2,957 miles
driven, 1,306 flown, 14 states visited
and all this the journey before the grand adventure even began!! Leaving the US was an experience in and of
itself. Making sure all of our affairs
were in order, leaving jobs and finishing school has become as much apart of
this experience as the World Race itself.
Our race began June
13th with a couple days more of training in Newark, NJ. The leadership and logistics, which I have
been blessed with the opportunity to be apart of, went over some last minute
details then left for the Ukraine. The
first couple days were spent in a hostel in Kiev ran by a 20 something named
Max, who I could never tell if he was absolutely annoyed with us the whole or
happy we were there since he went out of his way to help us on a number of
occasions. We were able to sample the
local cuisine to include exotic meals such as a big mac value meal and a double
fresh for breakfast. After a our first
night we had to do some transportation planning for the rest of the squad since
40 or so were coming into Ukraine one day after we arrived. In this process I discovered how difficult it
is to get vans, taxis and buses to airports, to train stations and to hostels,
all at the same time (I discovered that getting a mini van with less that 12
hours notice is as difficult as “becoming an astronaut”). The night before we left Kiev for our first
mission we were blessed by Mary, who is a missionary in Kiev and she allowed
our team of 6 to stay at her apartment completely free. The next morning we discovered how difficult
it is to travel on a bus to the train station with a very large backpack and a
daypack. So difficult that we weren’t
able to catch the bus and because of quick thinking by Mary, who ordered taxis
for us , we were able to catch the train to Bahchisaray which is located in the
Crimean peninsula.
We traveled on a train
for 16 hours from Kiev realizing along the way the teenagers are the same
regardless of where they come from and old men are pretty crazy no matter the
country either. We learned that a
handshake really does mean something to people here (unfortunately for Kyle) ,
it is not merely a formality. We arrived
in Bahchisaray at 5 am on the 19th and saw 7 adults with 6 full packs and day
packs squeezed into a very small coup for the trip to Discovery camp. Since then we have spent the first two days
building cabins, cleaning up the camp and getting to know the staff here. Igor owns the land and runs the camp. Yuri is the camps caretaker and overall
handyman. Pasha and Angelina are the
interpreters who have so far been amazing!
There are many others who have since come now that the children arrived
today and we hope to be able to see what amazing works God will do in the coming
weeks! That’s all for now at least from
me, Casey probably has more to say since so is much more articulate than I
am! Take care!
Tom
