What does it look like when World Racers change
continents? Let me show you how
through our journey from Ivankiv, Ukraine to Dar es Salaam Tanzania. Our ministry is actually in Mbeya which
is across the country, but for now I’ll fill you in on the journey so far. We didn’t have to go through a time
change, so that did make things a little easier than other continent changes
(at least in one respect!).
Saturday, June 2nd
We are supposed to leave our ministry site at 9:30. We have had the privilege of spending
the entire day before packing, but I still stayed up until 1:30am and got up at
7am to shower and wash my pajamas in a washing machine (don’t know when that’s
going to happen again!)
9:30- Hanging out in the lodge with our contact.
10:00- Making our way towards the door, sort of
10:15- Time to go!
We are hurriedly saying out goodbyes to the American interns that are
staying Ukraine.
10:25- Horns are honking and it is time to get in the bus
and drive to Kiev.
11:30- Arrive at the Ukrainian version of Sam’s Club, Metro,
to pick up replacement toiletries and some snacks for our journey. Only three people can go inside on one
membership card, so three of us head in with lists to get everything we need.
12:45- Leave Metro with two large bags full to the brim with
crackers, oranges, gum, shampoo, tampons, chocolate, and a random assortment of
other things.
1:20- Arrive at the hostel where we are staying for the
night. Walk up four flights of
stairs with our packs on the get there.
2:00- Kate and I leave to find the National Opera house and
buy tickets to the night’s performance of “Radio and Juliet�, a contemporary
ballet performed entirely to the music of Radiohead. We were pretty psyched about it.
3:00- Kate and I walk past a group of other racers that are
moving to another hostel because ours apparently didn’t have enough room for
everyone that was supposed to be booked there. We still haven’t found the Opera House yet.
4:00- Kate and I finally find the Opera House and buy
tickets. We then wandered and
found the post office, ate shaormas, and came back to the Opera House
completely underdressed. Oh well.
7:00- “Radio and Juliet� amazingness.
9:40- We get back to the hostel.
10:00- I begin to catch up on posting photos and blogs from
the past month. Our internet was
$4 an hour, so I didn’t really use it much. I also skyped with some family and friends.
11:00- Still online
Sunday, June 3rd
12:00- Still online
1:00- Still onine
2:00- Still online
3:00- Still online
4:00- Still online.
I feel like I’m in college again, trying to finish an essay the day
before it’s due.
5:00- Still. Online.
6:00- Wrap it up.
6:15- Pack up my computer and start bringing things
downstairs to the bus.
7:00- The bus leaves for the airport.
7:30- Arrive at the airport.
9:00-Check-in.
11:00- Leave Kiev for Istanbul, Turkey.
This
is the most obnoxious flight of my life… I sat in between two old Ukrainian
women who had never been on a plane before and had NO plane etiquette
whatsoever. They each had three
drinks and were taking pictures of everything and were shouting across me to
each other. Sigh. Oh well.
12:30- Arrive in Istanbul.
1:15- Get through immigration and find a place to sit until
our World Race Exposure team members come at 5:00.
1:15- 5:00- Attract a lot of attention because we are a huge
group with sitting in the middle of an airport dressed funny and a lot are
sleeping.
5:00- Make a huge scene as we welcome our new team members
with singing and cheering.
7:00- Leave for Dar es Salaam, the capitol of Tanzania.
Monday, June 4th
2:00- Arrive in Tanzania. It takes a LONG time for a group
45 people to get through immigration and get their passports stamped.
Sometime after 2am….- We get to our hotel.
5:00am.. I think….: There is some confusion about money and
we aren’t sure if we are going to stay at the hotel so we just wait….
6:00am- We finally have the go ahead to stay at the hotel
and go to bed.
8:30- Breakfast is now or never, so we rip ourselves out of
bed to go eat.
10:00- Back to sleep.
3:00- Wake up.
Have some snacks, see who’s awake, refill water bottles. Go on a short
walk, figure out what’s going on tomorrow….
Tuesday, June 5th
12am and I am finishing up this blog. Ready for our 12 hour bus ride that
leaves at 5am tomorrow? Heck
yes!! Gotta get to our ministry
site somehow! I’m sure there will
be more stories about our travel to the other side of the country, but for now
I’ll stop the crazy travel timeline right here where we are.
Just another day of travel on the World Race!
