So I have received more than a few messages regarding my lack of posting....in all honesty, it had not even occurred to me that it had been that long since my last post. This last week just raced by and before I know it I am going to be home, back in my own bed. Friday evening is upon me and it is only 5 more days until I will take a taxi to the airport and board a flight to Amsterdam, and then a flight to Detroit. I can hardly believe it....I'm not sure how many of the 5 remaining days I will spend working. I will definitely take Wednesday off, and perhaps Tuesday depending on how I feel I guess. I'm going to finish up some work in the lab on the lithics, even though i really am under no obligation to do so, but I don't mind.

Another major reason i haven't posted is because...well, I would like to post more images but they just take forever....so I wind up getting really frustrated and giving up on making an entry all together. No pictures, no amazing stories, so...bored audience i suppose. This was my last "weekend" in Cairo. Yesterday we went to the pool after getting off of work at 1:00. We got dinner and then as a group of us were walking back to our flat we saw that there was a wedding party being held in the streets just outside our complex. We went over to watch and listen to the music. It was such a vibrant and positive outpouring of energy and enjoyment. Boys were waving large flames, children were running around with orange sodas, and women gathered in a circle and danced, wiggling in ways that even made ME blush, so I was quite surprised to see that amongst a culture that advocates modesty as one of the highest virtues. The women kept waving over at us to come join but we mostly smiled and stoodby just taking it all in. I shouldn't say "we." If you know anything about me, you should know that I can't turn down a dance party ever. I smiled and contemplated for about 2 seconds before dropping my purse to the floor and running in. The put me in the center and I danced with another older woman, I think she was the bride's mother. I danced for about two songs, they made me stay in the middle the entire time...finally i managed to squeeze out. It was a great time and I felt so humbled that they offered to share it with me but at the same time i did not want to distract from the attention of the wedding by being the foreigner stealing the spot light. I wish things like that didn't even occur to me...not that I wish I was oblivious to things that constituted colonial behavior, but that things could be as simple as two cultures combining without that kind of undertone. Perhaps I am reading into it too much. One of my friends took pictures which also put me off...even though I would have loved to have a snapshot of that memory to look upon and share with others, at the same time I would never risk making those around me feel as though I assumed I had such a right to photograph something so sacred to their culture, even if it was out in public on the streets of Giza. I would never want to risk them mistaking my intentions in capturing the moment...I would never want to risk coming across as someone who felt urged to photograph the ceremony out of alien curiosity, or as if they were meant for me to look at...

After we left, most of my flatmates went to sleep while I stayed up talking to Kirk online. Then i went to bed and today we went back to the pool.

Tomorrow its back to the lab for some more work. Richard also arrives back tomorrow so it will be nice to see him again even if only briefly.


Yeah so that's about it. Sorry for not posting!