How to make a joke...in Spanish

Improving my Spanish. Learning about work for a non-profit. Experiencing a new culture. These are things I knew I would learn coming into this internship. But I've come to realize that I'm also learning skills I didn't anticipate, skills I didn't even know existed.
Like pretending to understand what is being said. If I stopped the conversation every time I didn't understand something, I would become a huge pain to talk to. So I pretend like I know what is going on. It involves a combination of head nods and mirroring the facial expression of the speaker. I'm working on my fake laugh, laughing along just because everyone else is even though I have no clue what is being said.
It's risky to attempt sarcasm in a foreign language, but I needed to try. I find I'm a lot more animated when I'm trying to make a joke, over exaggerate my facial expression and flail my hands around. There's also this desperate look in my face hoping that the person understands I'm trying to make a joke, and not being offensive.
Everyone seems to get my jokes, or maybe they're just laughing AT me. That's where humility comes in. I have been in situations where I look like a complete idiot more times than I would like to count. I've come to learn to embrace it. I've had to suck it up and acknowledge that I don't understand the language, and that I am confused about 75% of the time here.
Besides getting around the language barrier, there are a few other skills I'm learning from living in a developing country.
Like how to have a shower, flush the toilet and brush my teeth with no running water (it involves an organized system of buckets and old water bottles). How to get out of a car that doesn't have a functioning inside door handle (car safety standards are non-existent). How to balance on the back of a motorbike with a bag of oranges, a tripod and a smelly bag of fish. And the list goes on.....