Don’t worry its not a poorly titled sequel to Steve Martin’s classic “Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.” By the way I recommend you see it if you haven’t. Moving on. So I’m currently sitting on a bed (thankfully) in a Lebane, Serbia. It’s 07:00 in the morning. My teammate Stephen aka “Stephie Wonder” is waking up four feet from me. My back aches (classic) and my hair is a blond mess. James Bay is playing into my headphones. (the best). I just “suffered” a severe case of jetlag. Which by the way doesn’t even make sense because its 1:00am in Ohio. AHHHHHHH BLINDING LIGHT!!! (Stephen just turned on the light in our tiny room). The smell of hot sauce lingers barely in the air, don’t worry we’ll get to that. Hold on. I’ll be right back gonna go for a run.
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Okay, I’m back! Wow my soul is refreshed. Ran up a mini mountain behind Lebane. Took a wrong turn on the way to the path to the mountain and ran into a pack of rabid street dogs. Don’t worry (Sharon), I’m all good. The landscape here reminds me a little bit of southern Ohio/West Virginia. I also ate some wild berries a local was picking from the path. At the end of this blog I’ll post some pics down below. So I get back to the house after my run/hike and Slavoljub (our host) offered me some coffee. Man after my own heart. Back to the hot sauce.
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So when we left the Atlanta airport to fly to Serbia as a squad, I completely forgotten the Franks Red Hot Sauce on the outside of my pack. Huge mistake. The bottle broke inside my airporter all over my bag. It was covered with the sauce. I picked up some of the glass shards and took my bag over to the bathroom. I’ve been amble to get a decent amount of the sauce off. But for a long while the scent of Franks Hot Sauce lingered strongly around me. It would sting the nostrils and make people run in terror. The worst was the forty minute bus ride from Nikola Tesla airport to the bus station in Belgrade, Serbia. I don’t know if you’ve ever taken an airport shuttle, but its quite cramped. The scent of the sauce filled the entire bus which was embarrassing. Fortunately every around me had this mentality of “yeah this is happening.” It even caused my team to have a breakdown laughing moment caused by Rosie beginning to laugh about the situation.
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After marinating in the enclosed hot sauce shuttle for forty minutes, my team arrived at the Belgrade bus station. That was tough to see and I didn’t even get the full experience. In America, we hear about the refugee crisis in the Balkan region but we don’t see it. At the bus station, I was able to look into the eyes of the shattered destitute. Syrian and Iraqi refugees were in most nook and corner of the bus station. Families of five-six sharing one blanket. Dear reader, if you take anything from this promise me you won’t be voluntarily ignorant to the situation here in the Balkans. Just thinking about how I have a relationship because my life was flipped upside down by God. Don’t get me wrong! It was nothing like having your entire house destroyed by ISIS but God allowed an upheaval of my life to pass. I’m convinced that is what He is allowing to happen right now in this corner of the world. All so His glory and love could be made known!!! Get hyped.
With love,
Kyle Cardinal
PS: if you would like to read an in depth blog about what it was like at the train station for some of my squadmates you should click on this following link. http://tabithaturner.theworldrace.org/?filename=the-night-i-shared-my-sleeping-bag-with-a-syrian-refugee
PSS: the Buckeyes won yesterday! O-H-I-O, GOOOOOO BUCKS!
PSSS: I can’t figure out how to post the pictures from my hike in here. Check back in a few hours and maybe I’ll have figured it out. Maybe.
