10250 North Freeway (I-45 @ West Road)
Houston, Texas 77037-1251
Tel: (281) 447-8484 Fax: (281) 999-0308
Third Culture Kids
"Missionary Kids"
WHO IS AN MK?
When I was growing up, adults always asked what I was going to be, but there came a time when what I was going to be wasn't as important as who I was. Everyone questions who he is and MKs are no exception.
Who is an MK? I am a combination of two cultures. I am neither and I am both. I am thee brat who throws temper tantrums and refuses to dress native for the American church. I am the six year old who can't wait to go away to school and I am the six year old who cries herself to sleep the first two weeks of school. I am the one who complained about eating oatmeal every day of my life, and I am the one who orders oatmeal at the restaurant for old times' sake.
I am the one who desperately worries about fitting in, and I am the one who wears my native wrap around the college dorm and doesn't care what anyone thinks. I am the one who has lived under strict school rules, and I am the one who returns to America and questions what my real values are. I am the one the churches make a saint out of, and the one other people pity and laugh at. I am the one who traveled halfway around the world before I was four, and I am the one who has no home. I am the one who promises to write, but never does because it's too difficult to deal with the reality of separation. I am the one who has seen the devil dances, and I am the one who has seen the rock concerts.
I am the one who knows and understands world missions, life and death, Heaven and Hell. I am the one who has seen God work miracles. I am the one who knows prayer works, and I am the one who sometimes finds it difficult to pray.
I am the one who has learned to live with a polilically unstable government, and I am the one who wails impatiently by the phone for news that everything is safe. I am the one who has spent only three months a year at home. Yet I know, beyond question, that my parents are the best in the whole world. I am the one who speaks two languages, but can't spell either. I am the one who has devotions from a Portugese Bible.
I am the one who wears a thousand masks, one for each day and time. I am the one who learned to be all I'm expected to be, but still not sure of who I really am. I am the one who chooses my college by where my friends are because nobody understands an MK like another MK. I am the one who laughs and cries, sings and prays, gets angry and doubts, fears and questions, expects and receives, hopes and dreams.. But I am one who cares.
I am an MK, and I AM PROUD OF IT.
Anonymous MK from MuKappa {An MK fraternity)
YOU KNOW YOU'RE AN MK WHEN......
1. You can't answer the question, "Where are you from?"
2. You get underwear from 20 different supporting churches every Christmas.
3. You have a trunk for a coffee table.
4. The vast majority of your clothes are hand me downs.
5. People in America ask you why you don't have an accent?
6. Your parents groan if you tell them they're getting a raise.
7. People in America picture you living in a Swiss Family Robinson jungle house and
swinging on vines to get ......around in your country.
8. You flew before you could walk.
9. The U.S. is a foreign country.
10. You embarrass yourself by asking what swear words mean.
11. The Oklahoma City bombing seemed normal to you.
12. You have a passport, but no driver's license.
13. You watch National Geographic specials and recognize someone.
14. You have a multiple time zones set on your watch.
15. You don't know how to play Pac-Man.
16. You would rather eat seaweed than cafeteria food.
17. You consider a city 500 miles away to be "very close."
18. Your life story uses the phrase "Then we went to..." five times.
19. You prefer a Land Rover or Land Cruiser to a Mustang.
20. You speak to different ethnic groups in their own language or tell them they are in
America now and to speak ......English.
21. You watch nature documentaries, and you think about how good that would be if it were
fried.
22. You can cut grass with a machete, but can't start a lawnmower.
23. You think in grams, meters, and liters.
24. You speak with authority on the quality of airline travel.
25. You don't mind if ants are floating in your drinks.
26. You send your family peanut butter and Kool-Aid for Christmas.
26a.You know the answer to EVERY question in Sunday School.
27. You worry about fitting in, and wear a native wrap around the dorm.
28. National Geographic makes you homesick.
29. You have strong opinions about how to cook bugs.
30. People simply don't understand.
31. You read the international section before the comics.
32. You live at school, work in the tropics, and go home for vacation.
33. You look forward to furlough in the States, but then you miss your other country when
you're here
34. You don't know where home is.
35. Strangers say they can remember you when you were "this tall."
36. You have friends from or in 29 different countries.
37. You have done your devotions in another language.
38. You sort your friends by continent.
39. You haven't seen snow for 10 years.
40. You tell people where you're from, and their eyes get big.
41. "Where are you from?" has more than one reasonable answer.
42. The nationals say, "Oh, I knew an American once..." and then ask if you know
him or her.
43. You are grateful for the speed and efficiency of the U.S. Postal Service.
44. You realize that furlough is not a vacation.
45. You'd rather never say hello than have to say goodbye.
46. You know the song, "Friends" backwards and forwards.
47. You wince when people mispronounce foreign words.
48. You've spoken in dozens of churches, but aren't a pastor.
49. You've sang in dozens of churches, but no one knows your name.
50. Furlough means that you are stuffed every night... and have to eat it all to seem
polite.
51. You realize that in Australia, statement 50 would be very rude.
52. You commit verbal faux pas, as demonstrated in statement 50.
53. Your parents decline your cousin's offer to let them use his BMW, and stuff all six of
you into an old VW Beetle instead.
54. You stockpile mangoes.
55. You know what REAL coffee tastes like.
56. The majority of your friends don't speak English as a first language.
57. Someone brings up the name of a team, and you get the sport wrong.
58. You bundle up warmly even in the middle of summer.
59. You believe vehemently that football is played with a round, spotted ball.
60. You like everything from Reggae to Japanese Rap music.
61. You know there is no such thing as an international language.
62. You had a family vacation exactly like Chevy Chase's while on furlough.
63. You have been in every Baptist church in the United States.
64. Your second major is in a foreign language you already speak.
65. You know the difference between patriotism and nationalism.
66. You tell Americans that democracy isn't the only viable form of government.
67. You realize what a small world it is, after all.
68. You never take anything for granted.
69. You feel a polka-dotted passport would be appropriate.
70. You watch a movie set in a foreign country, and you know what the nationals are REALLY
saying into ......the camera.
71. Rain on a tile patio or tin roof is one of your favorite sounds.
72. You know how to pack.
73. All preaching sounds better under a corrugated tin roof.
74. You marry another MK.
(c) SNICKERS Overdose and Co. March 12,1996. Permit #00065566930
"It Does Make a Difference What You Believe"