A Peek into the Life of a Missionary Kid.

I have interviewed many missionary kids over the past couple days. I didn’t want this to be all my own opinion, so I got other people on board and picked out what we all had in common. I really wanted people to have better insight on MK’s, because, I honestly believe MK’s are the most misunderstood people. Most all missionary kids struggle with feeling misunderstood, and it’s not your typical teenage “ugh no one understands me”, Its literally the feeling of no one understanding your life at all. Hopefully I’m not breaking any unspoken rule here by exposing the life of MK’s but oh well.

Okay, so first off, I’m going to start with the pro’s of being an MK.

• ·         We are very cultured.
• ·         We experience things first hand on the field.
• ·         We can easily find our way through any airport, it is our second home after all.
• ·         We get to travel and see the world, which normal kids don’t get to do that often.
• ·         We know…Literally everyone….okay not everyone, but missionary kids are all connected. Some way, some how, WE ARE ALL CONNECTED, IT’S WEIRD.
• ·         Mk’s generally get along with everyone, especially if they have moved around a lot or have worked with a lot of different cultures.
• ·         We also have a very panoramic view of things.

We are so blessed to have the life that we do but we aren’t perfect. There are soooo many struggles that come with being and MK. So, I guess that leads into the Con’s List.

• ·         We kind of missed out on being just normal kids. Like growing up with your grandparents, celebrating the holidays with relatives, riding an actual school bus to school, or even celebrating thanksgiving. Normally my family would celebrate it anyway though.
• ·         Most of the time we all struggle with fitting in, especially the MK’s that moved around a lot. Moving around for a MK isn’t like moving from state to state in America. It’s not just leaving friends and making new ones, its different languages, different cultures, and there’s always the fear of accidentally offending people.
• ·         We never know exactly who we are. For me, I was born in New York, moved to Hungary when I was 3, then moved to the Czech Republic when I was 8, then moved to Pennsylvania when I was 14. I wouldn’t necessarily consider myself American, though I technically am, because I lived in Europe longer than I have in America. I wouldn’t consider myself Czech either, or Hungarian, because when I’m there I’m “that American”. So….who am I? I think that’s a big struggle for a lot of missionary kids.
• ·         The only people that truly understand us, is..well… other MK’s. Mk’s are literally all immediate best friends. Especially for the ones that moved back to America. It’s like” OH MY GOSH YOU KNOW MY LIFE”. Or maybe that’s just me… anyway...
• ·         Last of all, is goodbyes. Personally, it’s my biggest con. I hate goodbyes more than anything. I hate losing friendships and people moving on. Mk’s say it more often than any person should have to.

There are also a ton of false assumptions that I just want to go ahead a clear up…

         1.      NOT ALL MK’S GREW UP IN HUTS! I have no idea why people seem to think all of us grew up in a hut, but most mk’s no matter where they lived have been asked this question. It’s really an odd questions, especially for us Europe Mk’s. It would be like me asking an American if they grew up in a hut…

         2.      That we don’t know how to use technology. Okay, really… really…Most Mk’s practically live on technology. Like I said before, we have friends everywhere and we have to keep in touch with our families back in the states! So…we may even use more than the average American….

         3.      That we are nerdy. Especially is we were homeschooled. Yeah, we'v all gotten those questions… “so are you like a star wars fanatic?”, “are you like super super good at Frisbee?”, “

         4.      That we are “socially awkward”. Okay, this is going to make so much more sense to you after I explain it. Missionary kids are NOT awkward. Not at all actually. Most the time we tend to be slightly introverted. Not because we don’t know what to say, but because we’re not in our natural culture. It’s not social awkwardness. It is a cultural difference. In Czech people wouldn’t just go up and have a conversation with a stranger. That was just not the culture. I got so use to that, that coming to America It was so hard to get use to how talkative people are. I was seen as “socially awkward” because talking to random people was uncomfortable for me. I had a Czech personality for sure. That is what I grew up with though. It had nothing to do with me being an MK or me being homeschooled. It had everything to do with the culture I was brought up in. If an American went to Czech and started talking to random people, they would probably be seen as socially awkward too.

         5.      That we are super-Christians and that we have memorized the whole Bible. Well, that not true at all. MK’s are just like everyone else. Honestly, I known more rebellious MK’s than regular American teenagers.

Well, for now, that’s all that I can think of. I’m sure there’s more, and this doesn’t apply to every single MK. Everyone is different, but out of the many MK’s I interview, the things I mentioned were in common with almost all of them. A special thanks to all the MK’s that helped me out! You guys are the best! 

Colors of India

           Getting on the airplane, I began to remember the movie "Slumdog millionaire". A million thoughts raced in my head, "am I going to be safe?", "what if I don't like it?", "What if I get home sick", "what if there's no internet?!?!" Yes, that is a genuine fear. I was leaving my comfort zone to go into a completely new culture. FOR A MONTH! I was only 15 and my family (along with a group of college students) was going with me, but that didn't make me any less nervous. We finally landed, and got settled into the hotel. Of course, the one thing you want to do after a 13 hour flight is take a nice long hot shower right? Ha......ha...yeah....no....apparently hot water wasn't really a thing where we were staying.  I had to remind myself that I wasn't there for me. I was there to help teach English to slum children. Though I never thought I would actually be teaching English by myself, I was asked because they really needed another teacher. As a 15 year old, I was terrified, but I knew that God wanted me to do it. When we finally met the slum kids that we would be working with all month, I instantly fell in love. The girls all had nose rings, Sari's and bangles. The boys were as sweet as can be. They all called me Tory dede, which meant sister.

          Because I was quite a bit younger than the other teachers, and I was not prepared to teach and I struggled often.  My dad said that the most helpful thing in teaching is to just talk to them and have a conversation with them in English. These were kids that already somewhat knew English, so we could converse. So, I tried my hand at teaching. And actually, I am quite certain the children learned nothing from me. They called me the games teacher, because I mainly just made up games to help them practice their English. I really felt awful about it, but teaching is not my forte. They were very sweet about it though, they knew I struggled with teaching and they loved me anyway. Ehem...I was also told that I was the favorite teacher.... I'm sure that had nothing to do with the fact that I really didn't teach and we played games the whole time.....

Though we spent most of our time teaching the children, we did get to go out and see India! We went to temples, the Taj Mahal, and did yes, of course shopping. India is where I learned to haggle, though I'm still horrid at it. I think I would just rather pay more and not offend anyone, then pay little and feel like I offended someone. 

This is the Taj Mahal in the picture above. We had to walk barefoot because no one was allowed to wear shoes inside. It was just respectful. One thing I struggled with in India was all the attention. Because of our white skin people would constantly touching us, ask to get pictures with us, and even just take pictures of us from a far. 

           During the third week we were there, one of the other teachers and I were heading out to a slum called Pashala. On our way there, our driver pulled off to the side of the road and pointed behind us, telling us to look out the window. With our hearts racing Michelle and I both jumped out of the car to see the most majestic elephant standing right behind our car.

It was decorated with the most beautiful paint and of course I decided I simply must befriend such an elephant...and..well...this happened...

 We tried to stay pen pals, but, you know. With her day job carrying leaves, and well... the opposable thumb situation...

          Though we had a ton of fun on the trip, there were a lot of hardships. One thing that was extremely hard for me, was every time we drove places, there were always tons of kids begging on the streets. Everything inside you wants to help them. Especially knowing how a little bit of money for an American is a year’s salary for an Indian, but we were told not to give them anything. They told us not to even pay attention to them. The children often take the money back to whoever is forcing them to beg on the streets. In many cases the kids are physically hurt to bring in more money. Giving them money only supports this cruelty, which is why we were told not to do it.   I don't think anything has ever hurt me more than trying to ignore an orphan child on the streets that literally has nothing. For that reason, I don't think I could ever go back to India. It was an incredible trip, and the Indian culture is absolutely beautiful, but there are certain things that I just can’t handle, and I think that's just one of them.  

         This is just one adventure of many that I will be posting on my blog!