RESULTS

This section contains an in-depth analysis of all the data gathered from the interviews
with all the participants. This is an attempt to present the subjective experience of Filipino TCKs
in two perspectives- the participants and that of the researchers.
From the analysis, the researchers found converging themes among all the participants
experiences. These common themes were presented in the integration section, which provides a
clearer picture of the experience of a Filipino TCK.

Integration
In this section, the researchers will discuss and enumerate the five themes that surfaced in
the unique experiences of each participant. This will provide a more coherent understanding of
the experiences of a Filipino TCK. As each major theme will be discussed, it can be anticipated
that there will also be other fundamental sub-themes that will be discussed given the numerous
encounters that the participants found themselves face to face with. The following major themes
and their sub-themes are:
1. Global Bubble of TCKs
2. Experience of Home (International Filipino Communities; Homecoming)
3. Wanting Permanence in Friendships
4. Depth of Friendships (Value of Friendship; Issues on Belongingness; Effects of
Mobility)
5. Identity Formation (Filipino Identity and Values; Religion; Discrimination; Ambiguous
Identity; Liberal vs. Conservative)
Global Bubble of Third Culture Kids

Experience of Home Because these TCKs spent their formative years in the country their
parents were assigned to, there is a question of what home means or even where home is. When
looking at lineage and genealogy, the Philippines is their home country; however, there is a
discrepancy because of the phenomenon they are in.
Filipino Communities. Many of the TCKs expressed realizations about the presence of a
Filipino community in the country they expatriated to. John explains the activities and traditions
of his family and the filipino community in Vietnam,
In Vietnam, there was also a very strong Filipino community. There were
also expats, like us. Every Saturday, the place where we would attend mass
would be like in a small chapel with the rest of the Filipino community.
Whenever wed have Christmas parties and stuff like that, we would always
be together and we even formed an association so that it would help us
organize our activities.

However, some TCKs were unable to experience the presence of a Filipino community while in
expatriation. Alicia mentions,
Perhaps if we had earlier on been submerged in a Filipino community,
which wasnt very strong back then, we would have a more grounded
understanding to being Filipino.
Homecoming. Because the timeline of these TCKs and their families are sporadic, there
was always a chance of being repatriated to the Philippines. John, who had been given 5 months
to say goodbye to his friends in Vietnam, shares,
At that time, I wasnt that sad because even if I already had friends, I was
looking forward to it [moving back to the Philippines]. Since I had 5 months
anyway, I was able to say goodbye to all my friends and all that stuff.
This type of reaction, however, was not the norm. Most of the TCKs experienced sadness and
uncomfortableness in their move back to the Philippines:
I think the hardest thing I ever did was leave Indonesia because that was my
comfort zone. I didnt know what exactly to expect because I mean, its so
much, like um the experience of living in a place as opposed to just visiting
for vacation is so different so I knew that I was coming home but it would be
totally different. I would be living here, its not something temporary (Milo).
Wanting Permanence in Friendships
The TCKs in this study have expressed their deepest concerns on the stability of their
friendships. Given that they studied in international schools and by other expatriates families,
the people around them moved around just as much as they did. Five participants revealed that
this pushed them into thinking that they do not have a fixed set of friends that they can call their
main social circle, or their barkada. At the same time, these TCKs expressed their desire to find,
or to maintain the friendship circles that they have grown close to because, at this point in their
lives, they feel like having a permanent set of friends would be vital to them. This would also
help them in further developing themselves. Miguel, for one, always saw friendships having an
expiration date:
I always felt as though theres like a, secret time limit or like an
hourglass...youre meeting people with the idea that I might not ever see you
again after a few years. Now that Im here, [parang] with no set termination
period of my stay, the friendships I made are in the context of longer lasting.
The TCKs also explained that having friends move away was inevitable:
Every year, at least one of my close friends would leave. Every year, people
would come and people would go. So, you would be more or less used to it
already. At least you know to expect that you didnt know who would still be
around next year, so that was like, the mind-set that I got used to (John).
This, then, led to the need to detach themselves from the friendships that they were
immersed in:

I mean, 8 years is a long time to stay there, right? But people move every 2
to 3 years, so you form a relationship but when the relationship is deep
enough, theyd have to move. You try to keep it together, but sometimes time
differences are [um], time differences dont help you or sometimes you just
really lose touch (Alicia).
With this, it was also revealed that losing the intactness of friendships was a part of
that process:
In terms of me moving to another country, I really lost contact with all of my
friends (Patricia).
Furthermore, Milo described that he tried to find friends who would most likely be
present in his life in the long run as a way of coping with the other friends that he lost
contact with:
I started to make friends with more IndonesiansI think its because people
left so much that I knew these guys would be the ones who would still be there
at the end of the year (Milo).
From all these responses given by TCKs, it is apparent that forming long-lasting
friendships is now one of their top priorities because of the fact that most of them are finally
settled on the idea of staying in the Philippines for good.
Depth of Friendships
Being immersed into very different cultures, TCKs were forced to cope with their own
individual situations by adjusting and trying to penetrate into the social circles that were already
established in their host countries. Whether an extrovert or introvert by nature, the TCKs needed
to push themselves to be able to find their group in their host countries. Generally speaking,
finding friends is essential in the day to day life of a person. With that, we can easily say that it
was also a vital and necessary aspect in the TCKs stay abroad because without that, living and
studying in their respective countries would be much more difficult.
The TCKs comfort zones were put to the test. This comfort zone, by definition, was
something that TCKs have grown accustomed to with the way they related to people in certain
countries. It was some kind of routine, or habit they had grown used to as the years passed. With
that, it was expected that varying ways of coping would be revealed- some managed to step out
of their comfort zones, allowing themselves to immediately make friends while some did not.
For Patricia, it was easier to make friends in Singapore than when she was here in the
Philippines:
In terms of me moving to another country, I really lost contact with all of my
friends here in the Philippines. But in terms of me gaining friends there, it was
so easy.
Some people, like Miguel, found it to be so much more of a challenge to make friends in the
Philippines especially after living in four different countries:

I felt that I had to catch up, invest time making relationships...When I was
meeting people here, it felt as though I had to give 100 percent of my care, and
sharing like, [my] time and what I had to offer to the person.
As expected, different types of people placed in different circumstances would be
dealing with their situations in ways they know how as individuals.
Value of Friendship. Despite being exposed to seemingly temporary friendships, these
TCKs showed that their take on friendship were still in line with that of a non-TCK. Miguel says:
My concept of friendship isgiving care to someone without expecting
reciprocity. And that, not receiving reciprocity as much as you have given that
care makes a difference to that person.
John also explains:
My definition of a close friend is the people I can share anything with. Those
kinds of people who would sort of, [like], understand my apprehension of
actually reaching out.
The TCKs still wanted to be accepted as they are; they wanted to be genuinely wanted
by other people just like everyone else. The only difference would be that most of
them hoped for the better understanding of the others regarding their approach towards
friendships as they are in the process of adjustment.
Issues on Belongingness. Based on their narrations, majority of the TCKs revealed that it
was normal to feel apprehensive with regards to reaching out or sharing ones self. To some, it
deemed necessary to start making friends with much caution because they were the new ones
in their host countries. However, there were also cases that were the opposite. Some of the TCKs
expressed that they felt more anxious when they came back to the Philippines. For example,
when Alicia was reunited with her old barkada, she felt that she was an outcast. She felt like she
didnt belong because after being out of the loop for so long, she couldnt keep up with them as
she grew up in a totally different world to them:
[After discovering this]...I tried to find a different kind of group to hang out
with.
Trust, being one of the essential aspects of relationships, would definitely weigh as
something that is of value in creating and maintaining friendships. As it is, it was generally
difficult to find friends and given that these TCKs had to deal with this matter in a country
unfamiliar to them just adds to the challenge. There was a need for them to belong and these
TCKs knew that they had to do something about it. Miguel talked about his awareness on this
issue:
When you move to a new place, that place is not going to adapt to fit you. You
are a smaller part of a bigger puzzle, right? You have to be the one to adapt to
the needs and expectations of the place.
The need to adjust was bigger and more significant to them as individuals than to their
environment. Given that, belonging became a necessity but that did not rid of the difficulty in the
adjustment of the TCKs. In fact, it can be said that it added pressure to them especially their
social lives.

Effects of Mobility. These TCKs studied in international schools where people came in
and left almost immediately because a lot were the families of other foreign expatriates. Given
this, this may be seen as one of the factors that led the TCKs to develop a mind-set that does not
expect people to stay in one place for a long time. Alicia shared that her general experience when
she was making friends abroad was that, she would invest so much time in them and then, she
would have to let go of them:
you form a relationship but when the relationship is deep enough, theyd have to
move.
Miguel explains that the difficulty in having international friends was that there was no assurance
that you would ever encounter them again:
It sucks. It sucks because you spend the whole year having lunch with the same
person. And so when the end of the sem comes, and then youre like good luck,
Ill see you when I see youwhich is probably never or if ever like 20 years
down the line.
John was one of the TCKs who easily allowed this fact stick to him:
...For all I know [like], I wouldnt actually stay...so, it wasnt until I found out
that I didnt really have to move anymore, that I actually let myself have a lot of
friends.
With this, the TCKs established that the moving around of their friends when they were still
abroad instilled in them the thought that maybe this was how friendships were- temporary.
Identity Formation Having been expatriated from the Philippines in their formative years,
TCKs have had unique experiences in forming their identity. A huge part of this identity is one
that links back to their lineage as Filipinos. This so-called Filipino identity highlights important
Filipino experiences like those related to religion and other beliefs and practices. Miguel
mentions,
When I was overseas, I felt detached from my identity as a Filipino. I felt as
though I had this bullshit notion na parang even if Im Filipino by blood, Im like
the citizen of the world.
Filipino Identity and Values. With Filipino lineage still in their blood, most of the TCKs
identify their being Filipino with values instilled in them by parents or the Filipino Community
in the country they expatriated to. Milo says,
I feel as if I was still brought up Filipino because i was surrounded by, not a
big Filipino community, but big enough so that a lot of the core Filipino values
are still there.
Patricia, however, had experienced and learned values from the country she expatriated to:
We were enculturated, in a way, to really think of these values. Like for
instance, what we had was a primary years program and it was a development
program based on these values. I think we had around 12 values. Basically,
you have an entire year to develop yourself based on the values. There were

values such as: risk-takers, being open-minded, being caring, and there are
different chances.
Religious Practices. Religion still stands as one of the defining factors of the Filipino
culture and lineage. In relation to the previously mentioned presence of a Filipino community,
Christian and Catholic beliefs are still regularly followed. John shares his experiences with
religious traditions while his family was living in Vietnam,
Every Saturday, the place where we would attend mass would be like in a small
chapel with the rest of the Filipino community. Whenever we would have
Christmas parties and stuff like that, we would always be together
Milo also experienced similarly when him and his family lived in Jakarta,
The biggest one [activity of the Filipino community] is church. Church, youth
camp, like YFC Youth for Christ -and outside of that, sports at well but
primarily its church and religious gatherings.
Discrimination. One unfortunate aspect of being a TCK are the differing perceptions
when it comes to race and image. According to Alicia, she experienced discrimination both from
people in Singapore and those in the Philippines. Alicia, who is from Chinese and Filipino
lineage, states,
For me, the worst thing is that despite being in an international school, there is
still a hint of racism...and he [an acquaintance] said, why is she even with you,
is she like, your maid or something?
In addition,
I moved back, I was bigger, um theres this, you know, Filipinos are generally
smaller and I got some comments from my grandparents and my titas that I
guess I dont really like. Theres really a perception and image of what a Filipino
girl should look like, at least to them.
Patricia also experienced the same. However, the discrimination had come only
from her relatives back in the Philippines.
I mean, being in an international school, the only concept of racism came here
when I came back to the Philippines. You know, negro-negra, that only came
here and it was strange.
Ambiguous Identity. Because TCKs are caught between the identity of the country they
expatriated to and the Filipino identity, a disconnect in the reconciliation of both sides happens.
Milo recounts,
In terms of my identity, theres still this ambiguity. You know, I still cant put my
finger on it, its really difficult to reconcile. I definitely feel a bit more Filipino
but theres still ambiguity, in terms of how I make friends, I think my
multicultural upbringing has um, I guess just made me um, less judgemental in
making friends
Liberal vs. Conservative. The presence of an international environment results to
encountering different beliefs and understandings. According to TCKs, the phenomena they are
in allows for a first-hand view on the main differences between an Asian Collectivist culture and
a Western Individualist culture. They have mentioned that their choices, in a way, have also been
influenced by the exposure to this reality. Alicia states,
I guess I make sure that when Im with these people, theyre open-minded. I guess it is
easier to find in an international school than here [in the Philippines] but I was fortunate

to find that. Since I grew up internationally, I find it very hard to stick to traditional
mindsets.
Milo also experienced the same thing,
I grew up in an environment which is more oriented to western culture and in
the western culture you can be very forward with your friends, you can be very
blunt and it wouldnt really matter, even with your teachers and people older
than you its okay to speak your mind but when you come here, being blunt can
be perceived as being rude and I guess people take offense in that so I definitely
had to tone it down.