That’s a Wrap! Honest confessions about life on the race

 

Hey Hey Hey!

It’s a good day!

 

Before I start chatting about this new vlog…I want to share with you a cool God story that just happened the other night. I thought it was a typical Friday night-before I left to go spend time with a friend, I said to myself “God thank you for tonight, thank you for this opportunity to spend time with those I am spending time with tonight. May people experience your love through us tonight, wherever we go.”

That night, I was taking one of my favorite friends, Grandma Jan out to Taco Bell…and little did we know there was a divine appointment from God just waiting to happen.

Upon arrival to Taco bell, we were welcomed in by a gal filled with an incredible amount of Joy. This was the first thing I noticed about her! It was her first day working at Taco bell and she served us as if we were the most important people in the world at that time. It was so honoring! The night was slow and this gal ended up coming and sitting right next to us with not just one but a whole package of delicious cinnabons to share (my friend Grandma Jan’s favorite treat!!!)

Through a series of conversations during this time at Taco Bell we had an opportunity to pray over the gal who treated us so kindly and even shared with us bits and pieces of her life. I was so saddened by what I learned that night.

We quickly found out this gal has a medical condition where her body is slowly degrading to the point that she was given a “death date” of 27 years old. This gall is currently 20 years old. She started work at Taco bell in the hopes to financially sustain herself and to keep her body moving so it prolongs her life time as much as possible. 

Through a series of conversations with her I quickly learned that she is in need of loving and healthy community-ready to support her through this incredibly difficult and trying time. Praise the Lord that we met her because now we get to help be the hands and feet of Jesus to her-connecting her with much needed community, help, and love.

Please keep this precious gal in your prayers! I am believing for a full restoration for her via mind, body, and spirit!

Lastly, one more cool God thing: On the way home from Taco bell, I stopped at the gas station to fill up on gas. Thinking it was just an ordinary moment, it turned out not to be. A truck pulled up to my car behind me with a man that got out-asking if he could scrape the snow off my car for me, haha! Turns out he was also a believer and it was just a really kind and random gesture-I appreciated it alot! 

God is always on the move and it truly is the greatest experience to love, and to be loved. We learn this past from our heavenly Father-who is the definition of love. It’s in these kind of moments that I think to myself “God-I am so glad to have this opportunity to walk in the ways of you, your ways are perfect, truly”

Thanks for listening to that-and now onto the World Race Funny/Real moments Recap!!! 

This is my effort to capture the funnies, the ventures, the real talk moments we probably can all relate to at one point or another, from this year.

Once again, by no means will I be able to share with you every experience, for there were so many. Never less, here are some top highlights(or embarrassing moments) that I hope to make you laugh or inspire you to check the country out for yourself.

Here we go:

Training Camp

Training camp took place in October 2017. I did not think too much about what it would be like, as my schedule was overloaded already & I was just trying to survive…so it came as a bit of a shock for me when I got there to find out it was more like a boot camp than a summer camp…haha!

From about 6:30 AM to midnight… we were move’n and groove’n with a packed schedule. Training camp happened to help prepare us for the world, so of course they created real life possible scenarios for us to live out that week.

One night we had an airport night which consisted of cramming into a room, lights fully on, and airport background noise going full blast. No one told me to pack earplugs or and eye mask..LOL! I thought I was going crazy. One evening for dinner, we were served dead crickets as a side. Another evening we camped outside, in the middle of the woods. Unfortunately I was one of the last ones to put my sleeping pad down, so I got the space that was basically in the brush. What does this mean? Daddy long legs. Crawling up my sleeping bag. Touching my face. Eeeeeek! Oh, I also took one cold water bucket shower in a period of 10 days…that water was colder than ice cold haha! 

The whole training camp experience was an adventure.

Confession: At one point I’ll admit (mind you I was really not in the best place emotionally, spiritually, or mentally), I called one of my friends and said “i don’t think I can do this” but of course she encouraged me to stay put and keep on keepin on! 

Australia

A variety of funny things happened here! First off, getting there took about a 70 hour plane ride. We had 4 lay overs in that period of time. WOW. We were pooped after that. Upon arrival, I ran into some interesting men playing the guitar.

We swam in the ocean, I walked through the jungle, I saw some amazing views like I never had before! 

We slept on a church floor that month and at one point my friend and I secretly moved into a closet in effort to sleep better with less noise haha! My friends and I tried to climb a vine in the jungle and one friend, did a major slip-it was a close call but also sooooo funny! She was totally fine don’t worry.

The fire aunts HURT so bad. I got bit by one and my entire body felt a shock of pain. We as a group tried so hard to landscape well for the park as a volunteer service…but a lot of us were scared after the first bite! Oh, and Kangaroo chasing was awesome.

Confession: One time I saw a lizard fall from the church ceiling and run across the room. I wasn’t sure if it went in the corner or into someone else’s sleeping bag…so I just acted like it never happened!

Indonesia

Indonesia was a wild country! That is where I had my first insane bus ride, where I had to literally hold onto the seat in order to not topple over. It was about 12 hours long. I thought I could take any kind of spicy until I tried Satan noodles. It burned so bad, I wiped an orange piece all over my lips for that next half hour.

At the Monkey temple, there were monkeys jumping on top of me, and one of the monkeys tried to take my phone. My friends and I along with a local decided to go on a small excursion to a local mountain called Mt. Bromo. It was a 5 hour jeep ride that started at midnight. & it was the sketchest ride of my life at that point! The Bali bus tour was real fun too! I visited local temples, tried local food, deserts, and we traveled to a forest full of monkeys. 

I paid a small amount of money to ride a horse one day thinking it would go fast, yet it was slower than walking pace. To make matters more funny, I asked the guy holding the horses reigns, what it’s name was and he told me it’s name was “Pony tail” I wonder why. It had a pony tail holding it’s front hair straight up! 

Confession: I tried feeding a monkey a banana-but instead it took the banana in one hand then with the other hand grabbed mine, and bit my finger. It scared the bajeeberz outta me! 

Other Confession: One time when I went to take a shower, with the bucket shower, I looked at the water and saw a bunch of tiny squiggly worms! After that I decided to pass on a shower…for like the next week! 

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka was a country that I don’t necessarily prefer to go back to anytime soon, haha! But it was adventurous while it lasted. My first week of sleeping there, I was attacked by mosquitos, there were ant infestations everywhere, and I woke up to the nibbling of what we believe to be a rat chewing on my hair one night (there was evidence because an apple and chocolate bar had nibbles in it the next day. My friend who is actually terrified of snakes, ran into a cobra snake and literally prayed it away. Thank you Lord!

I saw an elephant or two walking the streets. I was introduced to Tuk Tuks…those things are wild! Nothing real crazy happened adventure wise… but we did check out a waterfall one day! Oh, and I’ll admit, I had rotti every single day…it was so good!

India

India was a top favorite country! One time we were playing soccer between two palm trees as the goal, and I was the goalie (that’s the first problem) and one time the soccer ball was kicked and it hit one of the palm trees next to me. As I looked at where the ball hit-the ball then hit directly in my face SO HARD! Owch. I was on the ground rolling it was so funny.

It smelled…very interesting. We visited the Taj Mahal. Have you ever heard of the saying there is an “India hello and India goodbye?” What that means is, you’re going to have toilet issues the entire time. This rang true for many of us that month! 

Nepal

Nepal was one for the books! 24 hour bus ride was not too shabby at first…but then by about hour 4, I was over the bumpy-ness! I literally watched a grandma fly outta her seat, and constantly heard people yell, wake up to falling out of their chairs, etc. It felt like a mean joke, yet I couldn’t keep it together without laughing so hard! At one point I was laughing out the window because I did not want to bother other people.

That same bus ride, we found ourselves in a huge traffic jam going up the mountains. I had to go to the bathroom soooo bad, mind you I was having terrible bathroom experiences…and in those experiences…when you gotta go you gotta go! I got off the bus and quickly ran to the bathroom, only to find out that the traffic jam finished and the bus was driving away-as I was in the middle of doing some important business.

One bus ride, we managed to fit around 34 people on a 28 person bus. On this same travel day, there were mud slides in our midst, traffic jams, and really big cliffs. Several friends and I went and flew over Mt. Everest and that was pretty dang cool.

Confession: On the plane ride excursion over Mt. Everest, one of my friends and I were talking about tooting and pooping and how we had been doing lately in that area. Forgetting that some people on the plane may speak English-we soon came to find out by the mans laughter in the seat in front of us, that he probably just heard every detail that came out of our mouth. T.M.I. 

Tibet

Tibet was a beautiful area, but an area I would prefer not to go back to again…unless my lungs were trained for the altitude. We used oxygen cans, and did our best not to throw up! For some it was OK, for others, it was worse! I got the best of the bug, and would wake up throwing up due to the little air I was receiving. The squatty potties were not ideal when you were having toilet problems. I will tell you this, for one day straight, I was sitting on the toilet just about every 20 minutes.

Confession: One night, I was so sickly. I literally accidentally pooped my pants…IN MY SLEEP! Well partially…I made it to the toilet for most of the horror. (FYI, 90% of racers poop their pants at least once on the race. The different foods really make you loose control sometimes)

China

China was by far the most shocking country to be in. What surprised me most was the heightened security, police stations on almost every corner, cameras just about everywhere you looked. I felt watched every step of the way. 

One day when I was jogging around the park, I decided to stop and play some ping pong with the locals. Little did I know I would be challenged to represent USA verses CHINA (bad idea my friends). I got WHOOPED! No wonder, it’s a serious sport there! I spent 4th of July with my friends at the Great Wall of China. That was pretty rad!

Confession: During one travel day overnight, I was so desperate for sleep, that I decided to sleep on the floor in a corner of the train. Little did I know, this corner was right next to the toilet, so it smelled like no other but still, I managed to fall asleep! Sadly, within minutes I was woken up by a security guard asking me to move. Whoops. If you could have only seen the trains though, there were people sleeping ALL over the place! It’s really hard to sleep in a sitting position-and the sleepers were too expensive for our budget! 

Kyrgyzstan

This country was one for the books for sure! For me, one of the best weeks of the year as a whole. We had an opportunity to go literal yurt camping in a beautiful valley of mountains. Some of the most beautiful places I had ever been in my life! In a small valley of the mountains, we resided. There I was able to ride a horse multiple times, averaging to about $4 every 2 hours. I think they were trained horses? Not so sure because some of them were real jittery.

The donkeys made a hilarious noise and gave off a nice smile in the mornings. There is a real problem in the country side of Kyrgyzstan called Bride Kidnapping. Google it, it’s a real thing! Not as popular today, but I was told it still happens. The host jokingly wanted to marry me off to her neighbors!

I used an actual wool skin to stay warm at night. I took my friends on a hike up the mountain and what I thought would be a 4 hour journey turned into 7 because we got lost. Haha! I decided to take a nice nap in the field one day around noon, and man was that a bad idea! I was sun burnt like no other!

Confession: Oh, and last but not least, I accidentally kinda made my friend Anna’s horse that she was riding…gallop up a mountain side…to the point that the owners of the horse had to go chase her down because it wouldn’t stop. Whoops! I could not stop laughing. Someone said “is she going to be ok” and I was like “I think sooooo!” (just kidding, I knew she would be just fine…it was a moment I will never forget!)

Other Confession: I ate horse meat for the first time & felt like I betrayed spirit, one of my all time favorite movies! 

Kazakhstan

This was a wonderful country too! I made several new friends, one of them being a gal that we really instigated each other a lot…it was like our love language! She slept in the bunk bed beneath mine. Basically, it felt like I had know this gal as long as my sisters! 

I fell asleep while my friends and I were helping to facilitate an English class. How embarrassing! I held a bald eagle. That was pretty cool! The car I was riding one day broke down while trekking up a mountain, so we decided to hitch hike the rest and actually found a ride! That was fun!

In between these countries we went on a 70+ hour bus ride and had a 4 day freighter experience across the Caspian sea.

Confession: While a good portion of my squad disliked the travel experience…I secretly LOVED it! 

Azerbaijan

This country was a quick stop! Here I helped plan for debrief with my logistics buddy, and as a squad we went to a water park and played funny swimming pool games. We looked hilarious out there! One time my logistics buddy and I were so tired from planning for Debrief, that we decided to Nap out on a bench in the middle of the busy public. Who cares?! But as soon as we got settled in, we realized we had somewhere to be soon so had to get up and leave. LOL!

Georgia

Wow. Georgia was a time I won’t forget that’s for sure! My dad, mom and I went on a little adventure and hiked up a small mountain with old architecture around it. Watching my Dad climb the stairs with me-just about killed me, we must have looked so funny! I also lost both of my parents for about one hour. I sobbed in front of 40+ people as I shared my testimony of what this year has been for me to the parents and racers at Parent Vision Trip. I shook as I was helping to lead worship, as i’d never done so in such a big group and it was nerve racking!

Turkey

Turkey was great! One day as we were praying for the city and worshiping in the park, as my friend started to pray, almost immediately a bird pooped on her shoulder! Haha poor thing!

While in turkey, I was REALLY missing home a bit and would find myself talking about memories with friends back in Holland. Apparently, I talked more about my friend Sayde then I realized because one day as I was chatting, a friend spoke up and corrected me, saying something along the lines of “you know you really don’t have to call Sayde your friend Sayde..I pretty much know everything about your friend Sayde now by how much you talk about her! LOL. I just about died it was so funny. Can you tell I missed my friends a bit? 

Greece

Greece was awesome but I really can’t think of anything SUPER funny that happened during that time. Cool place for sure!

Spain

Spain was a true whirlwind! My friends and I moved every single night, 14 days in a row. I was freezing most the time, as I dropped my sleeping back a ways back-risking that very thing, of one day wishing I wouldn’t had dropped it. I was so cold and hungry one day hiking, that my friend Anna had mentioned we could cook Ramen noodles when we made it to our destination. Without hesitation I made a achhhhhh sound…because that sounded like a FEAST! I literally felt my mouth trickle with excitement to eat Ramen noodles! I hiked with my guitar the whole way. You can imagine I got a lot of comments from that. I also had blisters on every single toe. That was no fun.

Confession: My flesh came out A LOT on this hike. I was repenting a lot on this journey. The struggle was real haha! 

Morocco

The last month of the World Race year…wow. From a bonfire and cheesy dancing on the beach with friends, to sitting on the beach praying and being approached by a man on a horse offering a free ride, was pretty fun! (No, as much as I wanted to get on that horse, I did not see it as wise….as who know’s where that man could have rode off too, darn it!

One evening my friend and I found ourselves sitting inside a grocery store shack…being welcomed in with the sweetest tea you could imagine and an off version of twinkies. This man was so hospitable to us, that he was neglecting his very customers. At one point I was getting uncomfortable because SO many people were waiting to be rung up…needless to say hospitality is a priority in that culture. 

One day I found myself riding a donkey in the mountains of Morocco–it was so slow though I could have walked faster! Still, very fun though. Another time my friends and I were pretty much being forced to eat eat eat and eat more couscous than I could even stuff down my throat. I thought it was a bit intense until I saw my hosts start cracking up…then realized they were pulling a prank on us haha!

Another evening my friends and I had an actual sleep over at the hosts house, for no apparent reason other than, just because! That was fun. Oh, one time when we arrived at our train stop, we were not quick enough to all get off, so that resulted in ONE of my friends literally jumping off the moving train, moving pack and all! (They gave us literally 1 minute to get off! We had no idea and could not possibly get off that fast with all of our packs!)

My friends and I were also able to do a 30 person camel ride. Can you imagine that? The line! Lastly, I accidentally booked the wrong day for a private room in Morocco before I took off for Italy. Whoops, haha! Let me just tell you though, it turned out for the better for sure! 

Italy

Italy was a beautiful time of processing, and also filled with glorious moments like stepping in Dog crap with my only working pair of walking shoes. I was fine. Laughing all the more, only I wish someone had seen it. Someone taught me how to say my name with the proper umphhh and accent, but sadly it took me about 20 minutes to get it down right. Hello, my name is Kailey…..”Mattarelllllllllllla”. When you see me, ask me to practice it for you. I’ll be on top of it for sure! 

Confession: I hitched a ride from someone to get up to a small city on top of the mountain. It was safe and sound mom, don’t worry ;). Oh & a nice worker gave me some free chocolate just because! How sweet. 

Growths/Insights

I’ve grown in the area of patience when it comes to bumpy bus rides. I don’t take myself so seriously anymore. Laugh when things get hard…Joy is a big weapon. I you were to piece your year together, I bet you would find some real funny moments too! Life is an adventure, if you have an opportunity to travel, do it! God is good, better than we think. You are stronger than you know. Jesus is the answer! 

Wahooo! That’s a wrap for now my friend. Thank you again and again and again for taking the time to read through this. YOU are awesome. 🙂

Until next time, 

Kailey