10:40 (writing this on 07/08)
Exhilarating. You know the feeling of exhaustion, to the point that your body is glued to your bed? Well, I certainly felt that at 4:50 AM. Since it was my first 4th of July outside of the country (I never celebrated it in the Philippines), I made sure that I did something out of the ordinary. And, I did! I fought against the feeling of exhaustion, and rose from my bed and got dressed.
While I zombie-walked to Guestel (our house-service), I could not help but feel excited. I was going to rock-climb in India. Where? In INDIA (Bhongir, India to be exact).
The drive to Uppal, our meeting place, was nothing exciting because I sat at shotgun with no one to really converse. Plus, it was too early to talk to anyone. However, when we arrived at Uppal at 6:45, I made some friends. Well, I was forced to make friends with the Hyderabad Trekking Club (HTC) since I needed a ride to get to Bhongir. Our driver was going to charge us an extra Rs 1000 for driving us to Bhongir. So, why pay extra $15, if we can get free rides?
Anyways, Rhamya offered me a ride with two of her other friends: Salman and Hephzi. Oh, and Angeli, another HTC participant, carpooled with us. My car ride with them was hands-down the best car ride I have ever had in India. Well, I do not have many car rides to choose from, so that assertion is a bit biased. So, what made that the best car ride? First, Salman, Hephzi and Rhamya kept the conversation going for all of us. They all wanted to know about my American lifestyle, and I wanted to know about their lifestyles as well. And, we would crack jokes in the middle of the conversation! Plus, they reminded me of my friends back at home. Second, they epitomized chill vibes. Since I felt so comfortable with them, I said my "Walking Through the Hood" spoken word. I loved the positive feedback and enthusiasm afterwards. Third, Rhamya was a wonderful driver. It was such a cruise driving to Bhongir. When we got to Bhongir, I knew that it was going to be a great hike (no matter the height of the place), because I already met an awesome group of people.
Hiking up the polished mountains was a real struggle, but the view was extremely worth the effort.
And, occasionally, I had to pause and take selfies with my favorite people.
I cannot express how fun they made the trip for me. In the beginning of the hike, Salman said his spoken word about "life", and his words warmed my heart (as cheesy as that sounds). Like, I did not expect to find anyone to share my love for poetry and spoken word in India. But, these three definitely surprised me! Not only are they fans of art, but they even work in the art industry! Rhamya is an amazing graphic designer teacher in a University, Hemphzi is a graphic designer with Salman. Plus, their friendship reminded me of my precious friendship with Lorenzo and Julia (PJL)!
Before we went rappling, we played some games. First, we played Sagare Sagare Sa Pa Pa (I probably misspelled it), and the point of the game is to do an action for each word phrase. This is how I did mine:
"Hello everyone, my name is Precious Listana, I am from the United States, and I work for ICRISAT. Today, I am going to teach you how to whip. Sagare (I whip), Sagare (I whip), Sa (I nae nae), Pa (I do the "now watch me"), Pa (I do the "now watch me")."
And, yes, they all whipped it with me,
Then, Chris also introduced a Korean game to us called "Pabo". It is a group mind game that insults the loser and obnoxiously yells "Pabo" (Korean for stupid) at their face. Let me try to explain the game. The leader says a number from 1-5 while holding a different number from 1-5 to the person adjacent to them (left or right). That next person, has to say the number that the leader held up, while trying to hold up a DIFFERENT number. The person that fails to do that is mocked by the group, yelled by the group. Korean games not only target the brain power, but also target people. Nonetheless, it was a great game that made our group bond more. After Pabo, we played another Korean game that everyone could not understand, so we changed the game to Ninja. I thought I was going to win, but I get sidetracked, and BOOM, both my hands were gone. I could not believe I lost, but I had to be a good sport.
The temperature suddenly increased right after the games. I became more impatient as I waited for my turn to go rappling. Everyone had to go one at a time which meant at least 5-15 minutes per each person (AND, there was 26 of us)! The first person started at 11, and the last one finished by 3. By the time that I went, I no longer felt scared. I grew weary from waiting, and just wanted to get down from the mountain. There was a point that my feet did not touch the mountain wall, so I stood midair. It was a frightening experience, but I convinced myself that I would not fall. And, guess what?? I did not fall! When my feet reached the ground, I felt extremely relieved to have gone rappling down 300 feet mountain. Surprisingly, I did not feel that nervous (except when I was dangling in midair).
If Rhamya and her group did not wait for us, the ICRISAT interns and I would not have gotten back. I really owe them one for spending 2 more hours to wait for us to get down. They did not even ask for money! They gladly drove Mariah and I back to Uppal to get picked up by our driver. I am extremely grateful for their hospitality, and willingness to make sure that we were safe. I am telling you, they have such great vibes!
By the time we arrived at Uppal, we ran through major traffic. Mariah and I even had to walk across crazy drivers that did not care about people crossing. When we saw our driver, he was slightly annoyed that we took forever to get back (we made him wait for about 4 hours). Although he was slightly irritated, I am glad that he did not leave us. Before we went to ICRISAT, we bought to-go food to eat in the car. We were starving! Imagine having to wake up at 4:30 AM, and not have any meal until 5 PM!
Although I felt hungry, I slept off the feeling since I grew uneasy from the hot weather and hectic traffic. Fast-forwarding, we got to ICRISAT at 7 PM, and all of us head to our rooms to get ready for our dinner. While Mariah cooked, I took a must-needed shower. Since I do not really know how to cook, I prepared the plates and the food. Sooner or later (more soon), our living room had all of this scrumptious food!
We feasted like kings and queens in India with our Mac and cheese, BBQ Chicken, Vegetable Biryani, Lime Biryani, pasta, fried bananas and fruit salad. I am actually glad that I did not eat anything during the day because when I ate the dinner, all of my uncomfortable feelings instantly went away. I felt as if I was on top of clouds, and nothing or no one could ever make me feel sad. This was the best 4th of July experience that I have had! And, I did not even celebrate it in the U.S. (oh, the irony).
Exhilarating. You know the feeling of exhaustion, to the point that your body is glued to your bed? Well, I certainly felt that at 4:50 AM. Since it was my first 4th of July outside of the country (I never celebrated it in the Philippines), I made sure that I did something out of the ordinary. And, I did! I fought against the feeling of exhaustion, and rose from my bed and got dressed.
While I zombie-walked to Guestel (our house-service), I could not help but feel excited. I was going to rock-climb in India. Where? In INDIA (Bhongir, India to be exact).
The drive to Uppal, our meeting place, was nothing exciting because I sat at shotgun with no one to really converse. Plus, it was too early to talk to anyone. However, when we arrived at Uppal at 6:45, I made some friends. Well, I was forced to make friends with the Hyderabad Trekking Club (HTC) since I needed a ride to get to Bhongir. Our driver was going to charge us an extra Rs 1000 for driving us to Bhongir. So, why pay extra $15, if we can get free rides?
Anyways, Rhamya offered me a ride with two of her other friends: Salman and Hephzi. Oh, and Angeli, another HTC participant, carpooled with us. My car ride with them was hands-down the best car ride I have ever had in India. Well, I do not have many car rides to choose from, so that assertion is a bit biased. So, what made that the best car ride? First, Salman, Hephzi and Rhamya kept the conversation going for all of us. They all wanted to know about my American lifestyle, and I wanted to know about their lifestyles as well. And, we would crack jokes in the middle of the conversation! Plus, they reminded me of my friends back at home. Second, they epitomized chill vibes. Since I felt so comfortable with them, I said my "Walking Through the Hood" spoken word. I loved the positive feedback and enthusiasm afterwards. Third, Rhamya was a wonderful driver. It was such a cruise driving to Bhongir. When we got to Bhongir, I knew that it was going to be a great hike (no matter the height of the place), because I already met an awesome group of people.
Hiking up the polished mountains was a real struggle, but the view was extremely worth the effort.
And, occasionally, I had to pause and take selfies with my favorite people.
I cannot express how fun they made the trip for me. In the beginning of the hike, Salman said his spoken word about "life", and his words warmed my heart (as cheesy as that sounds). Like, I did not expect to find anyone to share my love for poetry and spoken word in India. But, these three definitely surprised me! Not only are they fans of art, but they even work in the art industry! Rhamya is an amazing graphic designer teacher in a University, Hemphzi is a graphic designer with Salman. Plus, their friendship reminded me of my precious friendship with Lorenzo and Julia (PJL)!
Before we went rappling, we played some games. First, we played Sagare Sagare Sa Pa Pa (I probably misspelled it), and the point of the game is to do an action for each word phrase. This is how I did mine:
"Hello everyone, my name is Precious Listana, I am from the United States, and I work for ICRISAT. Today, I am going to teach you how to whip. Sagare (I whip), Sagare (I whip), Sa (I nae nae), Pa (I do the "now watch me"), Pa (I do the "now watch me")."
And, yes, they all whipped it with me,
Then, Chris also introduced a Korean game to us called "Pabo". It is a group mind game that insults the loser and obnoxiously yells "Pabo" (Korean for stupid) at their face. Let me try to explain the game. The leader says a number from 1-5 while holding a different number from 1-5 to the person adjacent to them (left or right). That next person, has to say the number that the leader held up, while trying to hold up a DIFFERENT number. The person that fails to do that is mocked by the group, yelled by the group. Korean games not only target the brain power, but also target people. Nonetheless, it was a great game that made our group bond more. After Pabo, we played another Korean game that everyone could not understand, so we changed the game to Ninja. I thought I was going to win, but I get sidetracked, and BOOM, both my hands were gone. I could not believe I lost, but I had to be a good sport.
The temperature suddenly increased right after the games. I became more impatient as I waited for my turn to go rappling. Everyone had to go one at a time which meant at least 5-15 minutes per each person (AND, there was 26 of us)! The first person started at 11, and the last one finished by 3. By the time that I went, I no longer felt scared. I grew weary from waiting, and just wanted to get down from the mountain. There was a point that my feet did not touch the mountain wall, so I stood midair. It was a frightening experience, but I convinced myself that I would not fall. And, guess what?? I did not fall! When my feet reached the ground, I felt extremely relieved to have gone rappling down 300 feet mountain. Surprisingly, I did not feel that nervous (except when I was dangling in midair).
If Rhamya and her group did not wait for us, the ICRISAT interns and I would not have gotten back. I really owe them one for spending 2 more hours to wait for us to get down. They did not even ask for money! They gladly drove Mariah and I back to Uppal to get picked up by our driver. I am extremely grateful for their hospitality, and willingness to make sure that we were safe. I am telling you, they have such great vibes!
By the time we arrived at Uppal, we ran through major traffic. Mariah and I even had to walk across crazy drivers that did not care about people crossing. When we saw our driver, he was slightly annoyed that we took forever to get back (we made him wait for about 4 hours). Although he was slightly irritated, I am glad that he did not leave us. Before we went to ICRISAT, we bought to-go food to eat in the car. We were starving! Imagine having to wake up at 4:30 AM, and not have any meal until 5 PM!
Although I felt hungry, I slept off the feeling since I grew uneasy from the hot weather and hectic traffic. Fast-forwarding, we got to ICRISAT at 7 PM, and all of us head to our rooms to get ready for our dinner. While Mariah cooked, I took a must-needed shower. Since I do not really know how to cook, I prepared the plates and the food. Sooner or later (more soon), our living room had all of this scrumptious food!
We feasted like kings and queens in India with our Mac and cheese, BBQ Chicken, Vegetable Biryani, Lime Biryani, pasta, fried bananas and fruit salad. I am actually glad that I did not eat anything during the day because when I ate the dinner, all of my uncomfortable feelings instantly went away. I felt as if I was on top of clouds, and nothing or no one could ever make me feel sad. This was the best 4th of July experience that I have had! And, I did not even celebrate it in the U.S. (oh, the irony).
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