Goat head curry...

when kristen did "gach orientation" with us, there were some "rules" that were really funny to me. one of them was..."Do drink lots of tea. Be prepared to eat the food that is set before you." often girls will buy us tea, and offer us biscuits. the tea comes in really small cups, maybe an ounce. so, even though its stinking hot, its not too bad to drink...and i like the taste.

yesterday we were in the gach and one of the girls we were visiting said that she'd made some goat head curry, and asked if we wanted any, we said, "no thanks." and that seemed to be the end of it, but about 20 minutes later, after the tea and biscuits, she insisted that we have some curry. this was my first experience with strange food in the gach. so kristen and i exchanged looks, and went for it. she did also say, oh so quietly, "i hope they don't cook the eyeballs." i have to say i'm not really sure where the meat is...there were chunks of, what i would call bone, and other non-meat...but not a whole lot of meat, in my american assessment of things. i tried my best...and the flavor of the curry was great...it was just the lack of meat and abundance of bone, cartilage and other stuff...

today is may day, and here, its a big holiday. similar to our labor day. there were very few people out and about today. its actually nice. it reminds me of a sunday. i like sundays here cause there's a lot less people traffic. the sisters and Prem Don made lunch for us volunteers to celebrate :) and all the ladies had on new dresses, and they had new bedding too. it was a good morning.

on a different note, we went to visit Asha yesterday (we visited her on friday too, and kristen and karli have visited her another time since we first met her). Kiran was with us yesterday, and she and Asha had a great conversation. We found out that her mom lives in the gach with her, and her brother, who is able to work, he just doesn't want to...so he lives of Asha. Kiran asked about her long term goals, and what she wants out of life. she says she wants her boys in school, and she wants different work. after a bit of conversation, and coming against excuses, Asha has agreed to come see Freeset tomorrow. Wednesday, 11 am they're going to meet her. Please pray that she actually comes - and that its a good interaction. Her mom and brother don't want her to stop working the line - so for her to work at freeset either God will have to change her mom's heart, or Asha will have to go against her mom's wishes (which is hard in this culture). increasingly i see what a battle it is for the girls to come out of the trade, but I still have hope for Asha.