Sixth-grade social studies students at Ballard County Middle School in Kentucky know what time it is in Afghanistan and what the weather is like there on a given day, thanks to an online connection with a soldier stationed there, reports the New York Times. The students have become acquainted with the country though Aaron Connor, a Ballard Memorial High School graduate now serving near Ghazni City, Afghanistan, with the Illinois National Guard. Connor answers the students’ questions through a blog. Ashley Bodell, a teacher at the middle school who graduated with Connor in 2001, arranged the correspondence between him and Cathey Seaton’s social studies classes. On his blog, Connor wrote: "I make mention about our little shootouts not to scare folks, but because I want people to know that this is a dangerous country. People hear about ‘safe’ parts of this country. There is no such thing. There are only places with more or less a degree of danger."