We have talked many times as World Racers about how our blogs may be misleading. Topics are usually exciting and positive in nature. I have also been asked by a number of people to share not just the high points on the race, but the low points too. Well some moments from today were almost comically low; at least they were in my opinion. I was not going to post a blog at all today, but I wanted to step out of my box of blogs. It all started when I woke up this morning to find that my runny nose, sore throat, and cough had not gone away. But, I was excited to put in a new set of contacts. I put them in, but they seemed to be off in some way. I opened another set; which I don’t like to do, but they did not work either. It’s almost like my eyes changed over night.
I kept the contacts in and went to the Internet café to get some work done and was about a quarter of the way into my work when I found out the café I was at would not allow me to use my flash drive; so a lot of my work was wasted. I went to the mall to buy a new pair of pants (this was actually a good part of the day). My eyes were still bothering me; I felt like I was wearing a friend’s pair of contacts. I thought maybe I had them in the wrong eyes so I went to an Optometrist in the mall and asked if I could use just a little saline to switch my contacts. She made me pay three dollars for a little sample bottle. But, the money was wasted, because the contacts were not in the wrong eyes. In order to by pants I had to get 1,000 more Baht out of my account. Well, take my advice. Do not make cash withdrawals when your vision is blurred. I pushed 10,000 baht rather than 1,000. So on my final day in Thailand I withdrew $300 more than I needed to use.
By this time I was to meet Ryan, Tim, and Josh for dinner. We decided to check out a revolving tower that overlooks the city of Bangkok. There is an all you can eat buffet on the 79th floor. The food was a redeeming factor in my day and helped me to forget about my eyes. But then we went to 82nd floor to look out over the city. Not only was the motor broken, so the tower was not revolving, but clouds were moving in so we could not see a thing. Lightning flashed and it soon started to rain. By the time we reached the ground level it was pouring. We climbed onto a packed bus where I stood in a crowd of people. The bus took 30 minutes to move through just a few city blocks. My head hurt, I felt sick to my stomach, and I felt like I could pass out, because of my contacts. I just wanted to be home. The bus continued to move at a snails pace. The rain was causing the streets to flood and soon we were moving through well over a foot of water.
Our 45 minute bus ride lasted 2 hours.
Upon returning I finally took out my contacts and went to the Internet Cafeé to finish my work. I did get to call my cousin Katie to wish her a Happy Birthday; it was a great comfort to hear her voice. Then I tried calling my parents for the last time before China, but couldn’t get a hold of them. On the way back to the YWAM building I was walking through the rain trying not to get my clothes too wet, because I have to pack tonight. I started to think about my rough day and how it really wasn’t a good one and I started feeling a little homesick. Tears welled up in my eyes as I stood at the corner waiting to cross the street. Just then a bus came flying by and splashed through a puddle covering me in nasty wave of water. I was soaked from the waist down; I just started laughing and crying.
So that was my real day in my life as a World Racer.
