3 Weeks Left in Coimbatore

{photo from our recent trip to kerala}

Things have been a little quiet around these internet parts lately, for which we apologize. Rest assured this is not because things here at ISP have been quiet! Quite the opposite, in fact.

We're in the process of finalizing a list of students for next semester (already!), planning for our two-week travel component (departure t-minus 3 weeks from today!), paper writing, learning and talking about contextualization and cultural relevance and how to make the most of our remaining few days of this semester. We're planning for two more visitors for the ISP lecture series next week, as well as planning our final weekend trip leaving tomorrow morning- bright and early at 5am!- for Tanjore. (Also, because of the monsoon rains and lots of meetings, our internet access has been slim, but that's a side note. :))

{photo from ISP staffer Kandyce Pinckney's trip to Varanasi in 2008}

We really can hardly believe that we're already talking of wrapping up our time here in Coimbatore. We're excitedly looking forward to traveling to Calcutta, Varanasi, Delhi, Agra and Jaipur in the north, but looking toward the end of our classroom academics, paper writing and project presenting with a little bit of that crazy busy feeling. While we can't wait to see Mother Teresa's 'Mother House' in Calcutta and take a boat ride down the Ganges in Varanasi, we're not looking forward to saying goodbye to our professors, friends and neighbors here in our little city. This semester has flown by!

This past Tuesday we visited a village called Nehemem, where 300 families in the village are all involved in the weaving and production of saris that are then sold in government cooperatives. We're hoping to have those photos posted early next week, followed by those from this weekend and more notes from our ISP lecture series. Stay tuned for those, and thanks for understanding our silence!