It's the end of month 10 and I think it's high time I post the mandatory "You know you're on the World Race when…" Maybe this will give a comical glance into our world. Enjoy!
1. All toilet paper automatically gets thrown in the garbage can instead of in the toilet.
2. You are sick and there are no tissues so you choose an already dirty shirt and use that to wipe your nose.
3. Your tent becomes the place you go to get away and be alone even though there are still 50 other people in the room.
4. You eat what is provided because there are no other options and usually you are still hungry afterward.
5. "Just down the road" can mean 5 minutes or 50 minutes; but your source will always say that it's not very far.
6. You wash your hair outside while standing in the shower line and then shower with another to save time and water.
7. Peanut butter becomes a life saver while traveling as anything and everything can be dipped in it.
8. No utensils; no problem. That's what your fingers are for!
9. If your clothes don't smell bad then they must be clean.
10. Your teammates are exhausted because they spent the day hiking a volcano.
11. Someone asks if you can play Frank Sinatra on the guitar and you respond "no, but I'm learning Metalica."
12. You take a shirt off the free table at debrief because you need something clean to sleep in.
13. "I need to loose weight" refers to the weight of your pack not the weight of your body.
14. You dry your clothes on a string of barbed wire.
15. You can turn your mosquito net into a screen door.
16. The hair spray you bought is dated 1992.
17. By the 5th attack of the ants, it's no big deal.
18. Going into NYC during your 17 hour layover and staying up all night sounds like a good idea.
19. The guy sitting next to you on the bus in Poland speaks 7 languages.
20. Someone adds you on facebook and you have to ask your squadmates if you know them.
21. The average traveling bathroom experience can only be described as a port-a-potty on a rollercoaster.
22. You look up from staring at your feet because you don't speak Hungarian just to find that 3 of the women in the room are now nursing their children.
23. You are in Moldova but they request that you still sing in English and Spanish.
24. Your attempt at saying "Happy Birthday" turns into "Happy Flower" and you thought you repeated the phrase perfectly.
25. Traveling 15 kilometers takes over an hour due to the seriously overcrowded buses.
26. You seriously consider making cup of soup using bathroom tap water and heating it with the hand dryer.
27. Reading someone's blog counts as quality time.
28. The little girl at the street corner in Thailand runs up to you laughing expecting to be picked up, spun around and given kisses on her perfect little cheek.
29. Dinner costs 1USD and is filling and delicious.
30. You order iced coffee in the morning and it is served to you in a plastic bag tied with and string and served with a straw.
31. Ti-dieing no longer indicates those 2 whites shirts you own, but every single white article owned by anyone… Including the neighbor girls.
32. Planning your post-Race road trip is dictated by the availability of very cheep/free housing.
33. You agree to let a teammate drop a small notebook on your face for entertainment.
34. You visit a steam room located at a Buddist Temple at the recommendation of the pastor.
35. You are one day excited and the next day freaking out about not knowing what is happening after the Race.
36. Your scepticism about talking freely about bowel movements on the Race is replaced by mirth at realizing it's true.
37. Someone at the mall tries to sell you their baby.
38. Your dreams are filled with indulgent scences featuring Chick-fil-a sauce and Sonic drinks.
39. Lice checks are included as a regular part of team time.
40. You suffer through hours of no power (which means no fans) and when you ask your contact, he merely steps to the wall and reattachs the power supply to your house through a simple outlet. Note: we lived across the street.
41. When someone falls, the first warning yelled is for the fan and then the laptop.
42. When your morning workout is just as popular for the neighborhood kids as the Saturday morning cartoons are back home.
43. You argue with the BodaBoda driver over 1000 Ugandan Shillings… about 40 cents.
44. Your dreams involve the clothes you left at home and an order of McDonald's french fries.
45.You get serious about doing Insanity knowing that you want your old body back before you get home.
