June 5, 2010 4:47 P.M.

Now we have a short break before dinner so I’ll say what we’ve done since this morning.  We did a little experiment with learning how to interact between different cultures.  Some hand gestures that are okay in America might not be all right in other countries and they want us to be aware of that.  How people show affection, how men and women are treated and associate with each other, how children are treated, etc. is all different everywhere.  The teams split up into one group that were “foreigners” and the other was the mission people stepping into their culture.  So basically we must adapt to theirs, not vice versa.  We ate an Indian dish for lunch, family style.  The rice came out in a huge plastic bowl that was passed around the table, scooped onto flour tortillas and then topped with some sort of meatball concoction.  It was so satisfying because I’ve been starving all day.  But I am perfectly fine.  We can live on so much less than we do.  They’re trying to get us to really adapt and adjust ourselves as much as possible before we leave.  The speaker today taught us that insecurity is just another form of pride because we’re looking out for ourselves first before anyone else.  Insecurity constitutes putting up the best possible image of ourselves for others.  I want to liberate myself from this.