Some Famous Pomegranates

Cover of Viggo Mortensen

Last week, I officially opened the Pomegranate Society for fellow expats, ex-expats, and all of us who don't fit into the Apple or Orange category who would like to join. Some famous pomegranates for you to ponder:

President Barak Obama
Freddie Mercury
Sandra Bullock
Uma Thurman
Viggo Mortensen (In the pic.)
Kobe Bryant
Dr. Gregory House - OK, he's a fictional character, but his TCK may be part of what's ailing him.

All of these people have more than one thing in common. Not only have they lived abroad, they also spent some of their formative childhood years there. Where ever "there" may be. Michican State Anthropologist, Ruth Hill Useem, coined the phrase Third-Culture Kid when she observed the effects on her own children.

Wikipedia explains the difference between an expat and a TCK:

TCKs grow up in a genuinely cross-cultural world. While expatriates watch and study cultures that they live in, third culture kids actually live in different cultural worlds. TCKs have incorporated different cultures on the deepest level, as to have several cultures incorporated into their thought processes. This means that third culture kids not only have deep cultural access to at least two cultures, this also means that thought processes are truly multicultural.

Makes sense, doesn't it? I think TCKs are a whole subspecies of pomegranates, with a lot of positive and negative baggage from the experience, but I'll get to that next week. Did I mention I'm married to one?

Next time I'll explore how this topic influences my writing.

Related articles

• Where Do You Belong ? An Expat Story (zestnzen.wordpress.com)

On Being a Pomegranate



Pomegranate Sugar Bowl from Tulumba.com

What happens when you're not an apple or an orange? Fellow blogger (aka Australian expat in Greece) Jessica Bell, was contemplating "home" when I came up with the answer. Be a Pomegranate!

(I like pomegranates. Jessica said she'd be a pomegranate with me. Anyone else?)

American expats, or any expats, around the world know what I mean. Once you live someplace else, you pick up little things. Things that make people here look at you like you have three heads and ask you where you're from...because your accent isn't something anyone can place....

...because that place where you lived, that you loved, became a part of who you are. And yet, you never blended in with the locals either. You were always the "American" neighbor, wife, friend. (Check out Katie and her giant jar of Jiff peanut butter in France, or any of her other Living in France topics. Really cute stuff in there!)

To top that off, I'm a writer. Which means I live in an alternate universe, wherever I am. So Fridays from now on, I'm going to just be myself. Worry about things like comma splices, or the correct way to eat an artichoke in Damascus. (There isn't one, I don't think...) It's not going to be easy, because I always need something to write about, but I'll give it a shot and see what happens!

And here I have a spot for a little giftiness. ('Tis the season!)

I've been so busy working on the MS and blogging my little bloggery heart out and I've been a MISERABLE blog commentor. I literally haven't visited more than ten blogs in a week. Like I said, I stink. But some followers (Jules, LTM, OJ Gonzalez-Caserez, Old Kitty (& Charlie), Christopher, Golden Eagle, Hart, Carolyn V., Alesa and Ayak) are always commenting here, regardless of my lack of reciprocity. I want to give you guys a huge virtual hug for being such great blogger friends. So I'm giving you a little mwah from me:

Thanks to all my occasional commenters too, even the stalkers!

On another unrelated topic:  Remember this guy?

Kıvanç Tatlıtuğ (Kivan), of Turkish Soap Opera fame :Ask-i-Memnu, Gumus, etc....just picked up the ELLE Turkey Style Award for Best Male Actor, 2010. Congratulations to him on that!

Think I'll go have one of these:

Related articles

• You Need a Drink: Pom & Ginger (thegloss.com)

Expat Harem

Image via WikipediaThe harem of Istanbul's Dolmabahçe Palace was a gilded cage. We all know and we'd never wish it on our worst enemies. But the Expat Harem...I'm happy to be a part of that!

It all started with a book of stories. Stories about women from different places who ended up married to a Turk or living in Turkey and the adjustments we make in a multi-cultural marriage. 

Serendipitously...In my research here for you, I discovered the authors also have an awesome blog now. (I am soooo submitting something next week!) Lots more interesting tales and links and I'm salivating just thinking of the neat connections I can make there!

Here's the description on their Facebook Page:

expat+HAREM: a neoculture hub for global citizens. Turkophiles. intentional travelers. identity + culture adventurers.
 cross+ROADS...places of hybrid identity + psychic limbo...coming, going, never arriving. this is where we live. call it neo+CULTURE 
 
Is that me, or what?