The majority of blogs I post are of the serious nature. It’s definitely significant to inform others where their support money is going, highlight important issues etc. However, I’m not too serious of a person. Laughter is a key ingredient in my life.
When I reflect on the last 10 months some of my favorite memories are of the bizarre things that happen when you live overseas. While sometimes these mishaps can be frustrating beyond belief and I long for the day when a seemingly simple task actually proves simple. On the other hand I believe it will be something I’ll miss about life outside the states. Allow me to enlighten you a bit…
FOOD/GROCERIES:
I fear grocery shopping will be less stirring when I can read labels, recognize food and not laugh about the utterly disgusting food combinations found around the world. I mean how can you not laugh (or gag) at the thought of eating kidney bean and corn yogurt?
Grocery shopping will also not be the same when the employees don’t stop in the middle of working to participate in a choreographed number down the main aisle of the store for my viewing pleasure. I don’t foresee this happening at HEB.
Not to mention the excitement of recognizing something such as Pringles (I don’t even like Pringles, but the familiarity of seeing something American can be thrilling when you don’t recognize anything else). Available in a variety of delectable flavors in Asia: Seaweed, Lemon and Sesame, Soft Shell Crab, Grilled Shrimp, Prawn Cocktail, Blueberry and Hazelnut (what?), Shrimp and more.
[Bet you thought I was kidding?]
And who doesn’t love purple soup from Hungary? As afraid as I was to eat this, it was actually REALLY good.
[Gotta love purple soup.]
And what’s the fun in cooking when you can’t burn off calories by chasing it first, killing it, plucking feathers then cooking it? Africa knows the meaning of fresh chicken. Ok, so maybe I won’t miss that part.
Cooking seems less adventurous (aka a death sentence) when cooking with normal ingredients as opposed to guessing and taste testing some that end up being hazardous to your health, like ammonia, which apparently is a normal ingredient for cakes in Moldova.
*This is by far my favorite video of the year. Yes, I freak out mid-video because a fly is in my ear. Yes, my teammate Bambi pees her pants (er, skirt) at the end*
CHORES:
Doing laundry won’t be the same when all I have to do is put it in a washing machine with no possibility of having my underwear dropped down the squatty potty on laundry day.
And I’m thinking any sort of yard work is going to seem pretty lame when it can’t be done with a machete…then again maybe I could go old school and cut the grass with one. I’m thinking the neighbors might not find this amusing.
[Cutting down corn fields with a machete in Moldova.]
FASHION/BEAUTY:
Let’s be honest, I’m not going to miss living out of a backpack and sniff testing my clothes to see what’s ‘clean,’ aka how much is too much B.O. to be deemed unwearable (answer: never too much). I’ve looked pretty ridiculous this year. From wearing everything in my pack on my body when it was cold in Eastern Europe to my little orphan Annie fro in the humidity of Asia. But haircuts seem pretty normal compared to the sweet African weave all the girls on my team sported in Kenya.
[And no, I didn’t wash my hair for the whole month I had the weave. Take that bucket shower!]
TRANSPORTATION:
Transportation will seem boring along with normal animal names when I
can’t ride a camel named Michael Jackson next to the Giza pyramids (and
then be ripped off by my creepy camel guy).
One of the most frustrating yet adventurous parts of The Race
involves transportation. I have ridden everything from donkeys to
elephants, tuk tuks to matatu’s and everything in between (even a raft). When you add
weather to the mix it makes things even more interesting. Though any form of African transportation means you’re in for a ‘treat.’
Those are some highlights. I love reminiscing over the hilarious situations I’ve found myself in this year. From finding a Turkish man running his fingers through my hair and thinking it was my teammate, to cooking for my team not being able to identify or read any label and especially any form of transportation and getting entire neighborhoods involved in trying to get us home from wherever we were. Even being sick seems boring when it’s not something that sounds hardcore like malaria or typhoid.
While I’m definitely looking forward to adding some form of normalcy to my life I think I will miss the adventure of life outside of normal. What always starts out to be some form of ‘normal’ we try to establish on The Race usually ends in some crazy antic.
Hope you were offered a few laughs in the process of this blog. And trust me there is PLENTY more where that came from…
