Just a few things

Hey friends! So I started this list of random things to post on day 200 of the Race, but that clearly didn’t happen. Oops. SO I figured, hey, I’ll just post an unfinished list of things in hope that you’ll see further into the little quirky, fun, (and gross) things of the Race. I hope you can still look me in the eye after some of these lol. Love you fam. See you in 7 days, America!

 

1. I now have a new perspective of the world God made, and it’s awesome.
2. I’ve discovered that bananas are my favorite fruit.
3. Lice is real and it’s nothing to be ashamed of (I haven’t gotten it yet, but my squad knows the struggle). 
4. Pollution will turn your mucus black – especially when you breathe it in for two whole months.
5. Africa is wonderful (especially Swaziland (which is now called eSwatini), Lesotho, and South Africa).
6. Ear buds and music = a blessing.
7. I fell in a squatty once.
8. Right before that, a woman took a look at me, and then proceeded to hand me her baby as she used the squatty.
9. Animals crossing the road (i.e. cows or the occasional monkey) isn’t weird in Nepal. It’s expected.
10. Excessive honking is also a given. 
11. If you wanted to know, which you probably didn’t, I showered once a week on average in Africa and Asia.
12. In Central America, however, my average has improved! A shower every three days is my usual.
13. Public transportation around these parts is cheap, but also can be wildly uncomfortable.
14. Sewing kits man. 
15. Indians will cut you in line if you’re not paying attention.
16. African sunsets are beautiful.
17. Street food isn’t something you should avoid.
18. Asians love their tea.
19. Africans love their pap and cabbage.
20. Indian movie theaters play their national anthem before the movie starts. 
21. Flushing toilet paper in Africa WILL clog the toilet and WILL result in disgusting consequences.
22. Hammock talks are always grand.
23. Gringo is a really fat pug whose snoring sounds like a roaring machine at night.
24. We prayed for rain, and it happened. Praise God.
25. I unknowingly bought Hindu pants in Nepal.
26. Nepal is the land of dogs and puppies.
27. Indians like selfies.
28. Motorcycles and scooters can hold 4, and sometimes 5, people at a time.
29. Many signs in Nepal have misspelled English words on them. Example: farmaci.
30. A 10 passenger vehicle can hold about 25 people.
31. Fat cakes from Fish and Chips in Mokhotlong are amazing.
32. Fries from there are also amazing.
33. It snows in Africa.
34. Nepal is (or at least was) 11 hours and 45 minutes ahead of Iowa. 
35. My spirit animal is a koala. Thanks Will.
36. I recommend putting on chapstick before going paragliding.
37. Milk tea is something that people should try at least 100 times.
38. You can find many World Racers and YWAMers in a coffee shop in their spare time. Or anywhere there’s WiFi, really.
39. There are 66 books in the Bible. I recommend all of them.
40. It is quite possible that if you take a super bumpy 7 hour bus ride in Nepal that you will see (or be) people throwing up out of windows.
41. Toso Kala means “so good” in Greek.
42. Trash fires smell rancid.
43. The last person to cut my hair was Josh McKinley. Thanks Joshie.
44. Nepal has the world’s highest canyon swing, and it’s amazing and also terrifying.
45. On the race, we have this thing called the “free table” that we make at the end of each location to put things we don’t want and pick up things that we do want. It’s great and I think swapping things is cool, so why not do it at home?
46. My computer charger is currently and probably always will be in Hyderabad, India.
47. Flat rooftops are awesome. I wish more American homes had flat roofs.
48. They say not to pet the dogs in other countries because you might get rabies. Pet the dogs anyway.
49. Public transportation in Nepal is very cheap. It cost me about 40 cents to travel 45 minutes to get home one day.
50. Cinnamon roll pancakes are delicious.
51. I haven’t washed my water bottle the whole time I’ve been gone.
52. Merlins are these amazing chocolate things that we buy for 10 cents at the corner store in Nepal.
53. Sometimes I feel like I’m in Divergent because the busses in Nepal will drive away as we’re getting on them (and as you’re getting off).
54. If you have the app flow, do the daily flow with some pals! It really brings the gang together.
55. Voice memos have been a huge thing for me to keep memories from the race.
56. If you let Gringo the pug into the room, he will pee on stuff (aka my sleeping bag and sleeping pad).
57. Sleeping like sardines is actually very cozy and comfortable. 
58. Going along with that, roommates are so much fun.
59. Hot showers are a blessing.
60. So is toilet paper.
61. And western toilets.
62. And WiFi.
63. Annddd milk tea. Yes, milk tea.
64. In my opinion, traveling is so much fun. Even 16 hour plane rides.
65. It took us 4 flights to get from Nepal to Nicaragua.
66. In Lesotho, Swaziland (eSwatini), South Africa, India, and Nepal, they drive on the left side of the road.
67. In Central America, they drive on the right side of the road (bless up. Now I’ll be use to it when I get home and won’t die by driving on the wrong side of the road).
68. “Do you ever worry that when you lead somebody to Christ, you’re gonna get hit by a bus?” -Jace Langley, SQL
69. On February 24, I ate 7 bananas.
70. “The lesson you don’t learn repeats itself.” -Mike Todd (not on the race)
71. It’s perfectly normal to see monkeys just roaming around on telephone wires in Nepal.
72. Restaurants in Nepal will sometimes give you hot water instead of cold water to drink.
73. Yum Yum Tree is an amazing restaurant in Hyderabad, India.
74. Different countries have different shows and movies available on Netflix.
75. Unfortunately, India and Nepal don’t have One Tree Hill on Netflix.
76. 23 February 2018 is 11 Fagun 2074 in Nepal.
77. There are lots of restaurants/cafes that we have been in where people can smoke hookah. The secondhand smoke just added to the pollution that was entering my lungs, so it wasn’t very pleasant to be in those places.
78. The most common mode of transportation in Nepal and India is motos (aka scooters or motorcycles). We can’t ride them though.
79. Our squad currently has 39 racers, 3 squad leaders, 2 squad coaches, and 1 squad mentor.
80. When we arrived in Nepal, it was cold. When we left, it was hot.
81. Hot Breads in Thamel (in Nepal) has really good cream filled donuts. For 95 rupees (like 95 cents).
82. The currency used in Nepal is the Nepalese Rupee.
83. In India, the Indian Rupee.
84. In South Africa, Rand.
85. In Lesotho, Loti. But they also accept Rand.
86. In Swaziland, Lilangeni. They also accept Rand.
87. South Africa, however, does not accept Loti or Lilangeni.
88. In Nicaragua, Córdoba.
89. In Guatemala, Quetzal.
90. And of course, the United States uses the U.S. Dollar. Just in case you needed a refresher 🙂
91. Air India checks your boarding passes an excessive amount of times, and also does a few too many pat downs.
92. But Air India has good food, so that’s a plus.
93. I once paid 150 rupees ($1.50) to rent a bike for a day. 
94. Kurtas are very common to be worn by women in India.
95. As are sarees (in India and Nepal).
96. Nicaragua has lots of plantains. 
97. As does Guatemala. I assume all of Central America has plantains. If not, they should. They’re so yummy.
98. Plantains are basically banana potatoes.
99. Jordy Searcy makes good music. I recommend checking it out.
100. In the month of March, my squad was in 7 countries: Nepal, India, United States, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala!
101. Guatemala has chicken busses (aka colorful school busses that occasionally have chickens as passengers) as a form of transportation. 
102. I once saw a chicken on a chicken bus – day made.
103. Cipro helps with the downs.
104. Gozoso is Spanish for joyful.
105. Bible studies are SWEET. Grab some buddies and your Bible and dive into that Word, friends.
106. “That’s an L.” -Sam Van Dyke
107. Cheeks is a bunny that currently lives at the Guatemala AIM base, thanks to the boys who adopted it.
108. One Sunday, about 10 of us had church here (in Guate), and we named it “Cheeks Nondenominational.”
109. Polaroids are pretty nifty.
110. Buffalo milk tastes good with honey.
111. I am an extravert, and I forget that sometimes.
112. Megapaca is a thrift store in Chimaltenango that has received many monies from my squad over the past few months.
113. Black beans taste good.
114. Black refried beans taste even better.
115. My mind was recently blown. The guy who plays Mr. Tumnus is The Chronicles of Narnia is the same guy that plays the main dude in Split. James McAvoy is a great actor.
116. Drink water. It keeps you hydrated.
117. A lot of the trees I’ve seen in Guate so far have white paint covering the bottom part of them. Interesting.
118. I recommend traveling to Antigua during Semana Santa (Holy Week). The alfombras (aka carpets made of flowers and such) are beautiful and the street food is, as Sam would say, “so worth.”
119. Antigua has cobblestone streets. 
120. The small bills in Guatemala are made of plastic, which is neato.
121. Guatemala and Nicaragua have Chiky’s, which are rectangular cookies with a chocolate layer on the bottom. They go very well with marshmallows for s’mores!
122. I’m sure there are so many other things that I could talk about, but I’ll stop here. If you read all of these, wow! Thanks for enduring that! If not, that’s cool too! 
123. I COME HOME IN 7 DAYS. WHAT. 
124. Okay bye friends. See you soon. 🙂