Welcome to Gaijin Girl!
Hey, I’m June.
As long as I can remember, the question “Where are you from?” has been difficult to answer.
I was born to Nepali parents and grew up with a mix of different languages, cultures, and expectations. I grew up in Tokyo in the 1970s and ’80s. I attended an international school with a bubble of gaijin (foreign) kids while living in a very different, often hostile world outside of it. I felt like Japan was my motherland, yet it never fully accepted me.
In Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, "belonging" falls under the third level, which is the desire for friendships, family bonds, intimacy, and a sense of connection with others. I feel a belonging with my little family —my German hubby (17 years younger) and our smart and feisty 6-year-old boy. I cherish that.
I’ve lived in Hawaii, San Francisco, Nepal, Thailand, Myanmar, and now Germany.
My background is in writing and editing. I wrote for the newspaper for a while, then transitioned to the magazine as a founding editor of a lifestyle, fitness, and fashion magazine in Myanmar called Balance (now defunct).
Currently, I’m a (English-speaking) technical writer in Germany and just up to recently, ran a Medium publication called Bitchy (feminist pub) where I was a boost nominator. I gave that up, and you can read why here.
Why write about this now?
Humans have a need to belong, to connect, to be understood. I felt like home was Nepal when my parents were living there, but with their deaths, my home vanished.
I feel like a combination of Japanese, Nepali, and American—yet, I don’t feel like I belong to any of those countries. I know I’m not alone. Many of us are not third culture kids (TCKs), yet feel like we don’t quite fit into a neat box assigned for us.
If you’ve lived between cultures, if you’ve ever questioned where you belong, if you’re going through the in-between of life, because of motherhood, illness, aging, identity, or cultural shifts, I hope you’ll feel at home here.
This is a safe place to talk about who we are and want to be. I want to build a community of thoughtful, tender-hearted souls who value vulnerability and truth-telling.
What to expect
You’ll hear from me every Wednesday and Sunday — personal essays, reflections, memories, and observations about life through the lens of a third culture kid.
Topics I write about:
Third culture identity and growing up between worlds
What’s it’s like living in the countryside of Germany
Why belonging is a core human need, especially for TCKs
The power of self-compassion for TCKs
Motherhood in midlife
Chronic illness, healing, and the importance of self-care
Cultural dislocation and longing for home
Family, memory, and the past that still lives in us
Starting over — again and again
If this resonates with you, I hope you’ll subscribe. Thanks so much for being here.
Keep seeking,
June
