Right now I’m sitting in a backpackers lodge in the middle of Swaziland listening to monkeys running across our roof. When I look out my window there are three monkeys sitting on the fence eating something they probably stole from the kitchen. Every day on the race is a new adventure.
The past two days we have been at debrief. Two nights ago my team REAL got reunited after a month apart from our men. I didn’t realize how much I missed my team. We are so great together. We are honest and ridiculous and a wonderful little WR family!
The other night at team debrief we were waiting for the squad leaders and coaches so my team got to catch up. This meant we got to laugh at all our inside jokes. I missed saying “thank you” in any language we’ve learned thus far and having Austin say the correct “you welcome.” I missed watching Fringe and having our nightly bible time together. Basically, I’m just so glad my guys are back!
But because we clearly didn’t have enough “women time” last month we had a women’s session last night. At the end we all got sparkling juice and made toasts to each other. I have never liked women’s time before and to say I wasn’t excited is a complete understatement. But I got my sparkling pink lemonade, took out my notebook to doodle, and was ready to suffer through it. I mean I was expecting a bunch of crying women speaking a bundle of fluffy words to each other all while I try to keep my eye rolling inside. But to my surprise, there wasn’t much suffering going on and no need for internal eye rolling. While there were a few tears, what was said seemed genuine and overall, it was just nice. I’m not saying I would like to do it again, but I’m definitely glad it happened. The women on my squad are all amazing and are growing in ways I never expected and I’m very happy to be part of it.
Tomorrow my team along with two others is heading for Cape Town, South Africa for month SEVEN on the race.
Thanks to everyone who helped support me for the World Race! I’m officially fully funded!
