In a new country, the jokes are the last thing you’ll understand. Hang in there. Humor is the final boss of fluency.

Humour sits on top of everything else in a language. It needs timing, references, the exact word rather than an adequate one, and an ear for what is being implied rather than said. That is why you can handle a lecture and still miss the entire point of a joke at lunch, and why understanding it eventually is such a reliable sign you have arrived.

Collect the jokes you do not get instead of letting them pass. Ask somebody to explain one, even though it kills it. The explanations build the reference library, and one day you will laugh before anyone translates.