When you celebrate Christmas on the World Race, you realize how much your thinking patterns have changed. At home, I asked for and received nice store bought gifts and enjoyed delicious home cooked meals on holidays. Yesterday, I did a gift exchange of previously used gifts with my teammates that made me laugh and come to terms with who we have become after 6 months of this crazy ride.
Let me explain- Since we are lacking both money and stores here in Rwanda, we decided to do a white elephant gift exchange; where you draw number and exchange and steal gifts. We wrapped items we already had in brown bags, toilet paper, etc. Here were some hot items, actually desirable gifts here on the race: dryer sheets, popcorn kernels(even better because they came in a ziplock baggy!), chocolate, socks, a nail polish remover pad, a buff, bug spray, crest white strips, a massage coupon, and more. Most gifts were fought over, yes, fought over-not with fists, just kept getting passed around! To make this more racey, we did the whole exchange in the dark with one headlamp because the power was out again and some of our headlamp batteries are finally going out.
This is how I finally saw how different we have become out here. I would fight for a pair of yellow socks and a nail polish removal pad! This is the World Race folks! So for you future racers, make sure you pack a little piece of Christmas with you. We keep talking about things we wished we’d brought or not, so here are a few things I would suggest that may not be on every list:
Sweet cards and notes from home for holidays, notecards/envelopes, small musical instruments, extra headphones, external speakers, movies on your computer, a real towel, stretchy pants, extra pens, 1 favorite item of clothing, pictures of friends and family, contact solution, power strip, ways to exercise in small spaces, American medicines, zit creams-most everything on our route we were able to find in every country-from tents, shoes, underwear, or books. Don’t feel bad bringing things you don’t feel are a necessity; just look at them as things you can give away later!
