Cairo exploded in anger today.

I thought something like this might happen -- it's why I kept the children home with me. As the American University did not cancel classes (as everyone thought they might), Rondo went in to work. Duty calls. I sat here jittery all day, trying to play games with the children to keep them occupied, to keep my mind occupied. Tried again and again to check on news, to see if Rondo was safe.

He did call me at 1:00, but I wonder if that made things worse rather than better. Though his words were "I'm ok, everything's all right, don't worry," his voice told a different story, he was obviously stressed. Stressed, yet nothing but soothing words -- something's wrong.

He kept on teaching, though. The university itself was surrounded by police and soliders, there was no way the demonstrations would get inside the university. Besides, they were much more interested in getting to the U.S. Embassy, a couple of blocks away, and kept pushing in that direction. And Rondo had heard that some of the students from AUC who joined the protests ended up bloodied by the police; he wanted his students to stay inside learning logic, they were safer there.

The worst part about him was journeying home -- he had to walk towards the center of the demonstration, and in fact, go right up next to it, to get to the metro line home. I don't know if I would have done it, personally -- I think I would have walked the other way and found a cab. All those people, so angry, so mad -- and if they're talking about attacking U.S. interests, what's to stop them from attacking U.S. citizens?

I was so relieved when he came home safely. I don't think we'll be leaving the house for a couple of days. And AUC has already started to close things down for the weekend.