You Know You’re a MK When

Just the other day Daniel sent me a list a friend’s friend had posted on Facebook. It was entitled You Know You Are an MK When…and went on to list 202 characteristics of MKs (Missionary Kids). They were down right true to life and left you thinking uh huh, nodding your head and laughing out loud. Then we begin to realize that these things are true of our kids. This IS their experience. The last three and a half years have changed them. It’s given them different lens to look at their world. Sometimes that’s been good, sometimes bad but regardless it is. They identify. Maybe it will let you enter into their world just a bit. Here’s a sampling:

1. You speak two languages, but can't spell in either.
2. You have a passport, but no driver's license.
3. You'd rather never say hello than have to say goodbye.
4. You know what real coffee tastes like.
5. A musical instrument can be anything-- even a tambourine made from bottle caps nailed to a board.
6. You get upset when people don't finish their food, and feel worse when they scrape it into the trash.
7. Someone in your passport country has to explain to you that the double yellow line means only oncoming traffic can drive on that side of the road, even when there isn't any oncoming traffic... and you don't understand why.
8. The same individual also has to explain that red lights mean stop, every time, without exception, and you must stay stopped until they turn green, whether or not there is cross traffic... and you still don't understand why.
9. You are accused by your friends of being a maniacal driver, and you're driving just like your dad taught you to.
10. All Hispanics do not look even remotely alike, nor do all black people or Asians... but Europeans and North Americans are kind of hard to tell apart at first.
11. You used to hate hand-me-downs clothes, but when an old friend leaves a shirt at your place that happens to fit, you wear it often because it reminds you of your friend and your childhood.
12. You don't know whether to write the date as month/ day/ year, day/ month/ year, or some other variation.
13. You honk your horn at an intersection to let people know you're coming through, and everyone gives you looks that could kill.
14. Seeing a shriveled-up mango in the grocery store makes you yearn for the real thing, along with other tropical fruits that are unknown to the Americans.
15. You still hesitate before drinking water straight from the tap.
16. You know a smattering of more foreign languages than you can remember, but you cannot fully express yourself fully in any of them.
17. You are thankful for hot running water.
18. You were given a map of the U.S. to fill in, and marked several places "Destroyed by nuclear bombs" just to fill all the white space.
19. You're amazed at how empty U.S. city buses are.
20. You know not to joke around at border crossings.
21. You tell time using a 24 hour clock.
22. People leave the table when you start telling stories of things you have eaten while on the field.
23. You have to make a conscious effort not to kiss Americans when you greet them.
24. You have never called a 1-800 number in your life.
25. You think someone is drunk when they are driving in a straight line instead of swerving to miss the potholes.
26. You hear people complaining about potholes in the roads, and you can't see any.
27. You tell the clerk at the shoe store that your shoe size is 38, and you don't know why he laughed so much.
28. You claim no place as home, but you do home-schooling.
29. You can't understand why people are so upset when you're 15 minutes late.
30. People in America have never even heard of your favorite meal.
31. "Weather forecasting" means looking across the valley at the approaching wall of rain and knowing you have less than five minutes to get the clothes off the line.
32. The road says "bump”, and five miles down the road you become curious as you haven't felt anything.
33. People simply don't understand.