On the race, what used to be every day adventures become somewhat normal. People are adaptable, and so they adapt to their surroundings. Small things, like always hunting for Wi-Fi on rest days and becoming a regular at the local coffee shop, are second nature.
Throughout the race, we receive check-in’s from our leaders back home. They consist of both silly and serious questions that make us think and allow leadership to see how we’re doing. Yesterday I answered some, and I wanted to share a slightly more edited version my answer to “what did you do today?”
…so here you go…
(From my journal and check-in questions—dated, yesterday)
Today was a good day. I woke up groggily this morning and mozied my way to the common area for breakfast. Corn flakes and apples, again. Absent mindedly, my mind wondered as I tried to wake up.
Lost in thought, I heard Elise, Meagan, and Ally planning to going to a fancy hotel with our French friend Jacque. He’s a 70-year-old Frenchman who lives at the YWAM base with us. He’s an artist, and goes to the hotel almost every day. They think he lives there, so he knows all about the place.
Jacque told us to take showers and put on nice dresses so that we could look the part (world racers are not particularly known for their fashion choices or frequency of shower taking). After a low-key scramble to find an appropriate dress, we said goodbye to the DTS team that was leaving.
They had been there for two weeks and grew particularly close to our team. Every month, goodbyes tend to become harder and harder, and this one was no exception.
Despite the sad goodbye, the five of us were out of the base in no time and were walking down the road waiting for Jacque’s friend to pick us up. I didn’t really know what was going on, but that’s not too far from the norm.
Eventually we found ourselves looking out at the Zambezi with the thundering mist of Victoria Falls, one of the wonders of the world, not too far in the distance. We all sipped on apple juice and cappuccinos and mooched off Wi-Fi for a few hours. After a majority of our work was done, we decided to attempt sneaking into see the falls.
Jacque had done it the week before, and we wanted to try it for ourselves. What a great story that would be! You probably guessed it, but we didn’t make it to the falls. The gardeners caught on to our plan before we could walk on to the service road.
Bummer.
Don’t worry though; zebras charged us instead! Yes, you read that correctly. They charged us. On the way back from our somewhat failed attempt, we ran into some wild zebras that graze on the hotel’s lawn.
I don’t remember exactly the chain of events, but in summary: they were spooked, Ally and Meagan ran, they charged, and the group was split up. We’re still looking for Meagan, but I’m sure she’ll turn up at some point. Just kidding. We didn’t lose anyone, but we did run in all different directions.
We met up where we were sitting earlier and called for a ride back into town only to learn that while we were causing trouble in the animal kingdom, our other teammates, Hannah and Kara were kicked out of a hostel for using Wi-Fi without being guests. Does team Clutch have a problem with Wi-Fi? Possibly, but good Wi-Fi is almost as hard as finding a Muzungu (white person) in Africa.
Today was not the story I was expecting, but it’s a memorable one nonetheless. After a morning of trouble making, we all met in town to eat some knock of KFC and discuss next month’s ministry. We found out we could be doing literally anything. Think widow and orphan ministry to agriculture and pastoral training.
We’ll be in a small rural village and have to ride bikes everywhere while wearing long, floor length skirts. It will be another adventure, that’s for sure. While learning about this ministry, I freaked out over my sunburn that blistered. It was my first one; I didn’t know skin could do that!
Thanks to some generous teammates, I rubbed essential oils all over it. Crisis averted. I topped the day off with some chocolate and a mini binge session of “The Office” with Ally. I would say today was a day.
Obviously.
But, it was one of those 5-year memory type of days. I mean, how often do I get to drink coffee while starring at one of the world’s largest rivers, run from zebras, and eat an entire chocolate bar while laughing a ridiculously relatable and absurd TV show…In Africa with friends I get to travel the world with? It’s the little things, and it’s the big things. It’s all the things! It’s the world race, and it’s life, and that’s cool!
