I like mirrors.
When I was in grade school, our family’s kitchen table was next to the window and I’d always choose the chair facing it so I could look at myself during dinner and make faces. It was one of the few perks of the early Northwest sunsets: the windows all became mirrors and I could stare at myself and my family. It made us all look more interesting, like we were compelling enough to have a movie made about our dinnertime.
I brought a small mirror with me on the Race. In Zambia a girl’s mirror broke and I told her to just borrow mine. Then I never saw it again. So, in between opportunities to use actual bathrooms with real mirrors, I’ve been observing myself and my squadmates, and asking them what they use when they need to check their hair or backpacker-chic outfits. Mirrors are one of those luxuries that are surprisingly rare on the field, so we’ve all become good at improvising.
Here is the list I’ve compiled over the last few months. Future Racers who like mirrors, take heed. If you need to look at yourself, C Squad suggests…
Puddles of water
Funeral parlor windows in Quiche, Guatemala
iPhones (blank screen or front-facing camera)
Laptops (any part that’s shiny, if it’s been dead for days)
Meat coolers at Shoprite in Africa
Sunglasses (others or your own)
Fuse box covers
External hard drives
Toilets
Toilet water
Tea pots
Anti-termite treatment in a bucket in Mozambique
This window here in Malaysia:
Old compact makeup
Cars (any part)
Cabinet doors
Sliding glass doors
Televisions
Spoons
Shiny church pews
Tin foil
Shiny shoes
Marble countertops
Pizza Hut windows
Microwaves
Doorknobs
Pop cans
The shiny piano at our school here in Kuala Lumpur
An empty gelato freezer in Albania
Each other (“Do I look okay?”)
And, every once in a blue moon…
mirrors.
Did I miss anything? Have you used some crazy mirrors on the Race? Comment below!
