Sappy Thanksgiving post ahead. Yes, I am capable of being sappy about holidays 🙂
The World Race, really traveling in general, is great for teaching perspective. I have met so many people, heard so many stories, and seen so many things that I never would have at home. And so, this Thanksgiving, while I’m thankful for all of the old standards – family, health, pumpkin pie – I also have a few unusual additions to my pile of blessings.
1. R Squad! This is not the first Thanksgiving that I’ve been away from home and family, but it definitely felt different to celebrate the holiday with 52 of my best friends. It was a bittersweet celebration, as we also bid farewell to our alumni Squad Leaders and our friend Shannan, but we had the most American Thanksgiving I think Thailand’s ever seen!
2. Open-air markets! I haven’t made it to any yet in Thailand, which I’m sure will be rectified quite shortly. But I have missed this markets, full of clothes and food and who knows what else – and my wallet tends to feel like it’s missing something after we go…which leads me to my next point.
3. Freedom! Not in the general sense, although that’s quite nice. But something that God taught me in Zambia was to not be so stingy all the time. Our debrief in Livingstone was a great start to feeling free to spend money on amazing experiences (hello, Canyon Swing!) and this past month in Cambodia, He kept nudging me to grow in this further. While I haven’t gone too crazy with the spending, it has been so freeing to donate to others as He’s called me to.
4. Real towels! Don’t get me wrong, that microfiber quick-dry towel is a Race necessity, but nothing compares to using real towels (after taking a hot shower with great water pressure, might I add!). So soft!
5. Miserably long travel days! This one might be the most peculiar, as most people dread 24 hour bus rides, 4 hour border crossings (standing up the whole time), and 3 international flights in a row. While they certainly haven’t been easy – especially the sleepless nights on planes – I have loved seeing how our team and squad have supported each other through each and every ridiculous situation.
6. Journaling! This was something that I did infrequently before the Race, and something that I still have to remind myself to do, but what a difference it makes! Writing is so cathartic for me – hence the glut of blog posts over the past five months. And I love to remember that I’m writing and drawing in a beautiful journal that I’d been saving for years, never knowing it would travel the world with me.
7. Thai food! (Okay, I’m usually thankful for this, but I have never felt it more strongly than I do now!) The days of rice all day, every day are over! Now I can trade off between Pad Thai, Fried Rice, Fish Cakes…and that’s just been the first three days! I am so excited to have a whole month of eating authentic Thai food, although I am also thankful for…
8. Gas stoves! My team cooked one meal a day last month, basically the first time that’s happened for me on the Race. (We did cook for ourselves in Romania but given that it was for 55 people, it was a little chaotic. Just a little.) So I volunteered to cook, a lot. Absence certainly made my heart grow fonder – and it was also fun to make dishes for my teammates.
9. My closet! When I lived in Spain, I had a dresser and wardrobe to unpack the 9 months of life I had crammed into two suitcases. On the World Race, I have a 65 liter pack, a wolf-print backpack, a purse I picked up in Zambia, and an assortment of plastic bags to hold all of my stuff in. Even when I try to keep this all organized, it ends up being a disaster that I have to repack every single month. I cannot wait to hang clothes up in my closet!
10. Itty bitty reminders of home – solar panels, cats, handbell music, the color periwinkle, elephant prints, my mom’s recipes, owls, Presbyterian hymnals…the list goes on and on! All of these things seem so inconsequential when I’m surrounded by the people and places that I associate with them, but they mean infinitely more to me after five months of being gone.
11. Technology! Usually I am very wary of technology, but I am so, so grateful for long video chats with my family, especially this week as they are gathered in West Virginia to celebrate my grandfather’s life. The image quality may be poorer than real life and we can’t talk 10 minutes without getting disconnected, but there could be no better way to end my Thailand Thanksgiving than laughing with the goofballs I’m related to.
