Welcome!

Hello there! My name is Rachel Etter and this is my first blog. Before I get into my reasoning for starting this blog, let me introduce myself.

I am an MK living in North East Asia--China, to be specific. I was born in Seoul, South Korea, and lived there until I was almost eleven. At that point, my family moved to Yanji, China. As you can see, I have never really lived in the United States, which is where I have citizenship. I have visited the US, to be sure. My family travels there every three or four years and stays for about four or five months. There are exceptions to this, as once or twice my family traveled to the States two years in a row--for example, we went in 2007, and then again in 2008. In 2010, we went back again and stayed for nearly eight and a half months.

I am now seventeen years old and, as of this past June, have graduated from high-school at the top of my class--I was homeschooled, and therefore was always at the top of my class. I simply feel smarter when I can brag in such a way. I am taking a gap year which means I am staying at home for one more year before heading to (hopefully!) Liberty University next Fall. During this next year, I will be studying more Chinese, taking more online college courses through LU (I say "more," because I started taking them during my senior year of high-school), and working.

I have four sisters. Torie, who is fifteen, is our artsy one. You'll often find her drawing or painting in her room, outside, or anywhere else she feels like working. She loves bright colors and would choose a fruity sherbert over chocolate ice-cream any day. She also loves reading and is currently writing a story. Charis is thirteen. She enjoys sewing, knitting, cross-stitching, latch-hook... You get the picture. She also really enjoys cooking and drawing, as well as reading and writing stories. Alia is our youngest--sort of (you'll find out why in a minute). Anyone meeting us would know that she is the baby of the family. She's ten years old and is spoiled rotten--I mean, she's adorable. Alia is extremely outgoing and out of all my sisters, she is the one who is most likely to go outside and play with the local children, even though there are language difficulties. Alia, like my other two sisters, enjoys reading and writing stories, and drawing. She also can be found playing dress-up and house with her friends.

So far, I've mentioned only three of my sisters. The youngest is Hanissa and she is four years old. We are in the process of adopting her from Ethiopia. The Ethiopian government has signed her over to us, and she is now officially part of our family. She is still in Ethiopia, and my parents hope to be able to return in a month or two to bring her home. We are currently awaiting the US Embassy's approval of the documents.

Thus is the brief (...yes. This is the brief version!) introduction of myself. Now, why am I starting this blog?

Not only am I an MK, I am also a TCK. A TCK is a Third Culture Kid. What is that, you might ask? Think about it. My parents are from one culture (American) and I am living in a different culture (Chinese). However, I do not truly belong with either culture. Though I have done a lot of growing-up in China, the Chinese people do not accept me into their culture. I look different, I don't understand the language all that well, and I act differently. When I go to America, I blend in, but people my age often find me strange. I don't know the culture, I don't understand a lot of the humor, I don't know the popular music, etc. Because of this, we TCKs have created our own culture. We can relate to each other.

So really, the main point of this blog is to give all of my readers a glimpse a TCK's (and MK's) perspective on life. My perspective. Not to mention... who wouldn't want to read about China? And how amazingly awesome I am? :)