TCK Olympics

 I am a TCK; for those of you who might not know what that means, it means that I spent a significant part of my formative childhood years in a country (Suriname) other than my passport country (the USA). However, TCK stands for Third-Culture-Kid... in other words, kids like me grow up odd: we don't quite fit either country or culture, but are a mix of both. There's all sorts of stuff that I 'should know' from high school, as an American, that I simply missed. Anyways, all that's important because otherwise it becomes odd to say, 'I love America' in the next, related post.  I, also, love Suriname, as well as my country of adoption, Turkey. They have taught me much that I'd never have known if I'd only been American.

 I'm watching the Olympics, for example, and my past gives me a variety of countries to root for; and mostly their areas of competition don't overlap too much, so I can root for all my countries. While I love watching Americans win medals (especially swimming), probably my favorite experience in the Olympics is watching someone earn a gold medal for the first time ever for their country! Most of my life in Suriname was lived with the banknote below as part of the national currency.  Who's that? ANTHONY NESTY: first ever Surinamese Olympic medalist and, four years later, first ever gold medalist! Hero!

This year, at least four countries have won their first medal, and I got to watch Hoang Xuan Vinh win a gold medal as the first medalist for Vietnam! Great experience! What could be more fun to watch than this?

Is it any wonder he's emotional?