I am in Vietnam. My very last country! I cannot believe how quickly this year has come and gone. Time really does fly.
There are so many blogs I still want to write about my experiences, both in Vietnam and on the race in general. To share more about what I have experienced on the race. But to be honest, I want to enjoy every moment I can with my squad mates and I want to explore every inch of this city that I can. Because y’all, I love Vietnam. I want to soak up as much of these last couple weeks as possible. So there probably won’t be much blogging until I’m back in the states.
Until then, here are some of the most popular questions I’ve been asked this year and the answers that go along with them:
What was your favorite country?
Every country has something good about it, even the months I didn’t love. Every country is one I would go back to (with the exception of maybe Zimbabwe). I loved the people that became family in every country.
In Europe, my favorite countries were Greece (both of them) and then Serbia.
In Africa, my favorite country was South Africa because I loved spending time with just the girls and I loved celebrating Christmas with my squad.
In Asia, my favorite country was Vietnam. And visiting Boracay with my squad mate Molly in the Philippines, but that wasn’t officially part of our race. I also loved seeing my parents in Thailand and I loved our host family in Cambodia.
Overall though, my top two would be Greece and Vietnam.
What was your least favorite country?
This question depends on what you mean by least favorite. My least favorite month team dynamically? Probably Serbia. But I loved the people and the memories. And I learned so much through the challenge. My team didn’t necessarily love each other our best that month, but we learned how to love each other well because of it.
My least favorite month spiritually? Cambodia. Spiritual warfare was heavy there and it was a hard fight, but I’m grateful for what I learned through the battle.
My least favorite month of food? Probably Zimbabwe. Africa in general wasn’t really my favorite when it came to food.
My least favorite month as a squad leader? The Philippines. The combination of a surprise third all squad month and four people going home made for a rough month in leadership.
What weird things did you eat?
We ate silk worms and bamboo worms in Thailand and we ate crickets in Cambodia. And then one day in Cambodia, we found out post dinner that ants were cooked in our soup (yes, on purpose).
And Molly and I had a lot of fun cleaning, cooking, and eating frogs.
How many times did you change teams?
Our squad had two team changes overall. One after month 4 and one after month 7 – resulting in three different sets of teams. After month 4, I was raised up as a squad leader with Austin and Tabs so I only ended up having two different teams throughout the race.
my first team, month 2
my second team, with our two alumni squad leaders before they went home month 5
austin and tabs, my teammates/co-leaders for the last seven months of the race
What country did you most enjoy the food?
The fresh fruits and veggies in Serbia. We could buy enough for our entire team for a week for less than $7. It was the cheapest month food-wise the entire year.
The pad thai and other dishes that I currently don’t know how to spell were delicious, as was pretty much everything I ever ate in Vietnam. Have I told you how much I loved Vietnam?
Oh and mangos. The mangos in Asia were to die for.
What did you learn on the race?
I learned a lot. More than I can fit into this blog. I learned how to walk through shame and allow the Lord to heal me. I learned that I’m a people pleaser at heart and what it looks like to not let people pleasing affect my decisions and affect my leadership. I learned how to say hard things and give feedback. I learned a new definition of success. I learned so much more patience and how to give grace time and time again. Yet on the other side of that, I learned there is such a thing as giving too much grace. I learned how to rest and what it looks like to really take a Sabbath every week.
I developed a deeper relationship with Jesus than I ever have before. I learned so much more about my Father and what He has planned for my life. And while it’s not exactly what I had planned, that’s okay. Because His plans are always better.
And that doesn’t even begin to cover half of it.
What was your longest travel day experience?
Okay, so. Every time we travel, we take a bus or train. The only times we’ve flown on the race are from continent to continent and from the Philippines to Malaysia. Because, islands. Which makes for a lot of hours getting from country to country.
My longest travel day was 57 hours long. Which is in fact travel days, not just one. But no matter how long travel days are, they typically feel like one really, really, really, really long day.
So Zimbabwe. The bus ride there was already really long. But in addition to that, we sat on a bus at the border for 16 hours. Sitting, doing nothing really. We got there, got our passports stamped, and returned to the bus. Then we waited in a mile long line of buses for our bus to get to the front of the line so we could take all of our luggage off the bus to be searched. Then continued several more hours on a bus.
It was a travel day I hope to never do again.
Travel advice: fly into Zimbabwe. Avoid the borders on a bus at all costs. (Sorry future racers, you don’t get that luxury).
What is something that you’re most glad you packed?
Mr. Bear. My pillow. A mesh laundry bag.
What changed you the most?
I think each month taught me valuable lessons and changed something inside of me. Some months they were major changes, some were minor. And some months were growing me in areas I had already been learning in the past.
Working with the refugees in Greece (month 2 and month 3) were two of the most life changing months I had on the race. Being there gave me an entirely different perspective than anything they portray on the news. There is so much to say about those months that I could probably go on forever, but I’ll save that conversation for a later time.
I wrote about working with the refugees here and here.
Are you excited to come home?
Yes, but also no. I miss my people. I’m excited to see my family and to see how big my niece and nephew have become (and celebrate my nephew on the way!!!). I’m excited to see my friends and hear about their lives and everything that’s happened. I’ve missed a ton of engagements and weddings and big life things this year and that is hard. I’m excited to hug people again and remind them in person how much I love them.
I’m excited to see what the Lord has next for me. I’ve grown and changed a lot this year and I’m excited to see what that looks like off the race and in a different environment. And while I love traveling, I’m excited to slow down for a little bit and not pick up and move every month (that feeling probably won’t last long).
So why no? Because in order to say hello to one half of my family, I have to say goodbye to another. Home is home and while it’s a little different than when I left, it’s also relatively the same. My world race family will never be so. All 45 of us will never be in the same place again, probably ever. These days are sweet and while living in community can be oh so challenging, these people have become family.
It’s an incredibly hard realization that no matter where my feet are planted, I am always going to miss people somewhere across the pond. But I wouldn’t change that for the world.
So yes, I am incredibly excited to see home again, but I’m also sad this year is coming to an end.
What’s next?
I’m still figuring some things out and praying into a couple of different options about what this next season will look like. More details to come soon. Stay tuned!
Have any more questions you’d like to see me answer? Send them my way!
