Welcome to the most random superlatives EVER. I started this list our very first month in Ukraine, and have been updating it every month with new winners and new categories. Since I’ve been doing it for eleven months, there are quite a few of them, so I’ll split them up into different blogs. Enjoy!
Worst smelling bathroom: the bathroom and all surrounding areas on the train to Lughansk, Ukraine. It smelled like fish, rotting dogfood, and feces all rolled into one. Absolutely foul.
Worst experience with a food vendor: the lady selling peaches outside of the train station in Kiev, Ukraine. She yelled at us, cheated us, and gave us squishy peaches that exploded in our bags.
Worst roads: Ukraine (paved roads) and Tanzania (unpaved). Death traps.
Best moment as an Aggie: seeing a woman wearing a HOWDY: “We are the Aggies, The Aggies are we” t-shirt in the bush in Africa.
Best Anna Matthews moment: when she stood up in front of a church in Romania and said wholeheartedly, “We absolutely love it here in Ukraine!”
Best shopping: the Grand Market in Bangkok, Thailand. OR the Russian Market in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. OR the Night Market in Siem Reap, Cambodia.
Best nights sleep: the Backpackers Hostel in Dublin, Ireland. Those beds were amazing.
Worst nights sleep: campout at training camp in 40 degrees with no sleeping bag. OR one night in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania in scorching heat and mosquito swarms with music next door at club-level volume.
Worst months for personal hygiene: Kenya, because it was too hot and showering was futile, and Vietnam, because it was too cold.
Most open staring at us: the road in Ville Tecci, Romania OR any small town in Northern Vietnam OR anywhere in Africa. People would literally slow down to stare, yell, and wave.
Most honking: all of the above. People around the world love to honk.
Hottest place: the train from Kiev to Lutugino in Ukraine; we could have done bikram yoga in that train car if there had been room. OR Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania– absolutely miserable heat and humidity (see Worst night’s sleep)
Most unexpected taste of home: getting to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 in English in the middle of Kenya, with a coke, popcorn, and a hot dog.
Fanciest hostel: Hanoi Backpackers Hostel in Vietnam.
Largest rodents: the rats in Cambodia. They looked like small cats.
Biggest spider sighting: in our bathroom in Tanzania. Ugh.
Worst mosquitos: Kenya, I think I counted more than 30 bites on my legs at one time.
Worst bugs in general: working up on the mountain in Panajachel, Guatemala. There were massive spiders, scorpions, and tiny evil black gnats that swarm and bite, but you don’t notice the bites until at night when you lay down and suddenly your legs are on FIRE itching like crazy.
I’ll post the next batch whenever I get internet again! We head off to Antigua, Guatemala in the morning, for FINAL DEBRIEF!
