Last Friday night, I got home from 10 days in Georgia where I was at Gap Year Training Camp. I was taught a lot of really cool things at training camp, I also picked up a few accidental tidbits of information along the way that might prove to be extremely useful on the race.
1.) Lesson: The simpler you live, the more joy a simple pleasure might bring.
When it is humid out, and you are hot and sweaty, any shower will, without a doubt, feel like the greatest blessing. Yes. That includes a bucket shower. Bucket showers sound inherently gross, but let me tell you, as I marched at 5 am to my first shower, I truly believed that there would never be a shower that felt as good as that one. I was clean, and not sweaty, which was something I genuinely did not believe was attainable in that Georgia heat.
2.) Lesson: You become less afraid of what people think of you when in order to meet your basic needs.
You truly can sleep anywhere. I used to swear up and down that I do not, under any circumstances, sleep in public. It is entirely due to the fact that I am afraid of a group of people watching me snore. I would even go as far as to insist that people wake me up if I fell asleep on a bus or airplane. But, after a week of sleeping in a tent, three days in a room with my whole squad (in order to escape the rain), and 12 hours in the airport, that fear went away real quick.
3.) Lesson: Food from other places has sustained people forever and it’s most likely good.
You will eat anything if you are hungry enough, and chances are, you probably won’t ask too many questions. It’s even more likely that you will like it. I tried food from all over the world during training camp and everything was delectable. I still have no idea what we ate, but it was amazing.
4.) Lesson: I will never mock food cravings again.
Food Cravings are more serious than you would think. By day 4, I had so much rice that I was craving LITERALLY any form of potato. At one point, I told my friend about this and when I returned a week later, we feasted on roasted potatoes and brownies.
5.) Lesson: Home is where the junk food feels normal.
You never realize how much you associate home with the food you eat until you are destroying a drumstick ice cream cone like it is your JOB. There was a snack shop that opened every afternoon, and we all stood in line for thirty minutes each day to ensure that we could get our little piece of home that we needed. Most days, snack time consisted of a clif bar, multiple coffees and an ice cream cone.
6.) Lesson: You are never too old to learn something new about yourself.
Turns out, just because you haven’t been allergic to anything for the first 18 years of your life, doesn’t mean you can’t start. I got stung by a bee for the first time ever, and bam!, swollen foot.
7.) Lesson: People your age can still teach you things
After mentoring middle schoolers for so long,I started to assume I was always the most spiritually mature person in a group of my peers. My team leader is my age, and let me tell you, she is so wise. She has so much to say about God and walking in faith, and I know that I will learn so much from her. My teammates (There will be a blog soon about my lovely teammates!) all have such a strong faith and so much insight into a relationship with God. It has massively humbled and reminded me that everyone and anyone can teach you.
Training Camp, all around, was an amazing success. I learned so many things, and got to meet the people I will be spending the next nine months with. We also got a bit of news. In month three of our race, we will spend a month in Malaysia!
Finally, many thanks to everyone who has been donating and praying and encouraging me throughout this journey. I leave in about six weeks!
