Lots to write about...well kind of...I suppose there is a lot I could discuss though I'm not sure how interesting it all is.

I started working in the lab yesterday with the lithics specialist. She went over some basic typologies with me and showed me what kind of things to look for when recording and drawing stone tools. After that I would do Stage one of analysis, which is basically sorting the lithics by retrieval method, wet seive, dry, seive, or heavy fraction, then labeling, counting, and weighing them. It's a job that does not really require that you know anything but lithics, but it has me looking at material all day and any time I have questions I just pop over to Marina and ask. At one point I came across something really cool and brought it over to her. She asked me what I thought it was and I explained how I thought it was a butcher knife. She started to tell me that it was a regular knife and how to tell the difference between the two, only to interrupt her own thought and say that it was a butcher knife! So i was correct, and very excited. While I did stage one, Marina would do stage 2, which is entire database worth of fine details which you do need to be a little more experienced with lithics in order to complete. After an hour though she said that I was sorting through my material too fast and that she needed to give me something else to do. Naturally, it feels really good to complete my jobs at a pace that is above what is expected of me. This whole time I thought that Marina was doing this huge favor for me letting me sit in and learn under her (don't get me wrong, this is still very much the case). However as it turns out. the part of the job that I am doing saves her a lot of time and she told me that I'm the one doing her the favor and that my help is going to mean finishing everything this season. Again, that all feels really good. So what did Marina do to slow me down? She had me start drawing. Archaeological drawing is one of my favorite things to do. I don't consider myself particularly artistic, but everything is so standardized that the things I produce don't look like a mess! Marina told me that all of my drawings were really good, but occasionally I would get, "Kelly, what the hell is that." because I went into too much detail. With lithics it's very important to keep it simple and draw only the parts that can really give you information for how the tool was manufactured and used.

Despite having a successful day at the lab, for whatever reason by the time night came I was very tired, sensitive, irritable, and emotional. Certain aspects of my job and living arrangement have been really stressful, none of which is entirely appropriate to vent about on a public forum, but last night it all just really broke me down to the point where I was fighting back tears, walking away from people and saying that I just needed to leave for a while. I thought I had wound down by the time I returned home only to find that everytime I tried to talk it was the same tear choking voice from earlier. I wasn't even still upset, I just couldn't seem to talk about anything without feeling like I had to cry. My flatmate bought me these things called Happy Hippos that I have been really amused by but had yet to try.



They are hazelnut filled weirdness...but they made me feel tons better. We stayed up talking/ranting/complaining/laughing and finally went to bed.

Today I am going to Abu Sir, a site of 5th and 6th dynasty Sun temples. I can't remember if I went there last year. I believe I did, but it's worth seeing again I'm sure. Then I am going back to the lab in the afternoon. I will post pictures if I take any.Haha I realize that I say things like "oh and I was an emotional mess yesterday" as if its nothing and then change the subject...really I am fine and have no specific explanation for the water works. It's just the lifestyle + me already being a boo hoo sensitive sissy pants. It will be nice to come home and have some privacy again.