10 Things I’ve Learned on Month 2 of the World Race

So with month 2 of the World Race being almost over, I thought I would take the opportunity to post a silly little blog about the things I’ve learned during my month in Nicaragua. Enjoy…

1. No matter how hard you try to stop them, ants will inevitably make their way into your food and drink every single day. Every single day. There will always be ants in your coffee, ants in your juice, and ants in your rice. While the amount of ants you are able to ingest in a month is unknown, I’m sure it’s a lot.

2. If your room fan blows up (I mean literally BLOWS. UP.) because of an electrical surge throughout your house or falls over and breaks during a room meeting, the temperature of your room becomes very similar to the temperature of the Sun.

3. In regards to #2, when your room reaches the temperature of the Sun, I’ve found that you start smelling like fresh baked bread, which is weird but a very potent smell. Trust me though, smelling like bread is much better than smelling like B.O. There is no smell worse than B.O.

4. You no longer have the right to privacy. Ever. You will get used to taking a shower, while someone else is taking a poop on the toilet, while someone else is brushing their teeth, all the while having the door open, and talking to other people who are outside the bathroom. This is the World Race. No privacy and lots of “quality time”.

5. There is a major difference between feedback and debrief. Feedback is daily, and a time when you talk about any problems you may have with another team member. It shouldn’t be more than an hour-90 minutes tops. Debrief is bi-weekly and a time when you talk about your feelings and have deep discussions about where everybody’s at and how everybody’s feeling. It’s much longer and can last for hours on end. It is ill-advised to have a daily debrief…believe me. We did daily debrief for a month an a half and it took 3 hours each night.

6. Make sure you take an entire day to do your laundry. Laundry in Ometepe island, Nicaragua is not like laundry back home. The entire process requires vigorous effort and lasts for hours on end. Also, don’t ever expect you “clean clothes” to come out actually smelling clean, after washing them. Especially because you are washing them with the lake water which may or may not be questionable.

7. You will always have rice and beans on every plate of every meal of every day. Always, Always, Always. If there ever comes a time in your life when you feel like you might die if you even see rice and beans ever again, you will most definitely end up having rice and beans on your plate later that day. Just deal with it.

8. Make sure to use sunscreen when you’re gardening all morning. The Central American UV rays are extremely powerful and if you’re very pale like me, you will fry without protection. Bad sunburns also lead to bad farmers tans, which make you look even more foolish than you looked with a bad burn. TRUTH.

9. Playing tag is fun on land, but it much more fun in the water with teenagers jumping in and our of a row boat. “Lake Tag” is the best…just make sure you’re prepared and energized for it though, because it is absolutely exhausting.