First Impressions of Manali

Manali is such a beautiful place. I will probably say this over and over again, but it is! Mountains were all around us, and in the middle of them were apartments and shops and homes filled with people going about their day in a culture I was unfamiliar with. I kept looking around with an expression of awe and awesomeness. I didn't know what to think, but my luggage was becoming increasingly heavy due to it being half my size, so I looked around for a place to put it (my arms are like spaghetti noodles, no muscle whatsoever). Right as I thought this, G. man came to the rescue and took us to a truck that would take our luggage to where we were staying. Then he said it- he said if any of us wanted to ride on the back of the truck, hop on! Right when I heard this I thought, Awesome! I want to ride in the back of a truck, lets gooo. But I did not realize I was the only one who thought this. I immediately hopped up on the back of the truck with a goofy smile on my face, and looked around at my team mates who continued to stand there. Looking back at me. Suddenly, my goofy grin turned into an oh-snap-did-I-just-do-something-bad face. Thankfully, Sonya felt sorry for me and volunteered to take the empty space beside me. I did not take into account the different driving styles that may strike some fear in peoples hearts till thinking back on it now, but I had fun riding in the back of the truck! I would just sit there and watch the people as we drove down the road. They looked at me funny, so I found this interesting, and I continued to look back at different people as they reacted to my out-of-place self clinging to luggage that threatened to crash down on my head (It really did! One of the bags smacked me in the side of the head when we hit our first bump. We burst out laughing so it's okay if you do, too). I felt the truck come to a stop, and hopped up to take a first look at the place we would be staying for the next week.

We weren't at our rooms yet, but I took a look around at the hospital next to our truck and then I caught a small glimpse of a sign labeled "Canteen," the place we would be eating at for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Sonya and I also got the opportunity to meet C. Ma-am first (sinister laugh?)! She greeted us at the gate and asked different people around us to help get our luggage off of the truck. After we transported the luggage from the truck to the ground, Grant and the rest of the crew came walking down the road towards us. After introducing each other and meeting the rest of our host family (ref. to C. Ma'am. If you are wondering why I keep calling her that, it's because I picked it up from some of the girls we met later on in this journey. It flows well, I think) we grabbed our things, and headed to our temporary home! Two (or was it three?) short flights of stairs later, we stood in front of a door that led to the girl's rooms. The neat thing about where we were staying had to be the view from all sides. The back gives you a view of Manali's shops and such, and the front gives you a view of the school and the living-spaces around it. It's such a nice place and you get a good, homey feeling there. My other most favorite part has to be the up-most, top floor of our apartment complex. There is a perfectly squared and spacious room with soft, earth-toned carpet and a window for each side of the room. As you walk through the door, straight in front of you at the center of the room you will find a squared-pole that holds all sorts of different pieces of paper, and written on them are numerous verses from the Bible <3 If you continue to walk past the squared pole, you will come to a stack of mats that are used to sit on, and two vertical windows that reveal a good piece of Manali's shops and living-spaces. I would wake up bright and early in the morning during the first few days of my stay there and go up to the prayer room by myself so I could just sit there. I would take a good look out of each window at all of the people passing by. I would sit there for an hour or so talking with God, and then find myself pacing back and forth, glancing out the front windows as Manali began to come to life. I loved these moments, and I felt like the moments I shared with God during those first couple of hours created the framework of what the rest of my day would be like. My prayer life took on a whole new meaning, and I realized just how much I had been missing out on back in the States. I thought to myself, what have I been doing up until now?

 The view from
our room (front view). The one to your left is the school, the one to your right gives a better view of some living spaces. :)

This is a view from the prayer room. Pretty sweet, huh?

Our first day in Manali was typically a day of rest from all of the traveling, so we took a walk around and after a while, all of us met up with G. man and C. Ma'am at the Canteen to have lunch. First experience eating lunch at the Canteen! Woo! Sad to say, I forgot to mention to you guys that I got sick during the bus ride to Manali. Not a really bad kind of sick, but it is the kind of sick you get from going to a foreign country. I will NOT elaborate because I think that is just plain yucky. But the most shocking thing? I lost my appetite! This never in my life happens. It was the most unusual thing I have ever experienced, because I love to eat good food! Or any food, for that matter, as long as it is edible. My family gave me the funniest look (with a mix of pity) when I told them how little I ate during my first few days in Manali. But the cool thing? My excitement overshadowed all of this. God was definitely with me in the midst of my sickness, because I didn't really feel super weak or sick, I still continued to bounce off the walls half the time and wake up super early, all smiles, to the dismay of my not-so-morning-people group. My sister is the same way (referring to the not-morning-kind-of-person), and she told me she'd feel like slapping me if she had to deal with my hyper-active-self at 7 or 8 in the morning. Thank you, darling sister. :( I was able to eat all of my lunch at the Canteen, because my appetite was still with me at the time, and I got to sit across from C. Ma'am! I was so excited about everything, that I think my words came out jumbled and I turned bright red while I was trying to express how I felt about Manali so far. I think I might have told her that I wanted to come back already! I really jump into things, so hey,  I'm a work in progress. I remember she smiled and laughed, and told me not to lose my excitement. This encouraged me. :) I think we had chai during our first meal there, but I'm not sure. That may have been later on, but I'm pretty sure we had chai at the Canteen sometime during our first day. Chai is something I will bring up often in my story-telling, because we drank it numerous times, and it is very tasty. Which brings me to my next description!! :D

There is a food stand right outside the gate to the compound (compound: the place where we're staying, the school and the hospital are gated but still open to the normal busy street life of Manali) and you can buy all sorts of snacks, my favorite being the mango biscuits, and chai. This chai costed 6 rupees. A little over 50 rupees equals out to be a dollar, so think about that. And it tasted sooo good!! This blew my mind. I couldn't believe how cheap it was, and how ridiculously priced chai is at Starbucks. Shame, shame. The first couple of times I drank chai in India, I kept burning my fingers (like I told you in "The Beginnings" post) but I will proudly say I did not spill it all over myself! :) That would have hurt sooo bad... but it didn't happen so, moving on: I will be attempting to make authentic chai today or the next day and tell you guys how it goes. My mother will be my test subject (ha ha) and I will be testing it out, too, so it's not just her. She's had some bad experiences when I experimented with food, but maybe drinks will be different. Actually, it will be! Because I have a recipe this time. :)

I love using smiley faces to express myself, so if that's a little weird for you guys reading this blog, let me know. Sometimes when I look back on my posts, I notice how often I do them and it makes me laugh a little. Smiley faces look kind of funny.

Our day of chill-ness and walking around Manali helped us gradually get used to a few things concerning the different culture. Most of our group went shopping in the market place, but I didn't go shopping with everyone else during the day time because I found my nose stuck in a book. I found a really neat book in G. and C.'s home and I couldn't bring myself to stop reading it. I really wanted to understand the culture better, and the book I found was just what I needed. Walking From East to West: God in the Shadows is the name of the book and it is written by Ravi Zacharias, who was born in South India and raised in North India. He is an amazing writer and thinker, and I believe it would be beneficial for anyone to read some of his books. He's a Christian, too. :) His book helped me gain more perspective through reading about his life and his own experiences in India.



Not only that, but I was given the opportunity to meet some of the teenagers we'd be hanging out with during our DNOW weekend (DNOW weekend starts during my second day in Manali). The youth get to lead worship on Sundays (I forget how often, if it's each Sunday or every other Sunday) and so they were going to have practice together at C. and G.'s house later in the afternoon. My ears perked up when I heard this, and I asked C. if I could maybe join them, too. I got the okay!!  So a few hours after lunch, I made my way down from the prayer room to C. Ma'am's house, slightly nervous and excited about getting to meet some girls my age. They are awesome. This is where I met my good friend, N., or "the queen." She has a great sense of humor, and she's really easy to talk to. I met four other girls who were very nice to me and let me hang out with them for the next hour or so. I got to hear them sing, and sing with them! And I did attempt to sing along with some of the hindi versions of the songs, but most of the time I listened to them sing. It was beautiful, and I love hindi. I've always been amazed by foreign languages, and I think it's neat when you listen to a song you know by heart in a completely different language than your own. It's like during that moment, you feel a part of something much bigger than yourself. Something worldwide. :)


What I loved most of all was the jam session that ensued after Is. came by and hung out with us! He has such a good spirit, and I had a great time getting to be a part of their jam session. He would start playing the piano or the djembe, Rory would strum away at the guitar, and all of us would sing worship songs together. I felt moved during our time together, and I felt like my heart was just out there for everyone to see when we sang "Our God" or "Inside Out" or whatever else came to mind. I think everyone else felt the same way, too. Music is one of the ways we worship God and show Him our hearts, and it was nice to be a part of that during my first day in Manali. Especially with our little group of people. We were there for a couple hours, just  singing and playing together, and it was awesome!! It's different from the way I've felt when practicing with our praise band at home. Practices can become stressful at times because of the weight of leading a worship service, so it's easy to let your focus become the people you are going to be in front of, but I was able to get a better look at the beauty of just worshiping God for who he is, and not worrying about anything else. I will keep this thought with me <3

After a very eventful day, I did get the chance to walk the streets of Manali, but I went at night. Going at night is very different from going during the day time. We had 3 guys with us, Rory, G. man and Dakota. This was so that one guy could stand at the back, one guy could stand in the middle, and G. could lead so no guys would bother Merritt and I. We were told not to look at any of the men, if anyone tried to speak to us or asked for a picture we should keep walking, and walk with a purpose. I was a little spooked because I did not like the thought of men trying to approach me, but they didn't so I had no reason to be afraid. I mean, we had 3 fairly good sized guys with us... but still. When it's dark, you either see your surroundings as really pretty (the lights and all) or really scary (all those random people you don't know aaall over the place. everywhere.). After this experience, I wasn't so scared anymore BUT I was made more aware of my surroundings and the fact that I need to stay on my guard.

After we made our way through the streets and the market, we went to Super Bake. Super Bake is awesome! Super Bake has macaroons and macaroni twisters and food all over the place. But because of my lack of appetite, I took up one of the water bottles so I could keep myself hydrated. After we shopped for some breakfast food and bought some candy (I saw some really interesting chocolate, so I bought it!) we made our way back through the busy streets, past the gate, and up the stairs to our room. By this time, I was all sleepy and ready to hop into bed, so I went to my room and passed out! The beds are comfy <3 and I had a good night's sleep. Yes, I woke up bright and early the next morning. Some of you guys may be wondering about the whole jet-lag thing, and I guess I did experience it some, but like I said... my excitement overshadowed everything. I didn't feel tired till near the end of the trip (when I woke up at 7:30 or 8 AM rather than 5:30 of 6 AM). So, we have come to the end of my first day in Manali! This week is going to take me forever to tell you guys! I just have so much to tell you, and I'm not very good at leaving out the details. I will continue where I left off later today, or early tomorrow. Till then, I hope you have an amazing, awesome-filled Saturday.