Being an MK

Thinking of boarding a plane and going across the Atlantic to Spain has made me think of a part of who I am: an MK (AKA missionary kid). So, this is dedicated to all the MK's out there who may read this.

You are a special bunch of people!

Obviously, not all of these are going to describe the experiences of every MK. Even though we are very alike, we come from different countries and have had different experiences. Mk's, which ones can you identify with?

• Where are you from?" has more than one reasonable answer.
• 011 is a familiar area code.
• You flew before you could walk.
• You consider a city 500 miles away to be "very close."
• You prefer a Land Rover to a Lexus.
• You can cut grass with a machete/cutlass, but can't start a lawnmower.
• National Geographic makes you homesick.
• You read the international section before the comics.
• You live at school, work in the tropics, and go home for vacation.
• You sort your friends by continent.
• You stockpile mangoes.
• You bundle up warmly, even in the middle of summer.
• You believe vehemently that football is played with a round, spotted ball.
• You like everything from Reggae to Japanese Rap music.
• Your second major is in a foreign language you already speak.
• You watch a movie set in a foreign country, and you know what the nationals are really saying into the camera.
• Rain on a tile patio --or a corrugated metal roof-- is one of the most wonderful sounds in the world.
• You know how to pack.
• A musical instrument can be anything-- even bottle caps nailed to a board.
• Fitting 15 or more people in a car seems normal to you.
• You own personal appliances with 3 types of plugs, know the difference between 110 and 220 volts, 50 and 60 cycle current, and realize that a transformer isn't always enough to make your appliances work.
• You fried a number of appliances during the learning process.
• You think nothing of straddling white lines to pass between trucks or buses travelling side by side, because "There was plenty of room, officer. Honest! At least six inches clearance."
• 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.
• The same individual also has to explain that red lights mean stop *all* the 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.
• Later the same day, the same poor friend has to go to great lengths to explain to you why you cannot just hand the policeman fifty cents and drive away when he stops you, and why you are now being driven downtown in the back of said officer's car over a mere fifty cents; at which point your passport country ceases to make any sense to you at all.
• You feel odd being in the ethnic majority.
• You go to the local Korean/West African/etc restaurant just to listen to the conversation.
• You are accused by your friends of being a maniacal driver, and you're driving just like dad taught you to.
• Your study of minor keys in music theory makes you homesick.
• You feel like you need to move after you've lived in the same place for a two months.
• You think VISA is a document stamped in your passport, and not a plastic card you carry in your wallet.
• Someone asks you where you most enjoy just hanging out and you immediately think of happy hours spent in international airports.
• You go to a church you have never been in before and find your picture on their bulletin board (for MK's).
• You actually look forward to the rare times the power goes off because it makes you feel nostalgic, *and* you might get a chance to see those stars that are still etched so vividly in your memory.
• You didn't get a license until you're 18th birthday, but you started driving the ancient family landrover when you were seven, looking out through the raiseable ventilation louvres under the windshield.
• For years, you thought those ventilation louvers were what air-conditioning meant.
• You don't know whether to write the date as month/day/year, day/month/year, or some variation thereof.
• The best word for something is the word you learned first, regardless of the language. You still use those words, even if you know what they are in English.
• There are times when only your family knows what you're saying.
• You wake up one day and realize you're not a foreigner anymore.
• You wake up one day and realize you really still are a foreigner.