Evacuation

Apparently we are to be evacuated any time now, which is good to know, but they thought it would be today, and now I'm hearing it might be tomorrow morning. We can only take bags we can carry, so I'm leaving my suitcases behind for some kind of retrieval later, I hope. Not sure what I'll wear when I get home! I have the jeans and T-shirt I'm wearing, and another T-shirt, underwear, one pair of socks and a set of pajamas. I guess I'll have to buy a small carry-on at the first good opportunity after arriving in Cyprus (if they have any left) and a few things. I'll also need to call my travel agency and find out what I can do about my ticket, etc. etc.

We've been asked not to leave the dorms, and we have been rearranging our luggage and giving away food. I got in touch with Fr. Ziad and Fr. Antonio, who have been very helpful, to say farewell; I really was looking forward to seeing them. Fr. Antonio's aunt offered to let me stay with her in Antelias, north of the city, and I almost went today. The reason I didn't was for fear of not being able to get back in time for an evacuation effort; it's a good thing I stayed here.

The amount of sorrow I feel at leaving under these circumstances is not small; so many things I wanted to do and people I wanted to see. Of course the Arabic program has been cancelled. It's funny to think about what a disaster this trip has been; but I refuse to limit it to that, since I know God can bring good out of anything. Exactly what that will be remains to be seen.