Who knew what a blessing it is to sleep horizontally! By Kate Rutter

Finally in INDIA! After some long travel days we have had the most special day with the kids at the school. It was all worth it!

Our time in London was a very nice break from an airplane seat and getting to walk around a little bit. We got to see Big Ben and Westminster Abbey, but I think most would agree that the best part of London was the Whole Foods pizza. Then another two flights and a car ride, we got to our hotel in Kullu well into the night. To explain my title, we could not stop talking about how nice it was going to be to sleep actually lying down and not in a fully upright position.

Waking up the next morning was a bit of a struggle, but our group’s school is close enough to walk, so we had a nice walk in the mountains to refresh us. When we first got the school, the high school kids were excited to greet us and ask for our Instagrams and phone numbers, a request we had to respectfully deny! Then we made our way to the young grade school kids who were in the middle of their morning prayer session, which was the most amazing thing to watch. They each take turns going up in front of the rest of the kids and recite (by memory!) their part of the pledge, then do meditations. So incredible!

After handing out all of their name tags and them thanking us with the most adorable “Namaste!” I have ever seen, we got into lessons. Today I taught about foods and eating healthy. The kids loved “The Big Hungry Caterpillar” and then got to draw and cut out their own fruits and veggies. The artistic abilities were shocking!!! All of the kids were so quick to introduce themselves and were all so outgoing and ready to learn. There is a big age range, so the focus varied, but overall they are all such fun.

Lunch was the biggest blast. We all went in one of the classrooms to eat but the kids would peek their heads in the room and giggle at us. Reetu (the cutest maybe 4-year-old??) came in and showed us her cartwheels. After we ate, they really wanted us to come out and play with them and play we did! There were about 8 games of cricket going on, 4 games of soccer, and 3 games of monkey-in-the-middle going on in a very small area. Lots of chaos but it was so much fun. The cutest Kanika (pictured in the blue sweater) loved sticking by my side and teaching me her favorite songs. She is the sweetest thing to walk the planet.

After lunch was some more lessons and lots of duck duck goose. They looooove that game. The cutest little boy would run really slow around the circle because he wanted to be it so bad and it was the funniest thing. When we were leaving and they were waving goodbye to us I couldn’t stop thinking about saying goodbye on the last day. I am already just in love with all of them. They are so quick to connect with you and it just makes it so easy to fall in love! I have so many cute pictures that aren’t in here because I can’t get them onto a computer, and I can’t wait to show you all when I get home.

After we got home we went into downtown Kullu to pick out fabric for our outfits that are getting made for our return. It was so much fun to pick out our favorite patterns and colors and I love what I picked.

I am so excited for the rest of our time with the kids if today was indicative of how the rest of it is going to go! Our group is so much fun and I can’t wait to see the kids again. Dad, you’ll be happy to know that I am tolerating Indian food. Mom, you’re going to love all of my stories when I get home, I don’t have enough space for all of them on here! Just know that I am having the time of my life. Love you all!!!