Since being on the World Race I found
that I no longer feel shameful or embarrassed when it comes to a lot of things.
When it comes to speaking in front of people I am no longer embarrassed, I
actually have started enjoying talking in front of people. I can easily share
my testimony in front of a large group of people and no longer feel ashamed. I
can talk about almost anything with my squad mates and not have to be
embarrassed about the intimate details of my life. 
Saturday
our entire squad took on the adventure of rafting down the Nile together, class
5 rapids might I add; kind of a scary experience. The first time my raft
flipped over and I got stuck under the boat, I thought there was absolutely no
way I was going to live through this, but after some maneuvering I made it back
to the surface of the water and my guide pulled my back on top of our now
upside down raft as we continued down the river. The second time we flipped
over was on our final rapid, and this time I was slightly more prepared, and
not as terrified as before. Once I fell into the water I didn’t fall in that
deep and I came to the surface quickly, right then our raft decided to come
bouncing across my head. Then I got hit with 3 huge waves, one right after the
other, but I must not of been in too much danger because the kayak guy was
watching me, but never actually came to my rescue. While I was still in the
rough part of the rapids I managed to get stuck holding onto six different oars
that I found floating around, which was a bit of a struggle. I then floated my
way out of the rapids and caught up with my guide and we flipped the raft over
and went to pick up everyone else that had not made their way back to the boat
yet. Then we reached the end where we looked at pictures, changed into dry
clothes, and ate kabobs.
Back on the bus we were all exhausted and ready
to get back home, which was about 2 hours away, about 15 minutes into our drive
people were already desperate for a bathroom break so we started to bug the
driver until he pulled over.
Usually back in the states when you are on a
road trip and need to go you can easily stop at a gas station or rest stop to
use their toilet, but here in Africa there are no rest stops and there are very
few gas stations especially those that provide public restrooms, so we always
just stop somewhere on the side of the road that has bushes.
At the start of our trip whenever we had to go
and we pulled on the side of the road all of us girls would walk far away from
the bus and each pick our own tree or bush, making sure nobody else could see
us, well things have change quite a bit since then. On this particular Saturday
afternoon our bus driver pulled over in a rural area where there were a lot of
people and several house crowded together. So we actually ended up just going
to someone’s backyard, dropping our pants, and going. Who cares who saw us, we
were all right in the open and an African man walked right in front of all of
us and didn’t even seem to notice we were there, even if he had acknowledged us
we probably wouldn’t of cared that much, there is no reason to hide, we have no
more shame or embarrassment, that has all slowly left us since we have left the
states.
Later when we were all laughing about this we
talked about how different things are going to be when we get back home, this
is definitely not something we could do back in the states. Just imagine you’re
sitting in your house watching TV and a large bus of tourist climb out and walk
into you backyard. You then walk back there to find 30 people relieving
themselves in your yard, on your precious green grass or your beautiful flower
garden. I am sure all of you would be absolutely furious. 🙂
