Last night, I was able to chat with my Mom and with my good friend Rob on MSN Messenger. Is anyone else out there using it? Let me know… I’m registered as: jallgire@hotmail.com

Today I had class for most of the day. I handed in my first assignment and then we spent most of the day talking about lesson planning. Tonight, I need to finish up my lesson plans to hand in on Sunday. I’ll use them for the 30 minutes I teach on Monday.

Beyond that, I didn’t really do much of anything. I came back home and chatted with Darren to get the news of the day. The young Presbyterian volunteers I’ve become friends with are leaving early on Sunday for a 2-week vacation in Cypress. Essentially, their organization in the U.S. is ordering them to go. Darren and I both think it’s a bit silly and a huge over-reaction. However, the 3 people going are all female and in their early 20’s, so they are having a different experience here than we are.

So that’s a bit odd. Just another reminder of how much things have changed in the past couple of days. I still feel safe, especially here in Heliopolis, since it’s quite a distance to downtown. Basically, I’m not going to find trouble unless I go looking for it. With that said, I’m still being cautious. I’m not volunteering that I am American and I’m only selectively saying that in public.

Sometime soon, I want to go back to the coffee shop I’ve been going to. They guys I’ve talked to there already know that I’m American, so it won’t be necessary to talk about my nationality.

Darren and I thought about going out for dinner tonight, but we got lazy as the evening went on, so we ordered Dominos Pizza. There’s a great website called otlob.com that lets us choose from quite a few local places. It’s even cheaper than ordering by phone!

I still need to finish my lesson plans, so I should get to that…

Yes, I’m still safe!