense culture shock when I go back to Russia. People are horrified when they realize that I can't handle the laundry, cook myself dinner, or simply mop the floor. I am, as a whole, looked at as though I am an idiot. People begin to see me as a little kid, not as a thoughtful and smart 17 year old. Girls get tired of me because they have to teach me how to feed the card when getting on the bus. I can't go anywhere unless there is subway nearby and I can barely get anywhere on train. Signs take some time to read and understand. I have to carry a passport in the city and I become very nervous when there is a police officer near by. Trying to get people to understand my situation the way I see it is almost impossible, I have given up a long time ago. It is very hard to relate to how people live.

Language posses great barrier too. Unlike US, English, or Australian students at my school, I lose much of my Russian vocabulary during the year. I can communicate just fine, but when trying to explain something, I cant pick the right words. Embarrassment and feeling stupid or uneducated is a common feeling and its probably how some people see me. Slang and swearing is very foreign and best not adopted since I don't know how and when to use it, let alone what it means.

If someone in their own country has the same friends most of their life, then I don't have the opportunity. People here move much too often. 2 or 3 years and they have to leave, not to be seen again. Families here get 2 weeks notice before they have to leave, and before you know it, they're gone. It takes away the opportunity to make a good friend that you know from head to toe. Teenagers and kids in this situation learn a very good lesson in moving on and leaving old friends behind.

Over the last summer, I realized I cannot live in Russia. But despite the fact that Thailand is more of a home, I cant live here either. I am in fact, left with much uncertainty and doubt about what would happen with me in the future. I am planning to study in the United States, but would that yield a home? A place where I can work and raise a family? Sadly, there cannot be a certain answer to these questions question.

I use a lot of my time examining my options that relate to my future. I have already decided that I would go for a second higher eduction. I have already decided that I would live where I can work; I brushed of patriotic bullshit a long time ago. I have already learned to live with the idea that I would have to have to say goodbye to the life I have known so well and trade it for something completely different.

As a third culture kid, I live in a great life that I love and appropriate. But its very stressful when it comes to culture shock. I cannot call any place "Home", because everywhere I am a foreigner. But I have come to accept my life and myself as a third culture kid.