During vacation, Chris was reading the paper and saw an article about a young man who had gone around the world, by himself, on foot! There were some photos, and a bit of his story. We all gathered around, fascinated that anyone would do such a thing, and not die in the process. Then we saw that he was giving a presentation in Zurich on Thursday night. Cool! Unfortunately, the tickets were already all sold out by the time we got online to get some. 🙁 But wait, he is coming back again this week, and we did get tickets. Hurray! The only downside is that the show didn’t even start until 7:30, and it was a school night. But we decided it was worth making an exception for.
Nicholas and I drove down to Zurich Wednesday night, found some (mostly) legal parking. No really, it had Anwalt painted right on it in bright yellow. That is German for Lawyer, since we were in front of some law building. But since it was past business hours, I figured it would be okay. Lots of other people were parking there as well. I took comfort in that. (And we ended up NOT getting a ticket, so I guess it really was okay. Or maybe I just got lucky. Whatever.)
We were a few minutes early, and were very glad to see that we had reserved tickets online. Lots of people were being put on a standby list in hopes that some ticket holders wouldn’t show up. We found seats pretty far back, but right on the aisle, which made it very easy to see the large screen over/around other people’s heads. The man, “Pescha” was sitting just a couple rows behind us, waiting to start. He walked right past us to go up on stage, and he is huge! Very tall, and very broad. Not fat at all, just muscular and wide. I told Nick that probably helped to stop people from messing with him while he walked. But as we heard later, it didn’t always help. 🙁
This guy was amazing. His presentation was so fascinating, so well put-together and just so cool. And not at all what I was expecting. I thought he would be giving a travelogue, explaining where he was and what he did in chronological order, until he got to the end. Nope, not even close. First he explained why he even wanted to attempt such a thing; how he felt like he had no purpose, nothing that he could do to help better himself, no special talents. All he was good at was walking and telling stories. Then he heard a voice telling him to do just that: walk and tell people about it. So he did!
He lived for a year in a makeshift tent with basic wooden furniture set up on his parent’s farm in order to prepare for the hardships he figured he would face on his journey. He bathed in a simple wooden trough, and cooked over an open fire. He saved as much money as he could, researched what would be the best kind of clothing to take on such a journey, and then had a big party to celebrate the start of his walk, and say goodbye to his friends and family. He carried everything in a small day pack, using his cloak/coat as a sleeping bag at night. He didn’t take much money, and mostly slept out in the open, although he could have stayed at friends’ and friends of friends all the way through Germany. He didn’t want that though. He wanted to make this trip truly alone.
He walked from Switzerland, through Germany, Poland, White Russia, Russia, Mongolia, and China. He did stop after 6 months somewhere in White Russia to fly home for his best friend’s wedding. But then he immediately flew back out again, and started right where he left off. He flew to San Francisco and walked all the way across the States to New York. He had some positive experiences in Wendover, Nevada and Utah with strangers, especially policemen, bringing him water and making sure he was okay. But Nebraska was rather unfriendly. There was a stretch of a couple hundred miles where no one wanted “a stranger”walking through their town. So the police picked him up, drove him to the next county, where another officer was waiting to put him in their car and drive him over to the county after that. So bizarre!
He ended up getting attacked at least twice, once in White Russia and once in Russia. But he didn’t have any money, and was able to either fight them off, or run away. After the first attack, he made a large, heavy walking stick that he could use as a weapon. But after carrying it with him for several weeks, he decided that he didn’t want to constantly be on the defensive. He wanted to look for the good and peaceful in the world, and ended up hurling the stick and all it stood for, as far out into the woods as he could. He had so many strangers invite him in to their homes to eat, bathe, and wash his clothes. Mostly people who were very poor, and who had very little themselves, but recognized that here was a person trying to do something unique and extraordinary and they wanted to help out any way they could. Very inspiring.
He even walked 200 miles out of his way in America to visit the uncle of one of the men in Poland who had let him wash in his apartment. He had a great two day visit with this man, and said it was worth every extra footstep to see him. Then he flew to Paris from New York and walked from there back home to Switzerland. He talked often of how God spoke to him as he walked. Read passages from the journals he kept on the trip of the thoughts that came to him as he observed human nature and nature. And that he found what he was looking for on the journey; peace, freedom and a purpose.
At about 8:45 they stopped for a 25 minute break, and I asked Nick if we should just go home, since it was so late. But he was so fascinated by this guy, he absolutely wanted to stay and hear the whole story. So we did. We didn’t get home until 11, but it was totally worth the tiredness we both felt the next day. He even had a display set up in the foyer with some of the foreign currency he collected along the way, the mementos strangers had given him when they heard what he was attempting to do, and what was left of the backpack and jacket he took on the trip. He went through two pairs of army issue boots, and six pairs of tennis shoes that had been specially outfitted with truck tire tread on the bottom. He ended up buying a parka along the way, due to the extreme cold, and there was nothing but the hood left when he got home. The rest had simply disintegrated due to wear and tear.
It was fascinating and truly uplifting at the same time. I am so glad we had the opportunity to go. And I know Nick loved it as much as I did.