Up until about three days ago it was still quite warm here. This is no longer true. It is quite cold in the mornings and nights. The weather now is very similar to the weather in San Diego during the winter. Last night we had a mouse in our room and my roommate and I were acting like little girls. We told the cook's daughter about the pest and she laughed at us and said that it was only a mouse. I assume she is very use to these not so friendly visitors. We put a mouse trap in our room and the mouse was caught and disposed of. Nadia (my roommate) said that she woke up to the mouse crawling on her and then she witnessed the mouse walking into the mouse trap. I slept through the whole thing. I did find mouse crap on my bed the night before. It could of went anywhere and it went on both of our beds. Two weekends ago I went to Puskar (about 3 hours away) with four girls in my program. This was the last weekend of the Puskar Camel fair which is held every year. People come from all over India to trade and sell their camels, and tourist come from all over the world to partake in all of the festivities. The streets were packed and at times it was a little to much to handle. We found an oasis in a small little restaurant and spent hours talking to the restaurant owner. We spent time talking about our time there and we all decided that there were many highs and few lows to the weekend. The first night we attended a music and dance festival and it was awesome. I love Indian music and dance. We took a local bus back to Jaipur and this was the best decision we made all weekend. A few of our group members wanted to take a taxi home because they just wanted to get home and avoid the uncertainty of taking a local bus. Myself and few others did not want to shell out the 700 Rupee's (equal to about $20) and we ended up taking the bus. It was wonderful, there were four Rajasthani women on the bus who sang the whole way home and busted out some dance moves along the way. I love this stuff. The culture here can be so warm and lively. During Diwali I spent some time speaking with Karnika's sister about some of the work she does here in India regarding women's and children's rights. I mentioned to her my social work background and she invited me to come to her office one day to check out what she does. Karnika arranged for me and another volunteer to go to her sister's office last Friday. It was a great experience. First of all I went to Karnika's father's house for lunch and had such a great meal and conversation with her father. I then walked over to Kavita's office and found myself in the office of a grassroots organization and spoke with one the law interns there about the current social issues this organization is currently undertaking. Currently, their main focus is challenging current child labor laws, and actually rescuing and providing rehabilitation to child laborers. We spent a few hours there asking questions and reading current laws and legistlation. They are doing wonderful work. There is a lot of work to be done still with educating the public regarding child labor. Many people send their chilren to work because their lively hood relies on it, but it is still a human right violation all the same. I was at school the other day and I began thinking about how great my time has been here. The children are so wonderful and beautiful and I have become very attached to them. I am not looking to the day I have to say goodbye to the children and teachers. A few weeks ago one of the teaching assitants at the school (she does not speak much english so we communicate through gestures and and my little hindi and her little enlish) crocheted a small hair net for me and put it in my hair. It was such a a huge gesture and it made me feel so accepted at the school and in the community. She has the two most beautiful children and has such an amazing story. Now that I know a little Hindi I have began speaking to some of the adolecent girls who come to school to participate in the community work. I can only speak with them a little because they do not speak much English but I love sitting and laughing with them.