Airborne

Yes, hello my friend! I am in Nepal, safe & sound. Yet, there is still so much to share with you about India. The blogs just keep coming, i’m telling ya! 

Today I want to share with you a funny story. This memory that will forever exist in my heart was about the travel day from India to Nepal. This was like no bus ride I have experienced before. We woke up at the crack of dawn (literally 4:45 AM) to travel by Tuk Tuk to the border crossing about a half hour away. After crossing the border into Nepal with a quick stamp & application, we crossed & waited at the bus station for the next available bus to get us where we needed to go in Nepal.

We found out this bus ride would be 20+ hours. Whew!

In my head I figured “okay, great time to rest up a bit, reflect, read, journal, and chat with old & possibly new friends too”.

Well, let me tell you, this was not my experience. But it is a memory that I surely will NEVER forget or fail to laugh about from here on out. Here we go:

Upon boarding the bus, we were assigned the very back row of seats. As you may know, the back of the bus tends to be where the most “bounce” is, right? Right on.

We got settled in, nice & snug. & the bus ride began.

Within 10 seconds the ride started to get quite bumpy, but as the bus started to speed up, it only got more bumpy from there on out. & friend, this is not like the little pot holes in America that we find every once in a while. These are extreme pot holes if there ever was such a thing. Pot holes that will leave your bum sore. Pot holes that make you crunch your abs and brace yourself by holding onto the handle bars with all your might. Pot holes that will quite literally make you FLY!

My friends & I along with the fellow passengers, were airborne quite often in that ride. For me, I am an adrenaline junkie-so most the time it was hilarious. That was not the case for everyone though-especially getting onto hour 5 of the 21 hour ride.

Every 30 seconds, I kid you not, I would need to reposistion myself.
I tried to read-but the lines were a big blur with the bumps
I tried to sleep-but I would slide out of my chair with the turns
I tried to sit up-but sometimes on the big bumps I would hit my head on the fan
I tried to eat my snacks-but the snacks would literally fly out of my hand on the bumps
I tried to journal-but it was unreadable by the time I got a sentence on the paper.
I tried to talk with my neighbor-& we did but eventually our eyes were so sleepy it was time to quiet down

I tried sleeping on the floor.
I tried sleeping in the seat
I tried sticking my head out for air
I tried seeing how many stars I could look at to pass time
I tried to pray-but every bump tested me & I could not take it seriously haha!

I tried to contain my laughter-but I couldn’t. It was SO funny! I would see people start to fall asleep or their head tilt then BUMMPP! They were up, startled, looking a bit confused, then reality would hit-oh it was just another pot hole & then they would fall back asleep until the next pot hole & it would repeat itself all over again. Some people would shout, others would roll their eyes. Some would laugh, others would cover their head up all over again. 

I just about died laughing. Honestly, this helped me keep my cool too! This time was so testing for all of our patience. Part of me wondered what was going on in the bus drivers mind. Did he know how airborne we were?!

21 hours later my friend.

We were tired. My hair looked like it had gone through a room full of static from the amount of banging and harsh brushing up on the seat that took place. My eyes stung from the sleepless 36 hours. My head hurt from banging up against the window & fan. We were so close to our destination in Nepal, but still so far away.

Trekking up the mountain side, our bus was in a traffic jam that seemed to go on for miles. In this time, I realized that I had to got to the bathroom pretty badly. 

So, I asked a friend that I had made on the bus & one of my other friends if they would find a bathroom with me while the bus was not moving.

Sure thing! They said, and we got off the bus and started making our way up to the nearest squatty potty we could find.

Sure enough, we found it-& I went to the bathroom. But by the time I was finished, my friends and I realized that the traffic jam had stopped & the buses were moving in full swing.

Oh no! So we started running, trying to catch our bus that had gotten ahead of us up the mountain. We quickly realized it was going to be impossible to catch the bus, so the new local friend I had made instructed us to hop onto a different moving bus in effort to catch up with our original one.

So, that is what we did. We hopped onto an entirely different bus passing by, sat in the front seats with the driver until we caught our original bus by the grace of God.

It was quite the adventure! But nothing unusual for a travel day on this 11 month journey.

Long story short (don’t worry mom! 🙂 we made it safely back to our original bus & to the rest of our friends.

Thank goodness, for a local friend, or else I probably would have been stranded at the squatty potty-unsure of how to get back to that bus.

I love the adventure. I love the thrill. I love the journey.

Was that bus ride long? Of course. Did I wish it wasn’t as bumpy-for sure! But did I find joy within it all? You betcha. & I had fun, imagining what Jesus & Father God was doing as if they were in the same seat as I. My guess-making light of the situation. Laughing. Finding joy. & thinking of that-made me laugh & be filled with Joy too.

It’s been a real treat gaining God’s perspective on whatever I am doing. God is seriously so much fun & it’s just about the best thing ever to join in on it. He is just so good, better than we think. 

Anyways, I’m here in Nepal now. It’s been wonderful for the most part besides a bad fever for the first 36 hours! Feeling much better now. It’s a busy month ahead with logistics coordinating. We are in the process of our Chinese Visa Applications pending, & debrief with the rest of my friends is right around the corner.

A couple more blog features to come from the month in India-& soon more updates on how Nepal is treating so far. I can hardly wait to share with you my next stories. God work’s in wild ways. 

Thank you for tuning in, and I do hope this post cracked a smile on your face today.

The Lord is my strength and shield. I trust him with all my heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving. -Psalm 28:7

With deep appreciation for you, (& for smooth roads),
-Kailey

P.S. I got a nose ring! & it really didn’t hurt that bad! I also got a much needed haircut from a Chinese man in Nepal who didn’t share the same Language as I. You can imagine it was an interesting experience trying to explain what I desired in my haircut. A little shorter than expected, but hey! Hair grows back right? 🙂