Once upon a time, in a land far away (read: Asia) a World Racer decided to write a question and answer blog. So she asked her friends what questions they had and her friends were awesome and responded immediately! She even wrote the questions down and started preparing the answers. Then that World Racer moved to Africa and internet became scarce and her time on the Race was drawing to a close. So because of lack of internet and her desire to squeeze the life out of the short months she had left. The question and answer blog stayed scribbled in a notebook instead of published for her friends to read.
So now, months later, that Racer decided to answer some of her friends really, really good questions, here are my answers!
Q: I’m curious as to what your diet and food have been like during the trip! Are there more “Americanized” options or is it strictly local cuisine?
A: So, food changed every month. In Colombia our hosts cooked for us, so we ate whatever they gave us and that was it! We had lots of local cuisine that month and lots of beans and rice. A lot of the months my team actually cooked for ourselves, so we could plan the meals. Those months we ate a lot of our typical food from home, but we also stayed within budget. So sometimes we did hamburgers, but usually we did rice with meat and veggies, or pasta, those were our go-to’s. Other months we weren’t cooked for, but also didn’t have a kitchen. Those were the interesting months because we had to try to stay within budget, but had to eat out for every meal! We had “Americanized” food those months, but I also ate lots of weird things, because local food is typically the cheapest!
Q: What has been the hardest part of the journey spiritually?
A: We always said the Race is like being in a pressure cooker of growth. I grew and changed more in those eleven months, than I did for a couple years before the Race. That said, sometimes I didn’t want to grow. Sometimes I wanted to be comfortable instead of really diving into the hard places and the pain that the Lord might want me to walk through. That was hard, because I knew that the growth would be good for me, I just didn’t want to be uncomfortable, I preferred to be lazy, to watch movies and avoid it, because it was challenging. It also got interesting when teammates would call you out and encourage you to go to the hard places. I had live-in accountability and most of the time I loved that. However, those times when I avoided growth? Yeah, live-in accountability was NOT my favorite!
Q: What is the weirdest thing you’ve eaten?
A: Snake off of a stick. Oh, or a clove of garlic. Or Zebra. Or fish eggs. This question is hard, there were a lot of weird things I ate!
Q: What is the hardest or most shocking thing you have seen?
A: So for a full story on one of the hardest things I saw check out this blog. But one of the hardest things I saw actually came a few days later, when we were in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. About fifteen of the girls on my squad decided to go walk and pray through the red light district there. After about an hour we headed back to our hostel and that is when we saw them. We were on one side of the road, the bars and restaurants were across the street. A man was sitting at a table outside a restaurant and a young girl, probably no older than 18 was standing next to him. It was incredibly obvious she was unhappy, she was standing there not giving him any eye contact. That was when we saw his hand reaching around her, grabbing her backside. She was being used right before our eyes. He knew we were watching, how could he not? A group of white girls across the street, who all abruptly stopped walking and were all actively staring. The girl turned and looked at us for a long time. I was angry, I was sad, what could we do? I wish I could say that we swooped in and saved her, I wish I could say the man became uncomfortable with us all glaring at him and that he walked away, but none of that happened. The most heartbreaking thing of all was when we started walking again and I watched her eyes register that we were leaving. What could we have done? That question, that moment still bothers me. Could we have done something?
Q: What surprised you the most?
A: One of the things that surprised me the most was just how many shopping malls and stores there were in the countries I went to. I left the States thinking I wouldn’t see a mall for eleven months, thinking that the clothes I had in my backpack were my only clothes, unless I wanted to get the cheaper market clothes that fall apart after being worn twice. I spent entirely too many hours in malls while on the Race, I went to a mall in at least eight of my countries, that shocked me! If I wanted to replace my entire wardrobe every few months, I absolutely could have!
Q: What do you miss most?
A: So since this was supposed to be written when I was on the Race, this question was directed towards things I missed from home. My answer for that would have been Sonic, the ability to go anywhere I wanted, when I wanted – ALONE, and my momma’s homemade food. However, now I am home and I can have most of those things almost every day. NOW I miss being in a new place every month, getting to meet people from other places and cultures and hearing their stories and doing everyday life with my best friends, the people who understand me and have the same desires and passions as me.
Q: There has to be a language barrier. How do you overcome that when meeting new people/kids?
A: This was always tough! In South America I was on a team with one girl who was fluent in Spanish, which helped out a lot. In a couple countries in Asia and all of Africa they spoke English, so we didn’t have many issues there. The main country that the language barrier was an issue was Thailand. Our host and his wife spoke no English, and their daughter spoke very limited English. The whole month was essentially a giant game of Charades! One of my most important lessons came from our lack of communication that month, though. I learned that love truly doesn’t need any translation. A smile, a hug and laughter are all universal and so therefore, if those three things were present, things were good! Sure, it got a little confusing, but I truly believe that those beautiful Thai people experienced Jesus’ love for them, through my teams actions, even though we never once could talk to them about it.
Q: Which country have you had the most culture shock?
A: This is actually funny, because one would assume that the biggest culture shock I experienced was going into a rough, third world country. Instead the biggest culture shock was leaving South America and landing in Japan. Japan was clean, quiet, organized. People formed lines at Starbucks (oh yeah, there were Starbucks!), train rides were quiet and did I mention it was clean?! After being in South America for four months, it was a HUGE adjustment! South America was loud, oftentimes the streets were dirty, there was no such thing as a line and it wasn’t organized. I would say my jump from Colombia to Japan was even harder than going from South Africa to the United States.
Q: If you could go back to the beginning what is one thing you would say or one piece of advice you would give to pre-launch Shannon?
A: Quit worrying! The thoughts and things that are consuming so much of your time aren’t worth it. You’ll be able to find toothpaste in other countries, so don’t worry about if you’ll run out. If your sock gets a hole in it, you can buy more. You will not spend the Race hiking through the wilderness with your packs on, so if your pack weighs more than you would like because you brought sweat pants, so be it. You won’t regret it! I can’t tell you how many times I wished I brought some sweat pants on my Race! But seriously, stop worrying. Your year will be challenging, but your year will be stinking great! You’ll fall in love with people, they will fall in love with you. Don’t worry about trying to impress the people on your squad because they will love you regardless. Trying to be all cool, won’t be a thing after week one. Instead you’ll be called “Shanny Pants” and “Pants” “Shanteater” and “Shanatee, the sea cow” and you’ll love it, even though it’s SO weird.
So there you go, a couple overdue answers to your wonderful questions! Thank you so much for asking questions, even if it took me four months to answer them!
