This week marked the halfway point of the World Race for me, so its a natural time of reflection.
My conclusion: my life is weird.
I am not the best at journaling, but my goal was to keep a daily agenda and write a couple of sentences every day about what we did. I also suck at that, but I have a general idea of my year in there. Also I am keeping track of things like things I’ve done for the first time. This year, for the first time I…..
- Slept overnight in an airport
- Fit 7 people (not including the driver) in a taxi
- Danced in a conga line during a church service
- Preached through a translator
- Put out a small forest fire
- Stood on the equator
- Killed a chicken
- Ate a grub
- Had plans change because of a tsunami warning
- Had the apartment I was staying in fingerprinted after Emily’s stuff was stolen
- Went Ziplining!
- Judged a breakdancing competition
- Was in a minivan that was being towed by a pickup truck
- Rode an elephant
- Went bamboo rafting
This year, many things that were once normal are now, well, not normal. Things like…
- Flushing toilet paper (we may have all been a little too excited when we could flush toilet paper during a layover in LAX)
- Smelling clean
- Choosing clothing from a wardrobe that consists of more than 6 shirts, 2 skirts and one pair of each pants, shorts and capris
- Feeling rested
- Being alone for more than 5 minutes
The reverse is also true. Many things that seemed strange before are now part of every day life. Things like….
- “You smell nice” is the highest compliment you can get
- Never speaking the language
- When you buy a sprite in a glass bottle and want to leave with it, they pour it into a bag. You drink from the bag, they keep the bottle.
- Instead of getting rid of the gecko in your bathroom you name it
- Riding in the back of a truck is more normal than being actually IN the vehicle
- Hanging out in a grocery store, because it has air conditioning
- Constantly doing exchange rates in your head
Life on the World Race is an adventure. Sometimes it can be annoying, like the point you realize you haven’t showered in five days, or when a small child pees on you. But then there are the days when you go elephant riding, or the days you find the best doughnut shop in the country. Or the day where you walk into a bar, call a woman by name, you you make her day because that is the first time someone has remembered her in who knows how long. Or the day when a group of children in the slums thoroughly beat your team at a spontaneous ninja battle.
My life is weird, but I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.
