The race is challenging. You change cultures, languages, hosts, housing, food, dress code and ministry every month. You make everything you want and need fit into a pack that you carry on you back everywhere you go, and live on a tight budget. You get used to it, but it is still challenging.
This morning I woke up and was going to make coffee, but it wouldn’t work. Turns out that we didn’t have electricity.
I wore a dress to church that I’ve worn 3 times without washing because we do our laundry by hand and I’ve procrastinated.
Last night on the way home, the taxi driver went on and on in Albanian when he knew I had no idea what he was saying, but he kept talking anyway and we pretended I understood what he was saying.
Blowing up my sleeping pad that has slowly leaked air over time is a weekly occurrence.
Using google translate in the grocery store to see what you’re actually getting happens more often than not.
Your 35 squad mates become your family and even when youre sick of them you still cant get enough of them.
Assuming that at least one person is going to tag along when you go somewhere is now normal, and it’s weird being by yourself for a long period of time.
Speaking in broken english and using your hands to communicate something happens on a daily basis.
Home is wherever you sleep and store your pack that day.
Smiling when you have no idea what someone said to you but it sounded nice happens a lot.
These things have become my normal and I’m okay with that. Somedays they are frustrating, but then I remind myself, “Youre gonna miss this.”
It’s bittersweet knowing that this crazy thing is soon going to change drastically. It’s weird thinking about how normal this all is now. It’s sad realizing that these people who I’ve spent countless hours traveling the world with will be far away. It’s overwhelming thinking about how we will be back in America in a couple weeks, and it’s intimidating knowing I’m going to have to find a new normal.
The scenarios that used to be our biggest hassles are now nothing. We have realized we don’t need electricity, showers, warm water, washing machines, drying machines and all the other luxuries to make life beautiful. The parts I thought I was going to dread about the race are the very things I’ll miss the most.
I’m in a season of taking it all in because I know for sure, I’m going to miss this.
