I didnt really expect the time of closure to start a month before i was going home but what to do. my professor has come and gone and with his leave he set in some kind of closure of my time here. it was great to have him around, someone to walk the streets of kolkata with me and look into what life has been like for me here it was funny for him to assure me of things that are not "normal" for us in the states that i may have forgotten as ive spent life here kind of cool to be shown how ive settled into the culture a bit after a few months of living

the ladies are asking if im really going in a month and asking if ill return ... i give them the truest answer i know but its still unsatisfying. i have no idea if ill return to this place, its a possibility. little specific direction as to what will happen after i graduate in a few months but something will surface in the months ahead right now it seems pretty open

continuing to teach the classes at sb of bangla and math, its fun to hang out with the ladies; to see their learning, to see them challenged and conquering a challenge. i really want to learn how to do what theyre doing though, i dont envy that they sit hunched over a blanket half-all day sewing on the floor, but i have these real urges to learn to sew like they have learned. i want to sit there over my blanket in the flexible indian squat, hand stitching something beautiful out of old saris. one of the training ladies said she would teach me earlier this week ... but then it was tea time and it took our moments of free time and our thoughts of her teaching me disappeared until it couldnt happen that day. boo. i still like watching them though, they are excellent sewers. not only the ladies on blankets, the ladies on bags too. such a cool skill