Climbing into the back of the truck we all found our seats and hunkered down for the ride, which was approximately twenty minutes. The beautiful Thailand landscape rushed by in the background…
…truth be told, all I saw was the back of my eyelids.
When we got to the remote village, we jumped out of the truck. A few interns for HELP Thailand got out of the vehicle next to us and said;
“WOW. Did you guys see those mountains? Weren’t they beautiful?”
As we awkwardly looked around at each other I said to myself, Ugh did anyone see the mountains? Please tell me someone saw them? One girl hesitantly said “yes.” (That girl is in the picture above all the way to the right, clearly she did NOT see them either.) The mumbling amongst the crowd was that we did not see these mountains BUT we did see them in Nepal, the month before.
In that moment it hit me…when did I stop standing in awe of where I am? I was in the middle of Thailand, probably never to return and I had slept through the ride in the countryside. Instead of seeing the mountains and lush greenery I saw an opportunity to catch a nap.
Before the Race I sat at home reading blogs and thought, “man their life is so cool.” I dreamed of all the amazing things I would go and do and I even wrote a bucket list specifically for the Race.
I’m in the beginning of month eight and this is what I’ve come to realize. I’ve been fortunate to do most of the things on my bucket list: bungee jump off a bridge, crash attend a foreign wedding, go on a safari, eat strange things, let a lantern go in Thailand, ride on an elephant, ride on a motorcycle, and fly over Mount Everest. While these things are awesome and I am so lucky to have had the chance to do them…
…my everyday life looks a little different than I imagined.
In the beginning things were new and exciting. Packing our bags were a challenge. We marveled at pretty much everything;
“look at that coconut on that tree.”
“I get to hand wash my clothes (yeah, I realize this makes me a nerd, most people probably did not say this one).”
“Look at that cow walking down the street with us.”
“I can’t believe we survived a 13 hour bus ride.”
But now, two hundred plus days into this thing those things are routine. The honeymoon period has definitely ended. I can pack my bag in five minutes flat. A cow lying in the middle of the busy street doesn’t surprise me. I do not always sit starring out my bus window marveling at the landscape. Let’s be real, I am always curled up in my seat with my eyes closed. I love naps, and I'm like a child, put me in the car and I will most definitely fall asleep.
Oddly enough the things that shock me are fast wifi, a shower that is not over a squatty or a toilet, wearing clothes that smell like laundry detergent, and having Pizza Hut as an option for dinner.
I’m at the point where instead of wishing the hard moments away, like squeezing 22 people in fifteen passenger van, I wish I had embraced them more. And I am trying not to wish them away. Who really wants to sleep in drenched clothes because that’s the only way to get a few hours of rest? Who wants to constantly be the host of parasite that make you sick every time you eat? Who wants their clothes to smell like wet dog the majority of the year?
I’ve been reminding myself that most likely I will never be in this place again and I want to take full advantage of the city/village I am in.
When else am I going to have the chance to….
hold orphaned kiddos all day, every day?…..
visit widows who are lonely and forgotten?…
be a nurse at a camp for people with TBIs who taught me so much about appreciating life?…
be a nurse on a mat to people who have NEVER had medical care?
be a playground to kiddos saved from the atrocities of the sex trade?
Is my life glorious all the time or jammed packed with adventure? No. Was it unrealistic to think that? Absolutely.
Life is what you make of it. No matter where you are eventually things become somewhat routine and lose their awe factor. If you’re on the Race or planning to remember the grass isn’t greener on the other side. There are going to be "dull" moments. Moments where you will throw a pity party for yourself because you are missing things at home and you'd much rather be there than stuck in this community you inadvertently chose. I’m about to miss the birth of my third niece and that tears me up.
Throw the party and then give yourself a reality check. Look around, say this stinks (sometimes literally) and appreciate your surroundings and the people you come in contact with. They really are a gift. Remember you left your life behind in America for a reason. Would it be easier to return? Heck yes. More than anything I would kill for my pillow top bed and a burrito from Chipotle. The fear is that when I return I will miss these days. So with a little over three months left I am trying to soak everything in!
