Playtime

I did not write yesterday because honestly, not much went on.
We had our first day in the community where we basically just played with the kids in a local village's preschool. We were with Dr. Kathleen who is American, as you could have guessed, and is in Manali for 3 weeks doing her 3rd year residency. We went into the school to weigh and measure the children, which they do monthly to keep in check with the general health of the kids. The staff, who were also the mothers, were so wonderful and generous. They were radiating happiness, and the children were all so calm and quiet. We took digital pictures of them and showed the kids. They were amazed to see a camera and to see their own faces on the little screen. It was so great to watch.
There wasn't much for us to all do other than to keep the kids all occupied. They were adorable, and according to Dr. Kathleen, seemed to be fairly healthy.

We all felt so terrible because when we first arrived they gave us glasses of water, which none of us drank and left sitting on the floor. Afterward, one of the mothers invited us back to their home for drinks. We sat on their porch on small carpets and were handed fruit juice... which we can't have. Then they offered us freshly picked cherries which looked gorgeous, but had been rinsed so once again couldn't have them. THEN they brought us chai, which everyone could have but me since it is made with milk, so I pretended to drink it and then passed it along to someone else. They were really trying!

Afterward we came back to the hotel, did some mapping, had dinner. Then late that night the boys FINALLY took us out to their favorite place that they keep raving about called People. It's a little restaurant hot spot for foreigners. On the way we stopped at a cafe that Dr. Kathleen recommended called Dylan's which is dedicated to Bob Dylan. It was a really cute place, completely open, no windows or walls between the cafe and the street. Quite hip!
People was really neat. The whole place is covered in pictures that people from all over the world had drawn. And apparently Indians appreciate my weird artistic ability because they thought my picture was wall worthy. I have made my mark @ People in Manali :) I'll post a picture of my drawing later. Anyway, we all sat and had drinks. Some ate but we mostly just talked and it was SUCH a fun time! Finally having us all connect and talk was so great and it felt like we were all best friends and had known each other for years.

Unfortunately our food took forever and we couldn't get a rickshaw back because it was late and none passed us so we walked all the way back (20 minutes at least) in the dark, no street lights, lots of stray dogs. But we all survived. And also got a stern talk from Heather :/ Now we have a curfew which is at 10:45.

In India you have to "expect the unexpected" and so we'll have to give ourselves at least an hour in the future to make it home.