here in dhaka we have spent the week saying goodbyes. the community of AIS/D that has been a family of friends within a strange tough Dhaka prepares to break apart... as all the members go off to their own far corner of the Earth for the summer holiday. many, students and teachers, are leaving for good and starting something new somewhere else - their next step, their next posting. and this week, in every division of the school, there has been an assembly in which students thank their friends who are leaving and also say thank you to their teachers in the form of individualized speeches. how special this gesture was. finally we closed up today with a last faculty meeting in which more stories were told and thank yous made. i don't think i've ever seen a group of adults so choked with emotions. this week we've been tearful again and again with the bittersweet of ending.

but now it's through. school's out for the summer. and it's time to escape before someone realizes that perhaps i or he or she is not all that rosey and significant after, at least not all the time. let's get out of here!

in our own little household we are preparing to say goodbye to someone who has taken good care of us. Anna our housekeeper. i really love Anna. as we go we are trying to take some deliberate steps to make sure that we take care of her too...

tuesday i took some photographs of Anna with her children, 3 year-old Zaxina and 4-month old Tansik.