So my last blog series, “The Jungle Book,” was a
little negative. Sorry about that. We had a tough time in the jungle. This blog should be a little more
upbeat. One of the most exciting and also
frustrating things about the race is the dichotomy between days. Of course you have the natural feelings of
excitement and then homesickness which can make some days better than others,
but there are times on the race that lack of a better term suck, and there are
times on the race that are unbelievably amazing. We go through such a roller coaster of not
only emotions, but also physical conditions and accommodations. All is not bad in overseas life, sometimes
it’s just amazing how nice people can be or how beautiful cities or landscapes
appear. So much like the volatile
African prices where cokes are 10 cents but Deodorant is $15, life on the race
is very fickle.
Here
are a few examples… One day you might be stuck on a Ukrainian train that is 90
degrees and the people on the train not only smell bad, but won’t let you crack
the window because they are afraid the draft will make them sick, this goes on
for 36 hours (bad day). Then a few days
later you are visiting a mall in Bucharest, Romania, eating pizza, playing
laser tag, and watching Toy Story 3 in an IMAX Theater. The African version of a bad day has you
riding a bumpy African bus where your head hits the ceiling multiple times, an
African falls asleep on your shoulder, and you’re peeing on the side of the
road (guys and girls included). Then a
few days later we are staying at a resort in Zanzibar with a beautiful pool and
you spend the day snorkeling. You never
know what the day will bring, and this has been the case during our time in
Malaysia. I will now recount a random day
in the jungle and contrast that day with a random day in Kuala Terengganu.
A
typical day in the Jungle
Some days are like this^
8:00 AM -wake up, back
aches from sleeping on the floor.
8:30 AM – disappointed
to see only coffee served for breakfast, smell the dog enter the church.
9:00 AM – pray with the
team “God help us through today.”
9:30 AM – tie up my
cleats to forge the mud on the way to the farm.
9:45-noon – pick weeds
at the farm as the sun begins to glare down around 11.
Noon – bathe in the
river as children stare at you as if you’re an alien.
12:30 – Lunch time,
Yay! Rice and green beans for the 5th day in row.
1:00 – Begin an
afternoon read, only have a few pages left of a John Grisham book therefore I
read the last pages slowly not wanting to face the boredom upon completion.
2:00 PM- Finish up the
Grisham book, have nothing to do.
2:30 PM- Fall asleep
for an afternoon nap due to boredom.
4:30 PM – Wake up, play
spades with teammates.
6:00 PM – begin our
dinner perch on the front porch waiting for our rice.
8:00 PM – rice comes in
the door; we eat as much as our taste buds and stomachs take.
9:00 PM – either a rat
or spider enters the church to scare us all.
10:00 PM – bed time,
“Thank you God for getting us through the day.”
Now for a much more
positive attitude toward life, here is a day in our life as we were staying in
Kuala Terengganu which is a beautiful beach town on the east coast of Malaysia.
And other days are like this ^
9:00 AM – wake up, back
feels great, and the stomach feels better as the worm medicine is working.
11:00 AM – meet up with
our friends Joy and Nadine as they drive us to the riverfront.
11:30 AM – hop on a
boat with our friends and get a tour of the town’s beach front and river.
12:30 PM – get back to
shore, buy a kit kat ice cream cone, delicious.
1:00 PM – head to Old Town
Coffee to eat Chicken Fingers and Fries for lunch.
2:30 PM – Leave lunch
and head to the bowling alley.
3-5 PM – Four of us
bowl 2 games with Joy, poor showing on my part.
5:30 PM – Head over to
Aunt Daisy’s house where she has made cinnamon rolls for us.
7:30 PM – have a feast
prepared for us back at Nadine’s house where her mom has made 6 dishes for us
and demands we eat them all.
10 PM – leave Nadine’s
house after visiting with her family for a few hours, thankful to God for such
a great day.
So
as you see, the race can bring you good days and bad. God is certainly present whether the day is
great or miserable. You are forced to
lean on Him much more during the bad days, but I am very thankful He allows us
to live the good days many more times than we deserve. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.
