“I don’t even have any good skills. You know like nunchuck skills, bow hunting skills, computer hacking skills. Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills!” – Napoleon Dynamite
Okay, so being on The World Race has helped me accumulate an assortment of random skills.
I was thinking about this list and I think it’s such a random list I want to share it with you.
- Conflict/Resolution skills
Can you say community? Ok. Yeah.- An opportunity to work on this skill presented itself nearly daily.
- Not to mention community things: transportation, grocery shopping, personal space, shower time, all the things.
- Construction skills
This year I learned through many manual labor ministries how do loads of construction projects in a home or on a farm.- Need a wall sanded? I got you.
- How about a whole house painted? Yep.
- Does your fence need mending? Call me.
- I can even grout your bathroom/kitchen tile if you need.
(Not to mention weeding, dirt and sand moving, gravel paving etc…I’m also really good at ghetto rigging stuff now)
- Minimalistic Living skills
- You know those cute little links on Pinterest for a minimalistic lifestyle…well it’s not so cute when you’re living it. This year I have carried an average of 50 things in a pack to live out of. I can help you minimize your life.
- Communication skills
- I repeat – “Can anyone say community?”
- Negotiating, sharing, verbalizing, etc.
- There’s this thing called feedback that teams do on a daily basis which has become our way of calling out the affirmative and constructive in our words and actions, this creates healthy communication.
- Cross cultural communication skills.
- Seriously. I thought about combining this with No. 4, but it deserves it’s own bullet point. Have you ever tried to pray over someone who has literally no idea what you’re saying? I have.
- I also know first hand what it’s like to play charades in the meat market in Asia and Eastern Europe to ask for turkey not ham.
- How about not offending that Thai man by crossing your leg too high? Yep.
- I have interacted with 10, almost 11 different cultures and have a pretty good grasp on how to get pray with, call for transportation, order food and ask for directions in each country. This is a huge skill.
- Travel skills
- I have now effectively traveled to 3 different continents, 11 countries without having lost my luggage or getting left behind.
- I’ve learned how to sleep in airports.
- I can board trains in an efficient manner (you wouldn’t believe how hard it is to do in with a 50 lb pack strapped to your back and 20 lb pack on your front)
- I can get a tuk tuk, song taow, taxi, mini bus, or whatever in every country.
- Hand washing skills
- I can successfully wash and dry every item of clothing I own (including jeans….this means a lot) by hand and hanging them out on a line.
- All I need is a bucket, a river, a tub, I got this.
So that’s my list of newly accumulated skills I’ve gained on The World Race.
Some of them will mean nothing in America.
Some of them might just end up on my resume.
We’ll see.
