Had a nice Easter service on Sunday. We took a very formal communion at the end, which was somewhat unusual. Especially for me -- this was complete with kneeling down at the front of the sanctuary with a group of 5-6 other people to take the bread and juice/wine.

On the way back home, however, I felt like I was a walking target!

Why?

Well, at the end of the service, they encouraged us each to take a flower home. So, I was carrying a 3 foot long stalk of Easter lily down the street as I was walking home. Quite the way of saying “hi, I’m a western Christian!” *grin*

But that’s an exaggeration – most of the population here wouldn’t make the connection between the flower, Easter, and me. However, I was amused while thinking about all this.

On the plus side, the lily seems to be surviving quite well. I put it in some water right away and now 2 days later, it’s looking good! Some additional buds have opened up and I put it out in the sun today to try to perk it up a little more.

Pictures of Plants on the Balcony and the Easter Lily

Username: jpics
Password: easy

I've been eating lots of leftovers or food here at the flat, lately. Part of that is I'm realizing how much food I have sitting around that I should try to eat before moving to Tanta! *laugh* Not really that much, I guess -- mostly bags of pasta and some tomato paste to go with it. I could give it away to other MCC'ers, but it just seems easier to eat it!

Pictures of Baking and Food Items

Username: jpics
Password: easy

Everyday that I have class, I eat lunch in the cafeteria there. The food is pretty good and a bit more expensive than on the street, but it's really convenient to stay there, chat with people, etc. Now that we are getting to know some of our students better, we talk with them too -- especially our "Upper-Intermediate" group because they are fairly good at conversation, but still want/need more practice.

I had class on Monday and taught a lesson. It definitely went better than the one I did last week, but I still messed up in a few areas on the Language Focus and showing the form of the Present Continuous verbs. It was better than last week, but I still got the same grade. *laugh* Grade = Pass, but edging toward a Weak Pass. That's just for the individual assignment. Overall with the class, I still think I'm at a Pass with no danger of going lower, but also not much opportunity to get a Strong Pass. That's reserved for people who are really, really impressive and they don't give that high mark very often. Maybe 1 person out of my class will get that as an overall grade.

Getting ready for class again on Wednesday. I don't officially teach, but one of our classmates isn't teaching anymore b/c of health problems, so 2 of us are going to split up her lesson and teach it. Not for a grade, just to get more experience, so our tutors are helping us more with the preparation than they would with our graded assignments. They really are requiring us to be much more independent now.

Too bad we're not going to be using the same textbooks when I'm in Tanta! I have all these plans together and some materials. *smile* Well, they'll be good for reference!