It's the Final Countdown

Well this is officially my last night in Cairo and my last entry from Egypt.

At one point here I envisioned having this grand summation of my experience towards the end- something that captured the evolution of my adjustment and my insight. However I do not think that I am even remotely aware yet of what has happened and what will continue to happen as I carry this trip with me, as a part of me, for the rest of my life. All I know right now is that I feel so humbled and grateful for all that has been given to me, all that I am priveledged with, and all that I take for granted. I wont venture to say that I am a new person, a changed woman, or that I even grasped a sort of self awareness that was previously beyond my reach- I think to ascribe to that line of thinking is to confuse traveler's enchantment and nostalgia with what is actually taken away when you take off. I think I encountered a struggle- a struggle with my own ignorance, a stuggle with my own naivety, a struggle to adjust, a struggle to make choices that would shape my future. I think I hit lows I've never faced before, feelings of lonliness and isolation, confusion and exhaustion- utter disconnect.

And where am I now? I'm ready to keep going on with my life. I'm ready to come back next year for another two months...I'm ready to plan a summer excavation trip to China or India, I'm ready for new challenges, new struggles, new confrontations, because while those lows were difficult, and perhaps never even appropriately countered with amazing days or moments- the reality that I am and was able to overcome them all, walk out of here with a determination to take on more, is a high that compensates for every wearing second that passed me. Knowing and proving to myself that I can find laughter with maggots on the breakfast table, comfort with a menstruation cycle in the middle of a desert, solitude in the backseat of a near death experience powered by a v-6 engine (if that), a shoulder shrug at mild food poisoning (heh my karmic retribution for driving my poor aunt michele to tears with the malaria bit)- it all shows me that even if I haven't figured out what I want for myself in life, I know that I'm on the right track- my adapatability to this situation has shown me that the things that I want for myself and to be able to offer to other people are not just idealisations, or goals to strive for, they are things I already possess and can demonstrate and utilize. I think I'm finally able to set aside the modesty defense mechanism and realize my strength and in doing so, actually use my strength.

In parallel with the archaeological scientific method upon which I have been operating day in and day out, I cannot simply ascertain these realizations as some form of Law of Kelly's Personality. I've merely made observations within different contexts, considering different variables, and so far have formed ideas, and questions for me to test...what I mean is, I don't expect that I will always be okay with challenging situations, I don't expect that I will always overcome every obstacle, or that I will always learn from every struggle, or that I will always be able to look back on hard experiences in a positive light- but I do know that I look forward to learning more- always.

I am sure I could extend this entry much further, as I am really bored, and too anxious to sleep, but I'v noticed that not all of you read my entries from beginning to end! And most of you probably think I've stopped writing alltogether- who knows maybe no one will see this but if you don't...then you don't know that I will be in Detroit in less than 48 hours!

Thank you for reading and traveling with me- a special note to my closer friends aka those of you who are most likely entitled to travel gifts, 2 things

1) I thought I was going to have an extra week to get shopping done, and so I wasn't able to get everyone everything I wanted
2) Most of the stuff here is junk and you don't want it anyways...I'm coming back next year, if you think of something you want from here, let me know and you have my word that i will get it for you. You don't have my word that it will stay intact or put together by the time it gets from here to there- but that is the essence of Egypt in itself...it really is insane..you would think that coming from the ingenuity that was the pyramid construction, that things would be of a magnificent quality, just goes to show you what happens when countries are poor in the modern world.

Otherwise I try to operate on the, if it made me think of you, i got it for you, basis- and consider yourself lucky if I didn't associate you with cheap, waste of space, junk!

Peace out Girl Scouts!

New Arrival Time

I was able to get an earlier flight out and so here it is:

New flight info

leave Cairo on Friday at 4:00 p.m.

Leave Zurich Saturday at 8:00 a.m.

Arrive in detroit THIS Saturday June 9th at 12:50 p.m. after customs and what not, should walk out around 1:30ish.

BREAKING NEWS

So the past few days i have been in and out of nauseousness. I don't like to write about my health too too much because I don't want to worry my poor aunts...However todays was exceptionally bad...I was just feeling not my best in the morning and then my professor and I went out to dinner at which point I became violently ill. I keep going in and out of a fever and chills, and essentially hate my life right now. Per his diagnosis, as he has had it too, it turns out that I most likely have managed to contract malaria, despite it not being the season for it. He has medication for it since he still gets attacks and so I am okay for now but either way, I need adequate medical attention as soon as possible, as well as blood work and so I am coming home early.

That is all i can write for now because i feel so terrible. This is not how I wanted to deal with coming home...










Just kidding!

Well about the malaria part- but not about the coming home early part!

Earlier this morning my professor realized that I am going to finish all of my work by either wednesday or thursday and so he decided to look into moving our flights so that I could come home early!

I was planning on going out of my way to surprise some of you, but I changed my mind. I just couldn't keep it in!

I'm not sure of the details yet, Richard is going to go down and see what he can work out. I could be home as early as this weekend! No matter what though it looks like I will be home before the 15th, giving me extra time to recover from jet lag.

yay :)

I should know by tomorrow what the new plans are!

6/3/07

So...I think I am kind of running out of things to say. I live in a nice place, which gives me a hell of a lot less to complain about...my work is almost done, and the parts of that which I could potentially vent about, I'm not technically allowed to discuss...I guess in short, the material i am sorting right now is just kind of "uninteresting" not in terms of what it is or what it means to be at the site, but just doesn't require a lot of thought process. Right now I'm just in a little "slump" which probably corrosponds appropriately to the phasing, but as a result just isn't really fun stuff to look at...but thats the thing with archaeology.,.a lot of the stuff you are looking at, is just crap.

When I was first learning how to sort bone, I was working with fauna from Turkey, and it was some of the best preserved material one could find. My professor of course did this on purpose since it would be the easiest to learn from. Then, this past year he had me working with fauna from Yemen, which was just absolutely awful...a lot of junk...but it was still challenging for me because i was not really good with the material yer and so the entire process still kept me engaged. The stuff I have now is inbetween the two, however now that I am really good at knowing what crap looks like, I get more cranky about having to sort and weigh and write about it...but I've already sneaked a peak at some of the last features I have to sort and they are much much better.


Today I saw my first snake- a viper. The egyptians killed it outside of the coffee tent. It was a female, and Richard showed me the characteristics so that I would recognize them in the future. That guy was probably what was keeping the mice away from our bones though...so now we have to guard the bones once again!

I haven't seen the gecko around either. I miss that guy.

My cough has improved a lot. It was really set off by that sand storm we had last week, so now that things are winding down I am doing much better.

It is supposed to be 104 on tuesday...Yuck!

Today is the Third already and here are some lovely countdowns brought to you by June 3rd:

Days left of work: 8 (at the most!)
Days until I leave for Zurich: 11
Days until I arrive in Detroit: 12

look at those numbers, so close but still so far..so fast but still so slow. Such an overall sense of the bittersweet.

Oh the Wonderful World of June!

Today has been heavenly- except for that wretched, pflegm filled cough of mine...but even that could not significantly drag down today. I'm sure perhaps to the disappointment of those who had their fingers crossed that I would realize that travel and time spent abroad was not the life for me, I am really enjoying things here now, and really do not foresee myself changing my mind about my insistence to travel and see the world. Last night when I went out to dinner with Richard, he told me of all his different field stories, ones in kenya, Iran, and Turkey...I'm sorry but I love this work and I want to have those stories too. There are definitely some down sides to this line of work as I have had explained to me. If you thought that there was drama at your job, imagine having to live with your coworkers for months at a time and in some rather obnoxious arrangements and environmental conditions. It's kind of like summer camp for adults, and this rings true of the field flings as well. What happens when you put a group of girls and guys together for a few months, in a foreign country without any other social network...convenience happens, convenience and hormones apparently, and it is all the gossip. I lucked out since I came towards the end and by now most everyone is gone, but I have been forewarned about some of the ridiculous things that go down.

So far i am still pretty content on doing my next work in China...even though I hate Chinese food. This of course would take place after my excavation apprenticeship next year in Egypt and actually I probably wont get into China for another year or two. But that gives me the time to start learning the language and developing research questions i want to pursue.

I spent most of today in bed, with a mug of coffee reading. If you know me, you know that this is perfection. I was actually reading my professor's report he just completed on the area of the site. It will be a good contextual component for my thesis. It was funny though, after he sent it and I told him I started reading it, he said, "well it's just a rough draft" etc...I told him that I wouldn't judge it too harshly and any commentary I have is intended to be constructive and not taken personally...this is funny because it is usually the exchange he and I have about my writing samples. Again it is just another instance where I find myself being acknowledged as a peer and not just a student, though I'm sure he doesn't really expect me to find any problems with his report...but hopefully I can develop some questions about it.

Most fridays i am off somewhere else around noon, but I was here at the apartments today. Since Friday is the Holy Day, call to prayer lasts for an entire hour, so this was the first time I had to listen to it for that long. Again you just kind of tune it out and it becomes background. At around 1:00 Richard and i left to get lunch. We went to that sushi place again. Delightful! He actually has an allergy to wheat and eggs so sushi works out well since he knows that he can get something there. The sushi place is in the marriot in Zamalek. Zamalek has that store Nomad that I like as well as the grocery store. While at the marriot, Richard picked up a paper and told me that he was going down by the pool to read, and that I was to walk to Nomad and shop. This was an excellent way for me to navigate around the town by myself and to also go shopping! And I walked there all by myself, again feeling liberated, and refreshed, and just very happy. A few cabs tried to follow me around asking if I needed to be driven somewhere. i exercised my little known arabic and would say, "No thank you, I walk" or "No thank you, I have no need"

So as expected, the more familiar I am getting with the culture, the language, and the area, the better I feel about being here which I'm sure is a relief to all. Regardless, I am looking forward to coming home, though part of me is wishing that I was staying in royal oak the rest of the summer. But I guess that just means everyone else will have to come to me in ann arbor!

Tonight we are going to have dinner at felfella. Yay! my favorite, and it looks as though we will be eating lunch there every day frm now on since the villa is now closed and meals are no longer provided. What an excellent excuse to try everything on the menu.

okay back to reading for me!

My weekend is winding down just as everyone elses is getting started. But I know what weekends mean...emails from everybody!! right? please?? :)

Michele you just got a novel from me. Hope you get an extra long lunch break!

byeeee everyone!

here are the pictures of the view from my balcony. The wires are from all the air conditioners.