Last blog entry.  It feels a bit strange.  During the first few months here, when I was looking for housing for weeks on end and work wasn’t going quite well, I dreamed of the time I would only have a few weeks left before heading home.  Now that I have exactly a month left I’m struggling to fit everything in that I had hoped to do this year – cross all of the places off of my travel bucket list, learn to cook Indian food, learn Hindi, and meet all my goals related to work.  It’s hard to reflect on the year while in the process of wrapping up, so I am going to avoid that at all costs and instead use this space to publicly thank all of the amazing staff, teachers, and school leaders I’ve worked with this year.

Thank you Mausi for starting and ending each of my days with chai or coffee with kam cini.  Thank you Yogita for chatting with me every morning before starting work for the day.  Thank you Madhavi, Aniket, Jayshree, Shalini, Kanchan T., Kanchan M., and Reena for challenging me every day and for opening your schools to me without any reservations or restrictions.  Thank you Annie, Bhakti, and Susie for your lunch time conversations.  Thank you Oriana for taking me in when I was homeless, and for becoming a good friend.  Thank you Anandhi for being a great mentor, and giving me the freedom to explore Akanksha and to take off from time to time to explore India.  You all made this year for me and I will miss you.  Thank you , thank you, thank you.