On the Other Side of the World

Teaching high school in Arkansas has it's moments... and I've had 31 years of them!  In Arkansas, we are technologically snow-challenged.  When a dusting of snow and slush hits the streets, school buses are mobilized, phone messages are sent out, kids are hyper, the teachers are worse than hyper and everyone goes home. Some a little slower than they planned due to unscheduled get-togethers... as in "you slid into my car and now I want the name of your insurance company."  When it's ice instead of snow, the newspapers have pics the next day complete with the traditional description of I-30 being turned into a "parking lot".
Right now, I'm reading Our Man in Tehran which is about how the Canadians helped some of our embassy workers escape during the 1979 Revolution in Iran.  The Canadian Ambassador, Ken Taylor, had just moved his family to Tehran right before student protests kicked in and the fires of revolution started burning. Things steadily got worse so they had to close the schools for foreign kids.  His 14-year-old was happy.  His son, as an adult, looked back and said about the school closing:  "It was much like it can be in any other city. You can have a snow day, except in Tehran it's a demonstration day."
Thinking about the kids in Egypt, both foreign and native-born.  Somehow doubting it's tradition to fix a big pot of chili and bring out the snacks and the board games on a demonstration day... praying for a good outcome in that troubled land. Thanking God for snow days....