What are the chances??

Last night, I was at a going-away party for Roz, one of the Legal Aide volunteers and one of the other women mentions that she’s thinking of attending the University of Michigan law school in a year or so. She’s from Iowa, so this is no big thing.

“Oh, and did you know that Larissa will be there next year?”

This is the one that got me b/c Larissa is from New Zealand! Apparently there’s some 1-year master’s degree for International students… So, I ended up talking about U-M, Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, and Michigan! Silly. Larissa will be there from September through May and knows a couple of people living there, but I might call on a couple of you to meet her or help her out. I was pushing the live music and coffee house scene, so I’m sure people out there would love to show Larissa around.

This also got me thinking about the name “Larissa”. I have now met 2 people with that name since I got to Egypt. Apparently it’s from Doctor Zhivago, which had a character referred to as “Lara” (which is short for Larissa). I have a cousin named Lara, but I’m not sure where my aunt/uncle came up from the name. Maybe if they’re reading this, they will answer the question! *grin*

Great music at this party. There were guys from there from Sudan and also from Somalia, and they got the drums and guitar out. Much clapping and some dancing followed…

For pictures, use…

Username: jpics
Password: easy

And see: http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=4289975041

On a different note…

I’ve been able to do a bit of chatting lately. Last night I caught my friend Beth and this morning, I wrote back-and-forth with my friend Julie for about 30 minutes before going to lift weights.

Today is my “regular day” of the last few weeks. Studying, napping, reading, then Arabic from 8-10pm. I think I’ll practice guitar a bit after that.