well another week has flown by. there's been a spell of relief from the heat today, maybe only in the 90's is my speculation. the nepali folks came on a rough week...sweat fest 99 was in full swing. but even in the midst of sweat fest. it was a great week, being with friends, sharing and learning and having way-too-late night discussions, processing everything from sex slavery injustices to the likelyhood of us dating in india...

we had a lot to fill our minds as we sat through a week's worth of aftercare training, it's a different kind of tired to work the muscles of emotions all week being pulled and torn and reminded about the reality of the jobs we've all come here to do on behalf of our friends in the red light areas. and i'm sure more will filter out as i begin to think about it all. for now i leave you with a treasure from the week...

last night we saw the fastest spider i have EVER encountered in my whole life. and it was HUGE. like the length of a small grapefruit maybe, seriously. and he had fangs, though i wasn't about to be close enough to examine those suckers. and when jesse stood to "calmly" move away from said deadly fanged spider it ran. and yes, i mean ran. not even like "oh the spider is startled and scampering to safety", no more like "oh this spider is full of venom and hatred and has been shot out of a 22 shot gun ready to attack". all that to say, by the end of it all, with a wet wall (yes, sarah tried to stun him by throwing water...i think it helped) some yelling and wacking and more yelling by andrew, and jesse kristin and i bravely encouraging from the other side of the room...all that was left was a little vemony grease spot on the floor and a sad looking copy of the economist who doubled as our greatest weapon.

brook, andrew, and jesse. so glad you could come and be with us for a week. our south asian cousins. glad i get to partner in this journey with you all.