Capgemini Guatemala Photo Contest

Photo Contests are fun for me. I don't usually go into it to win, I just like participating and checking out what everyone else puts in. I happen to be blessed with some truly gifted friends so I don't usually see my pictures as being anything exceptional.

This becomes somewhat of a problem as I happen to have friends and acquaintances who are very gifted in several different things so pretty much anything I do OK, I know someone who absolutely ROCKS it. Like in Photography, I compare myself to the likes of Ivan Castro or Freddy Murphy and of course, I pale in comparison.

So you can imagine that usually when I join photo contests, that's what I have in mind as a good photograph. So when I submitted my pictures, I basically did it just because it seemed like a reasonable thing to do seeing as how it's a great hobby and I enjoy it quite thoroughly.

Now try to picture my shock when I hear that I won. 3rd place. Yup, I took 3rd place with this picture.

It's a little something I took when at Lake Atitlan with Susan and her co-workers.

But that wasn't all. I also took 1st place! Yeah! 1st & 3rd place! Very exciting stuff, let me tell you. Now, there wasn't any prize money or anything like that, just the fun of participating (and winning hehehe) but also 12x15 prints are hanging up on the executive floor for everyone to see. Including me. Which is fun!

Here is the winning pic.

ATCK

It's been a while since I've talked to anyone about being a TCK (Third Culture Kid) or now an ATCK (Adult Third Culture Kid). Today somehow the subject came up with my fiancée and it took me back to when I was first finding out about it. A TCK is not a complicated concept. The first culture is the "Passport" country, the country that your folks are from (also where you passport says YOU'RE from!). The second culture is that of the country where you grew up (Spain, in my case) and when you throw the experience of the two together, you get a unique "third" culture.

No two are alike, though they are all similar in many ways. David Pollard was one of the really big names on the subject, especially in a list as short as that. I didn't actually realize that I was any different from other kids until I read about it and that suddenly made a lot of past experiences much clearer.

Now, as a functional adult, I have a job I really like, I am engaged to a beautiful, wonderful woman that I absolutely love, I'm working on my MBA & MMK and am enjoying life immensely. But I am still different. I am lucky enough to work in an environment where I'm not that different and my fiancée was actually the one to point that out.

This is a subject that I could go on and on about but I think this is enough for now. I guess the point of all this is you may find TCK's in the times and places that you least expect it.

Do you know any TCK's?