Staying up late tonight to type in my thoughts from the day…I wrote while on the train to/from Tanta.

Deep thought for the day:

Everywhere here, people have copies of the Koran open. They read on the bus, on the train, etc and sometimes even chant/sing verses. What would America (or any other heavily-Christian country) be like if more Christians did that? (the reading in public, not necessarily the chanting)

Barely made my train (5 minutes before it left). Lots of traffic, then I took time to grab breakfast. *smile* Pancakes covered in powdered sugar and rolled up. Tasty ad filling but not very healthy. On that note…

I think my legs are getting shorter!!! *smirk*

All my dress pants seem to be longer than usual, this past week or so. Ah, it’s b/c they’re slipping off my waist now that I’ve been exercising a lot! Time to start wearing a belt, I guess!

Today I saw the classrooms, found out about printer/photocopier, grabbed a textbook, and talked with my teacher/director. I was able to wander the neighborhood where I’ll be living for about an hour before I caught the train back.

Yesterday, I had 2 decent (but short) conversations in Arabic. One with a taxi driver tnd the other to buy my train ticket. I should have been talking with the guys who work in my building and taxi drivers all along but I let my lack of confidence hold me back. Now I have the desire and a bit of confidence.

One other conversation…I was waiting for the tram to come home after Arabic and I got surrounded by a pack of teen-aged schoolgirls! I’ve heard about this happening with talkative girls chatting with male foreigners, but this was the first time it happened to me. “Do you speak English?” then on from there. “Where are you from?” “What’s your job?” Their English wasn’t very good, but it was better than my Arabic! Still, I tried to mix in some so that I could practice.

When getting ready to leave Tanta today, I stopped to ask for help and to make sure I was walking the right direction to the train station (I wasn’t). A helpful guy said he’s walk with me, since he lived near the station. People in Egypt will often offer to do this. We chatted a bit in Arabic and English.

His name? Mohammed. Of course… The odds are pretty good, but it’s reassuring that even though I’ll be in a heavily-Christian setting with my teaching, I will still be able to have random contact with Muslims.

My neighborhood seems alright. Not a lot of action, but a few restaurants and a coffee place or 2 for playing backgammon.