We took a quick trip to Bangalore and enjoyed some good food and cooler climate.  I will write about the trip in more detail later in the week.  We rushed home a few days early because Sarah is off to Srinigar to start an apprenticeship making Kashmiri rugs.

We were walking around the one of Bangalore's shopping districts and Sarah and Amy found a little Kashmiri store tucked away down a side street.   The man who runs the store with his Italian/Kashmiri daughter just adored Sarah and Sarah in turn just loved all of the Kashmiri products, especially the hand stitched rugs.  

Amy has been doing some sort of cross-stitch while we watch Alias on DVD, and Sarah has had a mild interest in that, but nothing compared to how much she fell in love with these Kashmiri rugs.

While Joshua, Max, Abby and myself were exploring a used book store across the street, Sarah and Amy arranged for Sarah to be enrolled in the "Kashmiri Cottage Crafts Apprenticeship Program" in Srinigar, the capital of Kashmir.  The program is an 8 week course that teaches all aspects of wool and silk weaving including materials preparation, dying and coloring, traditional and modern weaving techniques and finishing.  This nice man at the store kept calling Sarah "my daughter" and gave her a great deal on a rug.  He made a few calls and got Sarah into the program.  It is a really exclusive school and only had openings for the term that starts on April 1.   She will be a few days late, but should be able to catch up.  It will cost us some money, but not as much as her tuition at the American School, where we need to work out how to have this wonderful experience count for credit.

Amy was concerned that this was just a sweat-shop masquerading as a school, but I was more concerned with its proximity to the lawless Taliban and Al-Queda controlled areas just across the border in Pakistan.  Mr. Akbar assured us that all is fine and that we have nothing to worry about.   In fact, he will be escorting Sarah there himself.  I am leaving for the states in a couple of days and couldn't go myself, and Amy has to stay and take care of the little ones.   We will go up and see her during her mid-program break over the May-Day weekend.

As a result, Sarah will be offline for a while, but expect to get some really cool Kashmiri rugs for Christmas.  I am really excited for her.  Quite the adventure for an 11-year old.