Whenever anyone asks me if I liked living in New York City or whether I would ever go back, I always maintain that while I like to visit, I wouldn’t live there again because I don’t like cities. They generally feel dirty and unsafe. That goes for NYC and for downtown Miami. Then I went to Tokyo and found that the city was clean and even the darkest alley felt safe. But still, I would say I’m not a city person.
But what’s the alternative? I’m definitely not a country person! I’m not into outdoorsy stuff at all. Most of it is lack of exposure. I’ve lived in suburban areas for most of my life and usually I’ve lived in single family detached homes (although in NY each floor was rented to different people so not really single family but you get the idea). The three years I lived in the countryside of PR were not my favorite, to say the least.
When I was preparing for the World Race I fully expected to not have ac, not have internet, be out in a village in the middle of who knows where, sleeping on dirt floors, taking muddy bucket showers, and doing hands on construction work. But that actually has not been the case. By World Race standards my race has been pretty bougie so far. While other squad mates have actually had the situations described above, my team mostly ended up in or near a big city and so our experience was quite different. In Côte D’Ivoire we had ac and showers and WiFi at the Burger King in a mall a 30 minute walk away. In Ghana we had ac and bucket showers and WiFi at the KFC an hour tro tro ride away. In Togo the ac situation was a little tricky but we had running water and an Internet cafe a 15 minute walk away.
Then we get to Asia. Ac in every Airbnb, good WiFi everywhere, brands from back home in supermarkets, SHOWERS WITH HOT WATER (I didn’t realize how much I missed this until having it again after 3 months). And very quickly I got used to having things like back home.
Fast forward to a new team in Indonesia. We spent three days in Makassar figuring out where we were going to stay for the majority of the month. There weren’t many options within budget that had WiFi and/or ac. And the idea of possibly sleeping in my tent is still not too appealing for me. But at the end we found ourselves taking an 8 hour night bus ride up to Toraja and meeting our homestay host, John, who looked exactly like his selfie with a water buffalo picture we saw online. Another hour was spent weaving through the mountains to our homestay. Not gonna lie, it was really terrifying to look out the car window and see that we were driving at the literal edge of the road on a lane barely wide enough for one car.
We arrive at our cottage and the view is breathtaking. There is green everywhere. Tree covered mountains, a river at our front door, water buffalo everywhere (everyone’s got a water buffalo, no lie), no ac, and it’s not even needed because the temperature is so cool, and our “Internet cafe” is a little area in front of someone’s home that has signal for data. I wrote half of this blog while helping to construct a bamboo fence alongside dirt stairs that were dug out yesterday. This is the most out of way place that I’ve been so far and there is so much I love about it.
There are some things that I’m not fond of. Bugs everywhere. Mud caked sneakers. I wipe dirt off of my shirt as if it’s not gonna get dirty a minute later. I wave away the gnat even though I know it’s going to come back. I eye every corner of our cottage when I enter because last night there was a huge black cockroach (palmetto bug, water bug, whatever they’re called) threatening to fly straight toward me.
So maybe this wasn’t my first choice. But I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything. I’m not an outdoorsy hands on building stuff type of person. But for these three weeks, I can learn to be. Maybe I do thrive in the city more than I thought I did. But when I look out at the mountains, hear the sounds of the rushing river, watch people walk through the rice paddies, and feel the cool mountain breeze, all I can do is be grateful to God for the opportunity to be here.
Jessica
