Here are the much anticipated answers to the questions YOU asked! If you missed out this time, I’m sure there will be another chance in the future. This blog is LONG… like REALLY long. So please feel free to read the answers to questions that you find interesting and skip over the ones that you don’t care as much about. I hope this provides new insight to my journey so far!
Question from Lori: The fashion side of me is wondering how you are doing clothes wise. You always look adorable in the pictures and I know you bought boots. Are you buying and selling? How have you fared in that regard?
Clothing has been one of my biggest adjustments, honestly. I’ve had to shift my thinking in a lot of ways. An item is typically worn 4 to 7 times before it’s considered “dirty” and I feel like I often have to get creative in outfit pairings so that I don’t get incredibly sick of my clothing. Two months in Africa really took a toll on my actual clothing. Almost all of the shirts that I brought have either been stained or completely ruined and there’s a lingering, unidentifiable smell on most everything.
In Malawi, we had to wear long skirts or chitenges (long pieces of fabric wrapped like skirts) every day. The fabrics were beautiful but there’s not a ton of variety or freedom in knowing that your outfit each day must consist of a short sleeved shirt and a long skirt. Traveling from Africa to Europe, our average daily temperature changed by approximately 40 degrees. In Lithuania, I’ve been able to buy some boots (as you know!), a couple of sweaters, some accessories and a coat secondhand. Those additions have been a real lifesaver. With 3 other girls on my team, we’ve been able to share a lot with oversized sweaters and accessories especially.
As I said before, it’s a mental adjustment more than anything. I don’t “need” unending outfit options. I don’t “have” to wear a different shirt each day this month. In a lot of ways, it’s allowed me to be more creative with outfits and feel more freedom to look at clothing as something fun. It’s also good to live with people who are pretty much in the same boat that I am as far as outfit choices! 🙂
Question from Mary: The mom in me wants to know two things: 1. How are you doing with missing friends and family? 2. How are you doing with “critters”- you know- bugs and other larger critters?
1. Honestly, I think I’ve missed friends and family more than I thought that I would. For the most part I haven’t been “homesick” but there have been lots of times where I’ve missed being around certain people or the familiarity of just being known. And, to be frank, sometimes it’s hard to always strive for healthy conversation and interactions and intentionally love the people around me. Sometimes, I just want to be lazy and not try and let the chips fall where they may. So I miss that (kind of.).
2. Fortunately, critters haven’t been too much of a problem. In Zambia, there were lots of cockroaches (which I’m used to and typically stomped on for my teammates), mosquitos (which don’t tend to bother me) and flies (the absolute WORST!) Flies seemed to constantly be buzzing around my face. If you had an open scratch or sore, they would land in it and want to be around it. If you were sweating (which was pretty much always in Africa), they would be especially drawn to you. It was kind of like being at a perpetual 4th of July BBQ– they were always swarming around food. They win the award for most hated critter in my book.
In Malawi, bats came out at night but didn’t want to be around me anymore than I wanted to be around them. At our camp, we had huge camel spiders but I only saw those one or two times. Really, the worst thing in Malawi were the ants. My tent was invaded a couple of times and that was really annoying. Other people had it WAY worse than I did, though. Malawi mosquitos were much more aggressive than the ones in Zambia, too. Plus, our entire life was pretty much spent outdoors in Malawi. Fortunately, I’ve escaped mouse and rat interactions thus far!
Question from Xhaxhi Matt: Why does Micah always feel the need to take off his shirt?
Ok, ok… here’s the thing: Micah seems to have gotten a really bad rep for being shirtless. As Carrie said on one of her Instagrams, Micah is a down home, Arkansas boy and I just feel like that’s normal behavior. Growing up, my dad would always remove his shoes and shirt the second he entered our house so it’s something that’s very natural to me. And, one of the first things that Micah asked our team and the team we lived with in Zambia was whether his shirtlessness would be offensive to anyone. We were able to give him honest opinions and he’s been nothing but respectful. As a team, we’ve made a big joke out of it and the “jar” concept but it seems to have gotten a little out of control. So, to clarify, Micah is one of the most respectful, polite men that I know and his shirtlessness is a reflection of family and familiarity, not doucheyness.
Question from Lindsay: Did taking malaria meds have any other side effects besides making you more sensitive to the sun? i.e. digestive issues? Did you feel like it was worth it?
Soooo, I think I’ve flip-flopped back and forth on this issue since leaving the States in January. My main, terrible, annoying side effect was my sensitivity to sun. The back of my neck was ALWAYS fried even with SPF 50 applied often. I know you’re already aware of this issue but I just wanted to reiterate that it was horrible. Personally, I didn’t experience any digestive trouble that I could link back to the doxy. I know that one possible side effect is a yeast infection (sorry for going there) so if you’re susceptible to those, I’d advise going a different direction.
If I had it to do again, I’d probably just be really aggressive with applying bug spray and wear long sleeves and pants after dark rather than taking medication. In Zambia, it was really rare for me to be bit by mosquitos, but they usually aren’t attracted to me anyway. In Malawi, we were outside almost all of the time and I had more bites than Zambia. But, you could maybe do some research on the area of Africa you’ll be in! Let me know what you decide! 🙂
Question from Mary: I know that early in your life you had problems/issues with traveling i.e. motion sickness- with all the extensive traveling you are doing, how is that going? And I would love to hear about your best and worst food experiences.
We’ve definitely had some incredibly interesting modes of transportation which can be a breeding ground for nausea. I can only recall feeling a bit queasy one or two times due to travel. In my past travels to and from Romania, I’ve learned that I can generally avoid motion sickness with lots of water and adequate rest so I’ve tried to be mindful of those things.
On the Race, I’ve eaten a wide variety of food: some good, some bad, some regular. In Zambia, we ate fried mopani worms. A staple of cuisine in Zambia and Malawi is called nsima. It’s like a mashed potato/grits hybrid. I didn’t love or hate it, just ate it a LOT. In Zambia, we ate it one night with turnip greens and dried fish and it was AMAZING. In Malawi, we ate a lot of cornmeal porridge for breakfast and that may top my list of least favorite foods. Currently, I’m obsessed with these pork donuts called pyragelis su mesa… I think they may be clouding my vision for appreciating any other food at the moment.
Question from Mandi: What’s been the best surprise of your journey?
The World Race tells you over and over to have no expectations of what your year will look like. I really tried to focus on that concept during my preparation and feel like I did a decent job but had more expectations that I anticipated. This sounds backwards but it’s really surprised me how normal life still is. Yes, I’m moving to a new country every month and often sleeping in a tent and wearing dirty clothes and eating weird food. But, this is still real life. There are days that are lazy and unproductive and times where I’m really apt to complain. There have been countless moments where I’ve laughed so hard I could barely stand and times spent in prayer that have moved me to tears. Along with that, I think it’s surprised me how much people want to help us and desire to welcome us. Obviously African culture is different from the culture in the Baltic but it’s been wonderful to see how people in each place care for us and want us to have the best experience possible.
Question from Teta Cindy: Tell me the name of two of your squadmates and how they have especially blessed you in particular in these first few months! (I know all of you seek to bless each other in so many ways, so these will just be an example, not the full scope of things!)
This is hard to narrow down!!! The first month, we lived with Team Without Borders and I was super blessed by time with them. Second month was all-squad month and that was fantastic. If I had to pick, I’ve been super blessed by my time with Lindsey and Brittany. They are both people who feel very familiar to me and it’s very easy to be around them. Last month, I felt like I got to share a lot of good “life” times with Lindsey– conversations on the way to the well and chats while waiting for dinner. Brittany and I got to laugh a lot and that was a blessing to me. She has been someone that I’m able to be silly with yet also share times of depth and authenticity and I adore that.
Questions from Ryan: 1. Where are you? (We’ve already checked out Lithuania on Google maps!)
I am in a city called Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. Specifically, we are living in a one bedroom apartment on Jono Basanaviciaus (that’s our street!) I hope you are able to find it on the map!
2. Have you met people that you’ve made friends with? Yes! I am on a team with 6 other people and I have become good friends with them. This month, I have made several friends in Lithuania. Our job this month is just to become friends with different people and spend time with them. At church, I met a girl named Kornelija (it’s pronounced like Corn-ell-yah) and I’ve really enjoyed spending time with her. We’ve also hung out with a boy named Almontes and a woman named Ruthe a lot!
3. That is a funny language where you are. I agree with you! It sounds very different than English and is strange to hear people speaking with words that are different than what we use. A lot of people here also speak English and often help translate for us which is very kind.
4. See you in November!! 🙂 I will be SO excited when I get to see you then! Maybe we could FaceTime before then! 🙂
Questions from Diana: What are you reading? Currently, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. It’s great! Last month, I read Daring Greatly by Brene Brown and completed my trifecta of her books. Also, I recently finished The Scent of Water by Naomi Zacharias and I was obsessed with it (Shauna status!).
What are some practical ways that you plan to demonstrate hospitality in your life? I think that I want to be more intentional about inviting people into my space (physical and emotional). This month, I’m really trying to intentionally love my team and spend time serving them by cooking and helping with housekeeping tasks. It’s good but it’s helping me really learn the lesson that present is better than perfect and sometimes being hospitable means sharing a laugh over a meal that went horribly wrong. It doesn’t have to be as Real Simple Magazine as I make it. Luckily, I have another 8 months to learn this before I have to practice it at home 🙂
What’s your favorite meal so far? In Zambia, the Pastor’s wife cooked for us one night and made chicken that was amazing and that’s standing out as a favorite. This month, I’ve loved these pork donuts that I keep going on about and potato pancakes.
Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street? I think it might be in Latvia. I’ll check!
What’s your favorite word that you learned? Zikomo– It means “thank you” in Chichewa, the main language we used in Malawi. It just flows easily for me. In Lithuanian, thank you is said like “achoo” and I think that’s pretty funny.
How do you feel most encouraged and supported? Through people at home- comments on things I post or personal messages. It makes me feel like I still exist in that world too. I loved the Instagram of you with Rebecca and Leah! With people here, through time. I think it’s been incredible to just share life together and do a mixture of super mundane tasks and incredibly wonderful, Kingdom-spreading acts and share them with a group of people.
Can you feel the love tonight? Oh yeah. I can feel it.
How many journal pages have you already filled? Approximately half of the first journal that I brought. I’m on track to need to buy at least one on the Race which sounds about right to me.
Do you know how much you are missed? Sometimes I need reminding but this has really been helpful 🙂
If you made it through this whole thing, CONGRATULATIONS!!!! You are the Victor of the 74th Annual Hunger Games! And/or you really love hearing all the things about my life right now! You are loved.
