“Welcome to the Himalayas” Monsters inc. By: Kira Rogers

So on Saturday we unfortunately did not get to go to our schools but we did get to go to a private school in town for a cultural exchange. It was amazing! They treated us like celebrities! They were extremely kind, generous and welcoming. We were able to learn about their school and take a tour while the teens were able to talk with the senior class at the school. The teens at Cambridge were excited to interact with our teens, it was so cute! They also fed us samosas and tea when we got there (seriously the kindest people). After everyone mingled for a bit they brought us outside to their auditorium and the rest of the school was there. The kids at Cambridge performed first and they did AMAZING! They sang several songs, had the coolest instruments and did a beautiful dance that was native to Kullu. Our teens went next and they were great! They even put together a couple last minute performances an hour before we left for the school. Let me just say that we have some talented kids in this group! They are amazing singers and dancers! At the end we all danced together on the stage and they gave us all a gift.

Today we started the day off with a hike up to a temple in the mountains. Besides working with the kids in the schools, this has been my favorite thing. It was so cool! We hiked up a bunch of stairs and the view at the top was beautiful! Hiking to a temple in the Himalayas is definitely a bucket list moment! I feel so blessed to have been able to participate in such a cool experience. At the top we were able to go into the temple where they tied safety bracelets on our wrists which symbolize protection. In the temple they have a rock that is said to be struck by lightning every year, break into pieces and then be repaired with butter by the priests. Being surrounded by a 360 degree view of the Himalayan mountains was a refreshing change from the craziness of town.

Not only did we get to hike in the Himalayas, but we were also able to do some yoga! We returned from our hike, spread out some mats and were able to do some yoga. I am no yogi so I definitely struggled, but we have some girls in our group that have some serious yoga skills. It was way fun and such a neat experience to have!

Owen is so genuine when he’s with the kids and did an amazing job designing our jungle mural at the school. He also stole the show at our cultural exchange with his ukulele skills. He loved the hike today and enjoyed seeing the beautiful scenery.
Bentley loves when he gets to play with those little kids. He throws them in the air and plays tag with them and they love it!
Grace is so cute! I love talking with her everyday and she’s still killing with those cute kids and helped a ton with our mural. She did awesome singing at the cultural exchange and has a beautiful voice! She loved the hike and took the cutest pics!!
Mckelle loooooves those kids at the school! She does such a great job having fun with them and finding creative ways to teach them the lessons. She did a beautiful job singing with the girls at the cultural and did great interacting with the other students.
Calvin is so funny! He’s always making jokes and does a great job making people smile. Everyone around him is always laughing. It’s been so fun watching him get more and more comfortable interacting with the kids at the schools! He’s so awesome!
I love Lili! She will talk to everyone and has such amazing stories that are so fun to listen to. She is also the braiding queen and has been braiding all of the girls hair everyday and everyone looks so cute. She still loves her little Sanjeev and did a great job working on our mural. It’s so cute!

This experience so far has been amazing! We are so lucky to be here with YMAD. India is not an easy country to navigate unless you have the right help and we are so lucky to have a safe place to stay, delicious food, clean water and transportation. We all raised so much money and today we were able to pack our humanitarian bags and it was a awesome to see our hard work paying off to help these kids. Like I said we are so blessed to be here doing what we are in this beautiful country.