The Avengers-MKs Analogy

Do you really want to know what it's like for MKs when we haven't been in the States for a long time and then come back?

It's like, okay, we feel like we haven't changed, and we get off that plane, and--BOOM!--America hits us faster than Buster hitting the pavement as Adam and Jamie once again to prove to us that you can't believe everything you were told as a kid.

Mythbusters:  Making science cool via gigantic explosions since 2003

I mean, yeah, there's the initial fact that America has just gotten stranger over the last few years or so.  I mean, could they get any stranger than they were last time?

Then comes the first day you have to interact with other Americans.  Yes!  People who speak English!  Except for the fact that everything they talk about means absolutely nothing to you.  Michael Buble?  The Walking Dead?  Twilight?  And everyone's like, "Have you been living under a rock?"

And you're like, "No.  So...how about the nuclear crisis in North Korea?"  And everyone's like, "Who cares?"  And all you can think is how nuclear missiles in North Korea are a dozen times more important than the latest thing that came out of Jennifer Lawrence's mouth (Although, honestly, of all the things I've seen about celebrities on the Internet, that woman is the one who probably acts the most like me.)

Ah, the "I'm a five-year-old adult moment."  Classic.

Anyway, after a few months of furlough though, you begin to catch on to this whole America thing.  Maybe you still haven't seen a single episode of Grey's Anatomy, but you know when people are talking about it.  You can't participate, but at least you're not completely lost.

Then comes the day when you finally feel like you've completely got all of America figured out!  This, my friends, is where the Avengers analogy comes in.  Anyone who's seen the movie remember this scene?

Okay, so imagine it's a missions conference.  Your parents have released you to go sit at the teen table away from all the old people and pastors who love to flock to missionaries.  You're greatly relieved.  Or, you know, maybe you're at college for the first time.  There's a few other missionary kids there, and you're mostly talking with them because, let's face it, Americans are just so weird.  However, eventually, an American engages you in conversation.  You start to chat, and all of a sudden, they make a pop culture reference.
The MK you were talking with goes, "Huh?"
And you proclaim, "I got it!  I knew what they were talking about!"
And every American in hearing distance looks at you again with that, "Yes...everyone understood that reference" look.  And you are the one who gets to explain to the other MK exactly what the person fully meant when he said, "Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya.  Prepare to die!"  Because your moment of triumph only made you look like a dork.

And then, inevitably, three days later, you once again find yourself completely lost in a conversation because you have seriously never, ever, ever watched Indiana Jones before.

And all the Americans are looking at you like:

Which, I hadn't, until I was a freshman in college