Round Trip Stories

This is Part 2 of our interview with Third Culture Kid expert Tanya Crossman who has worked over 20 years with and researching issues related to TCKs to support international organizations, schools, churches, and families.   Tanya is from Australia and is the director of research at TCK Training.  She is a TCK herself having spent her teen years in the United States.  In this episode we continue t...

This is Part 1 of our interview with Third Culture Kid expert Tanya Crossman who has worked over 20 years with and researching issues related to TCKs to support international organizations, schools, churches, and families.   Tanya is from Australia and is the director of research at TCK Training. She talks a bit about her time as a TCK in the U.S and transition back to Australia, and then she shar...

Welcome to Season 3! This short episode is a preview of the amazing Third Culture Kid guest interviews we have for this season. Third Culture Kids (TCKs) are those who grew up outside their passport countries at some point before the age of 18. Melissa and Tracy have been touched by their TCK guests’ deep reflection on their own global experiences, identities, and settling into who they are now an...

After two seasons of interviews and ten guests, we want to share our guests’ combined wisdom and advice for what helps when living abroad and during the transition back after living overseas. In this episode we have gathered our guests’ excerpts from their responses to our question "What last word of encouragement or advice can you give to our listeners?" You will hear metaphors, practical advice...

This is Part 2 of our interview with Joanna Mead, an international baccalaureate Technology and Math teacher originally from Trinidad.  After living abroad for sixteen years, she felt she was losing her Trinidadianness and time with her family.  She landed a job at an international school in Trinidad an hour away from her mom, and began the process of immersing herself in her home culture once aga...

Our guest today is Joanna Meade, an international baccalaureate Technology and Math teacher originally from Trinidad. After attending university and teaching in the U.S., Joanna's itching for change took her abroad to teach in Japan, and China. She especially wanted to immerse herself in the local Chinese culture and language when she moved to Wuhan. She hit the ground running, but realized she di...

This customs episode is about WEATHER, and we have several guests share their stories! Along with the myriad of cultural changes when moving globally, weather is one more adjustment. How did moving to a new climate (or hemisphere!) affect us? We can settle into the cycles of a rainy season or dry season, and still be caught off guard by the almost suffocating humidity. Life is like the weather: so...

This is Part 2 of our interview with Stacy Hipwood, International teacher, mother and wife, who is passionate about Kenya and holding up her family.  Stacy fell in love with Nairobi and stayed for eleven years teaching, marrying, and raising her two children.  She never wanted to leave.  But her husband’s brain aneurysm and recovery period sent her whirling. With a two and four year old to care fo...

This is Part 1 of our interview with Stacy Hipwood, international teacher, mother and wife, who is passionate about Kenya and holding up her family. Stacy fell in love with Nairobi and stayed for eleven years teaching, marrying, and raising her two children.  Her transition to living in Kenya was supported by her connection to friends who became like family.  Even though long utility outages just...

This is Part 2 of our interview with Stanley Anenyemele Asasu, doctor and writer from Ghana, Africa.  In 2015 Dr. Stanley left to pursue his dream of becoming a medical doctor through a Wuhan, China university program to educate foreign physicians.  He was set to return to complete his medical clerkship in Ghana for February 2020, and he made it out of Wuhan less than 24 hours before the city clos...

This is Part 1 of our interview with Dr. Stanley Anenyemele Asasu, doctor and writer from Ghana, Africa.  In 2015 Dr. Stanley moved away from his country for the first time to pursue his dream of becoming a medical doctor through a Wuhan, China university program to educate foreign doctors.  After an emotional arrival, he found his support system through his international classmates and friends fr...

Let's listen to stories about how music around the world has brought joy and beauty to our souls. Music is a universal language and can build bridges across cultures, and at the same time music carries culture and meaning specific to place and people. It can teach us culture, language, and even how to find friends.  Music marks celebrations and gathering of people, whether in Karaoke rooms or out...

This is Part 2 of our interview with Monica Baez, an international baccalaureate psychology teacher and foodie from Ecuador who spent six years in the U.S. before returning to Ecuador.  Monica’s six years in California not only gave her degrees and professional training in psychology and marriage and family counseling, but they also gave her a blueprint for what a Christian family and grace filled...

Our guest today is Mónica Baez, an international baccalaureate psychology teacher and foodie from Ecuador who spent six years in the U.S.  She describes the time at her small California Christian university as a magical experience where she enjoyed rich diversity, close community, and added grace in her faith practice. Mónica found that being outside her country helped her to define her own cultur...

This month's customs episode is about bread and bakeries. Just talking about bread makes us fondly remember times and places when we lived near bakeries, were empowered from communicating in them, or were so thankful for the comfort food they provided for our families. These bread stories have more ingredients to them than just flour, water, and salt: they are about history, immigration, science,...

This is Part 2 of our interview with Val Robb, a Canadian born New Zealander, writer and writing coach, and teacher who homeschooled for 25 years all through eleven international moves.  She and her family loved their years living in China where her husband was a professor, and even though it was time, it was difficult to return to New Zealand.  Val shares stories about some deep rooted and practi...

Our guest for this episode is Val Robb, a Canadian born New Zealander, writer and writing coach, and teacher who homeschooled for 25 years all through eleven international moves.  Val had lots of practice helping her family of eight adjust and make a new home as her professor husband took positions in different universities around the world.  Val shares stories about her move to China where she di...

When on a flight, who doesn’t like to have a window seat and see the world from 20,000 feet up? This Review-Preview episode is that aerial view of themes from season 1 and a preview of our guests for season 2.  There are common themes which our season 1 guests spoke of, like refining identities or growing a larger appreciation for the world.  Listen to Melissa and Tracy reflect on more themes and...

In this Season 1 finale episode we hear Christmas and New Years Stories from around the world.  We hear about Paneton in Peru, Kentucky fried chicken in Japan, and watchnight chicken sandwiches in the Middle East. There are New Year wedding saris in India, grapes in Spain, and burning the old year in Ecuador. These can be celebrations we miss or continue to celebrate as we bring bits of our times...

Melinda Howe, Disney Character Brand Manager, Ministry leader, amazing baker, and mom of four.  In 2010, Melinda and her family started their four year sojourn to Beijing, China where her husband Ralph worked in the golf industry and they were both in leadership with their international church.  Melinda was not ready to leave her life in Beijing when her husband was offered a job back in Florida,...

This week's interview is with Melinda Howe, Disney Character Brand Manager, ministry leader, amazing baker, and mom of four.  In 2010, Melinda and her family went to Beijing, China where her husband Ralph was offered a job in the golf industry.  They saw this as an opportunity for their whole family to live in their adopted daughters’ birth country.  Although they faced challenges like not being a...

Today's episode is a collection of stories about how nature reminded us of home or our time abroad. Our world is replete with natural beauty and landscapes vary wildly, but sometimes they are so similar that it reminds us of another beloved place. What encounters with nature brought us comfort while abroad? Did a particular landform, park, climate, or creature remind us of home? Or when we returne...

This is Part 2 of our interview with Kat Borba, a teacher, supporter of overseas missionaries, and mother of three. She and her husband were missionaries in Sapporo, Japan for three years. They had hoped to stay for much longer, but after diagnosing their daughter with Moebius syndrome, they knew they needed to return back to the U.S. for a time and season. Reentry was harder than she was given pe...

This is Part 1 of our interview with Kat Borba, a teacher, supporter of overseas missions, and mother of three. In her mid twenties, she and her husband became missionaries to Sapporo, Japan, landing five weeks before the 9.1 earthquake and tsunami hit Japan many miles south of them. This event sparked a great need for humanitarian service, and she and her husband were able to give support through...

Today's Customs Episode is about ART.  Beauty and creativity are an indispensable and unique part of every culture. What caught our eye and hearts as we lived and worked in other countries? What did we learn? Art is an expression of not only aesthetics but also culture, history, and creative communication.  In this episode, we hear stories about how art teaches, heals, and allows us to remember. ...