1) It’s photo shoot time
Something that is always a good laugh while you travel around the world is how people often have no filter when it comes to snapping a photo of you. Let me give you a bit of an example of what this looks like…You are walking down the street and turn your head to the corner *photo snaps* you are in the middle of having a rather heated discussion with the bus driver you just hired to drive you to the boarder of another country and he is basically considering kicking you off his bus and all the sudden bam *photo snaps* mid conversation. You are sitting waiting for your train and all the sudden bam a mother throws her baby in your lap *photo snaps* and walks away. You are sitting on the beach with your team and all the sudden a family of six approaches you and want to do a mini photo shoot with you, best part? Afterwards they offer you a plethora of free snacks! The deal is people are going to want to take photos of you and with you and this is pretty much guaranteed wherever you go. If I could go back in time to month one I would have totally started a tally of how many times I unexpectedly had my photo taken this year. Who knows how many random strangers’ facebooks or family photo books I am in!
2) Don’t take anything seriously!
Okay, that’s a lie, take some stuff seriously- but when it comes to stuff that doesn’t work out the way you were hoping. Oh well! Life is full of things never going the way you want them too. The quicker you learn to laugh it off the quicker you will embrace the culture and the experience for all that it is. For example; I’ve had lice twice this year, I’ve been vomited on by babies, I ran into someone’s car on my moped, and I am not even ashamed to admit that I got so sick once that I lost control of my bowels which then led to some unfortunate things happening. That’s life- it’s how you handle those situations that really matters.
3) Rest is the name of the game
The fact is our bodies need rest. And when we are living a more day by day routine rest comes a little bit different, that’s for sure been my experience so far this year. Some days I wake up in one country and end the day in a different country. Some days I am at ministry for over 12 hours, then have team times, feedbacks, phone calls, emails to respond to, and by the end of the day I am falling into bed barely at a decent time. Some days my heart is wrecked because I’ve been meeting so many people around the world and feeling God’s heart for these places and sometimes it’s too much and I feel like I am going to break, or drown, or something. Basically, the answer to all of these scenarios is rest. Rest never looks the same way it looks back home for me either. Sometimes rest is physical and sometimes it’s sitting on a couch surrounded by the ones I love and crying laughing at SNL skits, and other times it’s cooking for a couple hours in the kitchen with a good friend and some worship music, and other times it’s not leaving the Presence of God for 6 hours. So making time for this and not feeling selfish in taking that time is key!
4) For the love of FISH & cookies
Let me take you through a scenario that may or may not have happened to me recently. So our team actually had a kitchen to use this particular month. Exciting news! We had these great baking recipes we wanted to bake since we could take advantage of kitchen appliances for a change, so say one of those recipes is a tasty sugar cookie recipe, sounds simple enough, so we wrote down the ingredients we needed and headed to the store to get all of the ingredients that seem to look like what we’d use back home. Once we prepared and baked this delicacy I go in for my first bite… hmm tastes fishy… how could this be? Well I am here to tell you that some places, Southeast Asia in particular, love their fish tinted EVERYTHING. Fish oil, fresh fish, and seaweed snacks pretty much bulge from every mini mart you will walk by. One moment I think I am buying a typical everyday olive oil and the next moment I realize that of course it makes sense that the number one oil based product they sell at any mini mart in town would be fish oil. I personally am not a fan of fish and have learned that it’s not as easy as I thought to avoid this year. So when you end up with sugar fish flavored cookies- ya eat them anyway!
5) Your stomach is not invincible
Here’s the deal. Everyone around the world is going to want to know all the exciting foods you try abroad and let me be the first to tell you exciting is just one friendly way of describing some of the foods you will come across. Now, I am definitely not discouraging you from fully embracing the culture. Go all out! But, just a reminder when you are at the toilet for an entire night coming and going in 30 minute intervals -that you are not invincible. It’s okay to say no sometimes to the cultural experience of food.
6) Squatty potties; The truth
Now I’m gonna de-bunk this one quickly for ya’ll. If you have never experienced a squatty potty than let me create a quick illusion for you. You have the floor. The floor is likely covered in urine, other discolored bug covered liquids, and a whole family of mosquitoes. And then you have the “potty”- which in short is a hole in the ground shaped like a toilet bowl. Approaching this fairly intimidating task it might cross your mind to try a number of different options to get the job done. I am here to tell you there is only one way to do this right to avoid walking out of the bathroom completely covered in your own personal urine. That is to SQUAT. No, not as if you are playing basketball getting in your ready stance to toss the ball in the hoop, I am talking once you feel a burning sensation that shoots up your thighs than you have successfully gotten in the correct squat stance for the squatty potty! Also, I will end this lesson by actually admitting that I think squatty potties are better than regular toilets.
7) Just go with it.
You are traveling the world and no matter where you go you are probably going to stick out like a sore thumb- so it’s about time you embrace everything for all it is and just go with it. At the end of the day you are probably the only person who thought that situation was slightly uncomfortable or awkward. Besides, those are some of the best stories. Here’s a couple I’ve experienced for your viewing pleasure. One time a few of us went to get Thai massages, what we thought was going to be a nice shoulder massage turned into what felt like a wrestling match with our masseuse. There were some painful moments, but we just went with it and got to laugh about it a ton down the road. Another time we just got done grocery shopping for the squad and the bus that will get us back to the place we are staying is so crowded that peoples body parts are actually hanging out the windows, but we figure why not fit a few more! So we cram more bodies and groceries in and I spend the whole bus ride with an armpit in my face. It’s just how things work on the other side of the world.
8) Play a lot of soccer *ahem football*
This is the most universal sport you’ll find. Everyone loves it, everyone plays it, and everyone talks about it. If you want to find people and quickly fall in love- find a ball and toss it at some kids and waste a day with them. It’s a great place when there is a language barrier and it’s always a great way to start a relationship with people in a community. Also, be prepared that mostly everywhere you go in the world you will get womped playing soccer with children- they are all beasts! (and if some of you men are thinking it’s because I am a woman- the men of I-squad will be the first to agree that they have all probably gotten their butts kicked in soccer at least a few times this year)
9) You are not too old for a diary
I started the race off with a friend of mine Brittney, who wrote in her journal pretty thoroughly everything that happens every day, at first I tough that was ridiculous- but now that I am going onto month 8 wishing I had done a better job of keeping up with the details. I even have a squad mate, Sydney, who carries around a planner and just writes a few sentences each day in the planner. Brilliant! But, I also believe that journaling is hugely therapeutic. In the past few months I have been painting a lot more and I’ll put on some worship music and get lost in painting for hours. Sometimes I make lists and the lists will talk about my dreams or passions/desires and I’ll write it all in my journal. Whatever it is it doesn’t matter just write it down, color it out, or paint it. It is something you will never regret and will always get to keep as a memory that can actually put words to some of the experiences you have. It’s also cool in giving God glory to look and see like woah- look where I have come from and grown since this.
10) Ants, ants, and more ants.
Ants are just one of the pests that attack us on a daily basis around the world, but they are by far the most annoying. Why you ask? Ants are in everything and on everything. I am talking everything. Wake up in the morning- oh an ant crawling on my face. Go to cut up my veggies on a cutting board- oh a party of 50 ants crawling on the cutting board- how convenient. Go to get my oatmeal for breakfast- oh ants are crawling inside the bag of oatmeal covering my delectable meal for the morning. Will I eat that oatmeal anyway? Yup. That’s the lesson right there. Ants, mosquitoes, biting flies and bugs they are just a part of the adventure. You either embrace them or embrace them because there is honestly no avoiding them or getting rid of them.
11) You are exactly where you are meant to be
GRACE. People are fragile and people need time to process and go through their own adventure to figure out how they are being affected by things. It’s good to ask hard questions- challenging questions even. It’s okay to have doubt. It’s okay to be afraid! Don’t sit in that fear- please God, don’t sit and dwell in that fear, but there is such this unnecessary pressure that society puts on people to have it all figured out. And I am here to tell you that you are free to be you and do you on your own time and at your own pace. #canigetanamen?
