Excerpts from the Book, You Might Know You’re a MK When . . . , by Andrew and Deborah Kerr

Submitted by Laura Roberts, Teacher at Ukarumpa International School

Note: MK stands for “missionary kid”, or the child of a missionary.

• You can’t answer the question, “Where are you from?”
• You speak two languages, but can’t spell either.
• You flew before you could walk.
• The U.S. is a foreign country.
• You watch National Geographic specials and recognize someone.
• You consider a city 500 miles away to be “very close.”
• Your life story uses the phrase “Then we went to …” five times.
• You prefer a Land Rover to a Lexus.
• You think in grams, meters and liters.
• You speak with authority on the quality of airline travel.
• You go to the U.S., and get sick from a mosquito bite.
• National Geographic makes you homesick.
• You have strong opinions about how to cook bugs.
• You don’t know where home is.
• Strangers say they can remember you when you were “this tall.”
• You sort your friends by continent.
• You keep dreaming of a green Christmas.
• “Where are you from?” has more than one reasonable answer.
• The nationals say, “Oh, I knew an American once …” and then ask if you know him or her.
• You aren’t terribly surprised when you do.
• You are grateful for the speed and efficiency of the U.S. Postal Service.
• You realize that furlough is not a vacation.
• You know what real coffee tastes like.
• You bundle up warmly, even in the middle of summer.
• 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.
• You refer to gravel roads as highways.
• You get confused because the dollar bills aren’t color coded.
• You feel odd being in the ethnic majority.
• You think VISA is a document stamped in your passport, and not a plastic card you carry in your wallet.
• You go to a church you have never been in before and find your picture on their bulletin board.
• You automatically take off your shoes as soon as you get home.
• Your dorm room/apartment/living room looks a little like a museum with all the “exotic” things you have around.
• You don’t know whether to write the date as month/day/year, day/month/year, or some variation thereof.
• You play tricks with the International Date Line.
• Your friends nervously remind you to drive on the right side of the road.
• 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.