This past year has been INCREDIBLE, LIFE CHANGING, and CHALLENGING. I have been PUSHED more physically and spiritually than I have ever been in my entire life. I would not change my experience these past months for anything. There are MANY more adjectives to describe this past year, BUT GLAMOROUS is definitely NOT one of them! To give you a peek into these past 11 months, I made a list of things that I’ve experienced and done that I NEVER in my lifetime thought that I would do. I also wanted to post these to prepare my brother,
Callan, for the World Race. He will be leaving this August with a group of 90 people for 11 months as well. Most of these I can look back and laugh about now, but all of them were certainly not funny at the time! 🙂
-I have slept in over 50 different places in 11 months
-I basically have a “masters” degree in community living with an
emphasis on healthy confrontation (when you live with 31 people ALL the
time, this is bound to happen)
-In Africa, I lived in a tent for 3 months
-For 6 out of the 11 months, I have slept on the floor on a 2 inch think pad
-I had Ali cut my hair with a swiss army pocket knife to save money…TWICE
-I wore the same outfit anywhere from 3-7 days in a row (okay…sometimes a LITTLE longer)
-I have hand washed my clothes in rivers, lakes, bathtubs, and buckets. Sometimes we found it easier to just get in the shower with your dirty clothes on and wash them while still on your back.
-I lived above a prostitution ring in Vietnam for a month
-I have eaten dog (unknowingly!), caterpillar, spiders, and crickets.
-Fish oil, rice, and mystery meat were staple food items in Asia
-I traveled in a small van for over 60 hours straight through South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Malawi.
-For the past 6 months, I have used a piece of cloth from Thailand as a towel
-I went for 9 months “styling” my hair with only a travel size brush…blow dryers and straighteners were non-existent
-Trying to buy food for 2 weeks with no refrigerator for over 25 people from small market stands in African villages is DIFFICULT
-I learned that electricity is a luxury, not a necessity
-I took “bucket showers” with freezing cold water for showers on numerous occasions
-I walked 2 hours roundtrip in Mozambique to take a shower from a well and get clean drinking water every day for 2 weeks
-I had dengue fever in Cambodia for 10 days….WORST I have EVERRRR felt….EVERR
-In Mozambique, we cooked over an open fire with canned food for dinner, lived off of bread we made ourselves with peanut butter for breakfast and lunch, and had NOOO bathroom facility
-I have lived with A/C for approximately 6 days (maybe) out of 11 months
-I wore a tube of chapstick on my wrist because it was more convenient
-I had met many of the animals before they would become my dinner
-I have slept on COUNTLESS vans, buses, and airport floors
-Riding with 22 people, chickens, and other farm animals in a 10 passenger van is the norm
-On the way to Malawi, thee of my teammates had ALL of their packs stolen along with a guitar. We were in such a primitive area that they relied on us for clothing, tents, sleeping bags, etc.
-Headlamps are an ESSENTIAL fashion accessory for ALL countries. Even if you have electricity, you NEVER know when it will cut out.
-I have taken more showers from spickets, buckets, or hoses than I have from a regular shower
-For exercise, I have ran through the deserts of Africa, the mud and muck of primitive villages, dodged motos in the busiest city in the world (Ho Chi Minh), and run on the occasional eroded concrete “track”
-On many occasions, I wore a skirt with tennis shoes because it was just more comfortable (MAJOR fashion faux paux!)
-I have lived out of a backpack for a year
-Tools to clear two acres of land consisted of 3 ancient machetes, 4 hoes, an ax and a couple of rakes
-I don’t turn around anymore when people scream at me in foreign languages
-The words “manual labor” take on a WHOLE new meaning in the middle of the African bush in 105 degree weather
-2-3 times a month, I travel from country to country with two backpacks strapped to me that cumulatively weigh over 75 pounds
-Waking up to a rooster crowing and chickens pecking outside your tent about 5:30 AM was just expected
-I have used over 14 different currencies
-I have rotated between seven shirts, three pairs of pants, and two pairs of shoes for 11 months
I am SURE I could come up with PLENTY of other examples, but I bet you get the idea by now! I will be home next week and I look forward to seeing everyone and sharing stories from this past year. Thank you again for supporting me on this CRAZY journey!
