As a World Racer there are things you can prepare yourself for and thing’s you had no idea were coming. This list is the latter. Thank you World Race for making a bunch of crazy awesome Christ followers just a little more weird.
- 1. You forget what it’s like to flush your toilet paper. I hope everyone will give me a month or so grace period when I return to the States and throw used toilet paper into your trash can. I apologize.
- 2. You never quite know which way to look when crossing the street. In China and Cambodia they drive on the right side, Thailand and Malaysia the left. So it’s always a gamble when you cross the street. Basically you just close your eyes and run.
- 3. You never want to wear pants again. Now let me clarify before you go jumping to conclusions; you never want to wear jeans or khakis again. Once you try big and flowy Thai pants you’ll never go back. I put Khakis on for the first time in 3 months yesterday and felt like someone was strangling my legs. Let them breathe, man!
- 4. You forget what fast internet is like. Wait it doesn’t take 10 years for your Facebook page to load? Weird.
- 5. You forget what clean clothes are. No matter how many times you scrub and hand wash them they never seem to get that musty, pungent smell out. In fact, I kind of like the smell now.
- 6. It’s normal to be stared at every single time you leave your house. I expect it actually. If people don’t stare I start to think something is wrong. It was weird to get used to at first especially because in the States, if you stare, them’s fighting words. They just aren’t used to seeing foreigners where we’ve been which excites the explorer in me; we’re paving new roads of discovery!
- 7. You always carry a roll of emergency toilet paper with you. That’s right, most bathrooms around the world don’t have “complimentary” toilet paper. When we find some it’s like we struck gold; we even take some and stuff it in our bags. Looking through our packs would be like a treasure hunt for toilet paper.
- 8. Peanut butter is gold. Actual gold. No, for real. It’s sweet, fills you up, and its creamy deliciousness always satisfies your every craving; but it’s expensive and sometimes almost impossible to find. If another racer steals some of said gold the punishment is death or banishment. World Racers love to share our possessions as everything we own is a gift from God, but literally, peanut butter is the one thing we don’t share. God understands. He made peanut butter.
- 9. Sleeping on a futon becomes luxury. It’s a whole lot better than sleeping on a cold, dank floor on top of your sleeping pad that feels like the size of a sheet of paper. Attention future World Racers! Buy a good sleeping pad. Seriously, don’t skimp on that purchase.
- 10. You really start to miss Wal-mart. Variety? Choices? What is that sorcery?!
- 11. You forget what alone time is like. The only alone time I get is when I’m in the bathroom, or shut my eyes and pretend I’m alone.
- 12. Bonus number!!! Yay! Didn’t see that one coming did ya? You forget the taste of real coffee. All we’ve had (aside from the occasional Starbucks) is instant coffee. It’s all they have abroad. At first I hated it but now I have about 3 a day. It’s actually quite good. No really. I promise. You don’t believe me? Whatever.
I could go on and on but you get the picture. The World Race is weird and it makes a bunch of weirdos out of us. But it’s a beautiful weirdness and I wouldn’t want it any other way. It’s quite whimsical living out of a backpack and abroad. Thankfully, we’ve all decided to embrace the weird and the whimsical. Yeah, we might seem a bit coo-coo to all those in the States when we get back, but then you’ll just smile and accept our newfound kookiness when you see God’s love just pouring out of us and all the beautiful and weird things we experienced on our 11 month adventure. But for now I must go; my peanut butter stash is calling my name and I saw Adam eyeing it earlier.
