Sunday, February 24, 2008
Sunday Night 2/24/08
Today was rough to say the least. I was pretty set on waking up early, catching breakfast, and heading over to Luxor Temple. Richard says that Luxor Temple is best seen in the morning as the sun comes over it. I spent last night reading my guide book and was ready to spend the day getting lost in the art and architecture of Egyptian History. However when I woke up this morning I felt absolutely awful. I was naseous and weak, every limb felt heavy. As miserable as I was, I was convinced that getting some food in my stomach would help, so I went downstairs to grab breakfast. My hands were shaking as I tried to spread jam on my bread. I took little bites of anything I thought would make me feel better. I was upset to waste food, but I just had to go back to my room and lay down. I downed a bottle of water and laid in my bed surrounded by 3 others simply so I could cool off. Sickness, of which I wont detail, ensued, and I spent the rest of the day in bed, waking up on the hour to head back to the bathroom and be more unhappy. Finally at around 2:30 I felt a lot better and took a bath. I have felt fine since…I don’t know if it was dehydration, exhaustion, or mild food poisoning…either way it seems to have passed and I am happy about that. We’ll see how dinner goes tonight though. Last night Richard and I ate at this restaurant called Oasis. I had a sandwhich with grilled egglplant and green pepper. Tonight, Richard, Mary Ann, a friend of Mary Ann’s and I are going to eat at an Italian restaurant. My antiquities pass still isn’t in and I am in the process of getting more money changed over to Egyptian pounds so that I can do more site seeing on my own. However, tomorrow I am going to go to the West Bank Necropolis with one of the Egyptian Team Members, so I am stoked about that. The West Bank is home of the Valley of the Kings, tombs for the New Kingdom Pharaohs, as well as Deir el Bahri which has Queen Hatepshets phenomenal mortuary temple. I will take plenty of pictures.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
After some technical difficulties....
Sorry for the delay in postings. The internet in Luxor is not very good and doesn't work in my room at all. Right now I am sitting in the hallway of my hotel on the opposite end of the building from where I am staying. I have been writing regularly though so, soon enough you all will get a recap on how the past few days of traveling hiatus have been. Obviously I managed to get myself from Detroit to Luxor, with only a few major bumps in the...road? sky? frogger like sidewalk? I did have quite the nightmare when at Cairo Airport waiting for my next flight out to Luxor (the man who met me there escorted me to the wrong terminal and then I was basically trapped since if I decided to leave the area I was, the security said they would not let me back into the airport). I have basically spent the last 2 days sleeping. Last year, since I overnighted in Zurich, the travel did not take as much out of me and I was ready to work once I got into Cairo...this time, days went by before sleeping through a night was an option. To say that I have been exhausted is the understatement of the century.
Friday Morning: 2/22/08
I am writing this initial entry from the Cairo Airport. My flight got in at 2:15 a.m. from Amsterdam, however, my flight to Luxor is not until 7:00 a.m. I had originally booked the 7 a.m. flight just incase my flight out of Amsterdam was delayed…it seemed the perfect option to avoid running around like a crazy woman in a foreign country looking for my next terminal. So here I am at 3:00 a.m. the only person in the entire terminal with the exception of some security guards who cannot speak any english, except to tell me I have pretty eyes. When I try asking questions they smile and shake their heads, but go on and on about my eyes…it is oh so helpful. At least they are friendly. They all seemed to find it HILARIOUS that I am here so early. But before I talk more about my adventures so far alone in Cairo, let’s backtrack a few days (man is my perception of time completely warped as of right now).
I left Detroit a little after 7:00 p.m. Wednesday night. The flight was wonderful…I was so exhausted that I didn’t even stay awake long enough for take off. As the plane ascended into a night adorned with a lunar eclipse, I lay asleep. I slept for most of the flight surprisingly which made it seem quick. I would wake up here and there and talk to the woman next to me. She was a physician. Upon finding this out I immediately thought about how pleased my aunts would be knowing that I was just about as safe as I could be for that flight. The woman was originally from India, though now she lives in Memphis. She was flying to India to visit her mother whom is currently ill and in the hospital. Naturally, we talked about how I will be flying out there come september as well. The most entertaining anecdote from my exchanges with her happened when the dinner cart came:
Flight Attendant: “Vegeteable Curry or Chicken” (repeats to each passenger)
Physician (to me): “But what is the curry?”
Me (utterly perplexed): “I’m sorry what?”
Physician: “He keeps saying curry, but what is it?”
Me: “…oh… the vegetarian entrée?”
Physician: “Yeah..I hear the vegetarian option, and the Chicken…but what is the curry?”
Me: “Curry…it is a spice….”
Physician: “OHHH the vegetable curry is one option…I thought there were three…Vegetable, Curry, or Chicken..but didn’t know what was supposed to be curry.”
Me: “Oh thank God…I don’t mean to be presumptuous or naïve, but I was pretty dumbfounded because I thought you were asking me what curry was…”
Physician (errupts in laughter): “Oh yes it would definitely be backwards if I was the one asking you what curry was.”
It may not seem as funny in blog format…but the idea of an Indian Woman, who was raised in India, has all of her family living in India, was asking me what curry was…it had me and her laughing pretty hard to say the least.
Like I said I slept throughout most of the flight. Last year I was completely dependent updon watching movies back to back to kill the time…this year I only watched one, Michael Clayton, and it was a very fragmented viewing since I kept falling asleep and rewinding.
So after sleeping some more I finally arrived in Amsterdam where I was met by Frank, the boyfriend of one Mary Casey, whom I met on New Years. Frank was dead set on giving me the Sparknotes cultural experience of the Dutch beginning with breakfast. After a train ride- which I sneakily boarded without a ticket and didn’t get caught- some amtraking and some walking, we stopped at a market near his apartment to pick up some dutch breakfast essentials. We then went back to his apartment and made the food. We had fruit salad (raspberries, bananas, and oranges), juice, coffee…pretty standard. But then we also had this little mini toastish/biscuity things with jam. But that by no means compared to the next two items. Apparently the Dutch really enjoy putting chocolate sprinkles on bread…they butter the bread, add the sprinkles and enjoy….and it isn’t just a matter of being crafty with sprinkles and bread, the sprinkles are actually advertised for the sole purpose of putting them on your bread in the morning
…it was pretty sweet for breakfast I thought, but it was actually kind of an interesting texture- the soft bread and the sprinkles…I don’t like butter though so I had an interesting time trying to eat and not make a mess as all of the sprinkles fell off. After that we had these other popular breakfast treats. It is two small waffle cracker/cookies with a sugary, syrup/caramel in the center. You put them in them in the microwave. They were REALLY sweet but pretty good.
After breakfast, Frank let me take a shower in what has to be the world’s smallest bathroom….I barely had enough room to get clothes back on after I was done, however, beggars can’t be choosers and I was damn glad to have a shower. We then left so that I could see some of the fun things Amsterdam has to offer (I’ll spare any build up, no I did not go into any of the “café’s” I kept this a pretty PG visit. We did visit the Anne Frank House though. We were able to walk through it and everything, walking behind the bookcase that hid the only entrance way into the area that house Anne Frank and her Family. After that we walked through some of the really expensive shopping areas of Amsterdam. I took some pictures because I really enjoyed the archtecture.
What isn’t to love about a quaint and cozy downtown with that classical/gothic character to it…inviting and welcoming…but low and behold don’t get all warm and fuzzy yet…lurking in the center of Amsterdam is none other than Death Itself…Double Death to be exact. I didn’t really figure it out, but for whatever reason, two individuals dressed as the grim reaper were collecting donations or something…what a pitch, “Donate to this cancer fundraiser so that we don’t have to go collect the dead children…” I don’t know if that was what was really going on.
I also took a picture of this man and his music box. The cane makes me think he’s blind, but my cynicism (read: intelligence) makes me think he’s not actually.
After some of my picture taking in the downtown area, Frank and I went to the Van Goh Museum, which was totally kickass even if I was verging on incoherence from jet lag. It was decided that afterwards, I could probably use nap. So nap I did, for 3 hours. When I woke up, Frank and his roommate had made dinner, a spinach pasta. When dinner was done, it was time to return to the airport and prepare for my flight into Cairo, of course not without having one more cup of European coffee.
Again, the flight was pretty speedy and easy. I slept a lot again, this time watching Atonement. I arrived to a much calmer Cairo compared to last year (which makes sense since I was getting in at 2:15 in the morning). As soon as I walked in from the shuttle bus, I saw a man holding a big sign for me. He told me exactly how to do everything, how to get my visa, where to get my luggage etc. It was kind of hard for me to understand his English, but when I told him how excited I was to be here he replied, “You have no idea what an honor it is to hear you say that.” All did not follow smoothly however. While I was most pleased with the fact that he got me through customs VERY quickly and painlessly, he was also supposed to walk me directly to the terminal for my next flight to Luxor…well he certainly walked me somewhere…and after standing in a long line for the security check in, I was told that I was at the wrong terminal, and that I had to go next door. So I did…and when I tried asking if I was in the right place, this is when I was told “No English- but those eyes, Beautiful!” So I show the guys my itenerary to see if they have any idea what’s going on (I’ve learned that most Egyptians really have no idea what is ever going on). Again they shake their heads, apologize, but then say I have pretty eyes. Finally I find someone with infromation and he basically starts freaking out, shouting in arabic about the fact that I’m so early (I’m sorry?) They agree to let me come in anyway, but tell me that I am not allowed to leave once I come in…seemed simple enough because I assumed this terminal would be connected to the rest of the airpoty (it isn’t). So here I am, in cairo airport, FREEZING. It’s only 40 degrees outside right now and whereever I am, there are open doors (despite the fact that I’m forbidden from walking out of them). I am sitting at a café…but I can’t tell if it’s open or not…a nice hot coffee would definitely be ideal right now….but I don’t know…I get the feeling if I try to ask for coffee or if the stand is open (there is a guy sitting there, but there are no lights on) there is just going to be some language barrier that will frustrate me futher. Ugh only, 4:15, still 3 hours until my flight!
Friday Night 2/22/08
Well…eventually I wound up in the right place at the right time in Cairo in order to board my flight to Luxor…I was getting pretty nervous for a bit there. I think I held it together quite well seeing as though at that point I had not had a night’s sleep in a bed since Monday evening, I was alone in a foreign country, at the wrong airport terminal, surrounded by people who did not know any English. I figured things out eventally…Check In for Egyptair was a nightmare. I was fairly certain my luggage was not going to make it to luxor. I stood in this line preparing to check my suitcase. In theory it should have been a a quick line to stand in…but sure enough for every ONE person that was in front of me, moments later, their family of 15 would come and meet them in line (hence cut in front of me) with each individual having their own bags to check…I was getting frustrated until I reminded my self that with all of these people I was just going to be waiting around somewhere until 7 anyways…doesn’t really matter if I was waiting in the luggage check in line for a long time. I got through that chaos and by 8 am I was in Luxor. I was met by Richard, and he brought me back to our hotel where I checked in. Luckily, Richard had things he had to do all day and I just got to do whatever I wanted. Now, as I said…I’m getting into luxor 8 am Friday my time, which is about 1 am Friday in Detroit and this all considering the fact that the last time I slept through the night was on Monday (and even then I’m pretty sure I only slept for around 4 hours since I know I got up that day to drive my aunt to work and use her car to run errands). So we might as well say that the last time I slept beyond a nap frame of time was Sunday Night. But I had slept a lot on my various flights and even took a 3 hour nap at Frank’s in Amsterdam, so while I was definitely tired when I got into my hotel room, I thought I would sleep for 2, maybe 3 hours tops. Richard said lunch was at noon and there was a reception party everyone was going to at 5:00. I start to get ready for my sleep…I go to pee and then when I flush…the flusher gets stuck and as a result, just never stops flushing….beautiful. I am exhausted, verging on incoherent and now I am living with the forever running toilet. Obviously this would not do, so I had to have my room changed. No problem I get settled in room 2 and I fall asleep at 9:00. I don’t bother to set my alarm because I am certain I wont sleep more than a few hours since it is the middle of the day….foolish me, I fell asleep at 9:00 only to wake up to my phone ringing at 4:00. It was Richard calling to let me know that we were meeting for the reception at 6:00 instead of 5:00. I could not believe I had slept all day. At that point I got up to take a shower. Now, for whatever reason there is no shower curtain, but at this point I just don’t care…fine, the bathroom can fucking flood for all I care…I go to start my shower and of course something breaks and the showerhead wont turn on…I’m not about to stop everything I’m doing just to change rooms again, or ask for help from the staff and be nodded and smiled at, so I just take a bath- probably the more relaxing way to go anyways. I took my shower, I got ready, met the crew at 6:15 and then we went to this rooftop party downtown.
I mingled and got to know everyone else currently working in Luxor. At around 10, I walked home with two other girls, came home and fell asleep until 3:00 am.
And that brings us to today/tonight
So i woke up at 3:00 a.m. fell back asleep by 6:00 a.m and then woke up at 1:30 p.m. At this point I decided to get up and shower. Unlike last time, a timid girl likely to opt for hanging out in my room until people from the project were back, I decided that I was not just going to sit in my room waiting around. I decided to walk around the city a bit. Luxor is a wee bit calmer than Cairo, obviously its not nearly as densly populated, but it is pretty similar...everyone asking you to shop in their bazaar or get in their taxi, or carriage...everyone asking you to give them money more or less. After walking around I ran into mary ann, recall that I worked with her last year, she is the ethnobotanist. She was taking some students to the office to look at some charred plant remains under a microscope. I tagged along and afterwards found Richard in the hotel lobby. We agreed to meet up in a little bit and he took me around Luxor, showing me where Luxor temple, the winter palace, and karnak temple were. He bought me an excellent guide book on luxor for me to use. I am waiting on my antiquities pass (the neatness that allows me to get into every site for free) before I explore the monuments around here. I will take plenty of pictures and provide ample explanations for those interested. Hopefully Monday, I can go off to Luxor temple on my own, as well to karnak temple (about a 2 mile walk) and then on Tuesday or Wednesday, Richard will go with me to the West bank and to see the Valley of the Kings and der el Bahri. If i get bored enough tomorrow, i will take pictures of my hotel room and talk about that for a bit so that you can get the full experience of my stay. I'm only here until Friday evening and then I head back to Giza. I thought I started working that following Saturday, but I will actually have Saturday off and will begin work on Sunday March 1st.
There...plenty of reading material for you all. Ma salama!
Friday Morning: 2/22/08
I am writing this initial entry from the Cairo Airport. My flight got in at 2:15 a.m. from Amsterdam, however, my flight to Luxor is not until 7:00 a.m. I had originally booked the 7 a.m. flight just incase my flight out of Amsterdam was delayed…it seemed the perfect option to avoid running around like a crazy woman in a foreign country looking for my next terminal. So here I am at 3:00 a.m. the only person in the entire terminal with the exception of some security guards who cannot speak any english, except to tell me I have pretty eyes. When I try asking questions they smile and shake their heads, but go on and on about my eyes…it is oh so helpful. At least they are friendly. They all seemed to find it HILARIOUS that I am here so early. But before I talk more about my adventures so far alone in Cairo, let’s backtrack a few days (man is my perception of time completely warped as of right now).
I left Detroit a little after 7:00 p.m. Wednesday night. The flight was wonderful…I was so exhausted that I didn’t even stay awake long enough for take off. As the plane ascended into a night adorned with a lunar eclipse, I lay asleep. I slept for most of the flight surprisingly which made it seem quick. I would wake up here and there and talk to the woman next to me. She was a physician. Upon finding this out I immediately thought about how pleased my aunts would be knowing that I was just about as safe as I could be for that flight. The woman was originally from India, though now she lives in Memphis. She was flying to India to visit her mother whom is currently ill and in the hospital. Naturally, we talked about how I will be flying out there come september as well. The most entertaining anecdote from my exchanges with her happened when the dinner cart came:
Flight Attendant: “Vegeteable Curry or Chicken” (repeats to each passenger)
Physician (to me): “But what is the curry?”
Me (utterly perplexed): “I’m sorry what?”
Physician: “He keeps saying curry, but what is it?”
Me: “…oh… the vegetarian entrée?”
Physician: “Yeah..I hear the vegetarian option, and the Chicken…but what is the curry?”
Me: “Curry…it is a spice….”
Physician: “OHHH the vegetable curry is one option…I thought there were three…Vegetable, Curry, or Chicken..but didn’t know what was supposed to be curry.”
Me: “Oh thank God…I don’t mean to be presumptuous or naïve, but I was pretty dumbfounded because I thought you were asking me what curry was…”
Physician (errupts in laughter): “Oh yes it would definitely be backwards if I was the one asking you what curry was.”
It may not seem as funny in blog format…but the idea of an Indian Woman, who was raised in India, has all of her family living in India, was asking me what curry was…it had me and her laughing pretty hard to say the least.
Like I said I slept throughout most of the flight. Last year I was completely dependent updon watching movies back to back to kill the time…this year I only watched one, Michael Clayton, and it was a very fragmented viewing since I kept falling asleep and rewinding.
So after sleeping some more I finally arrived in Amsterdam where I was met by Frank, the boyfriend of one Mary Casey, whom I met on New Years. Frank was dead set on giving me the Sparknotes cultural experience of the Dutch beginning with breakfast. After a train ride- which I sneakily boarded without a ticket and didn’t get caught- some amtraking and some walking, we stopped at a market near his apartment to pick up some dutch breakfast essentials. We then went back to his apartment and made the food. We had fruit salad (raspberries, bananas, and oranges), juice, coffee…pretty standard. But then we also had this little mini toastish/biscuity things with jam. But that by no means compared to the next two items. Apparently the Dutch really enjoy putting chocolate sprinkles on bread…they butter the bread, add the sprinkles and enjoy….and it isn’t just a matter of being crafty with sprinkles and bread, the sprinkles are actually advertised for the sole purpose of putting them on your bread in the morning
…it was pretty sweet for breakfast I thought, but it was actually kind of an interesting texture- the soft bread and the sprinkles…I don’t like butter though so I had an interesting time trying to eat and not make a mess as all of the sprinkles fell off. After that we had these other popular breakfast treats. It is two small waffle cracker/cookies with a sugary, syrup/caramel in the center. You put them in them in the microwave. They were REALLY sweet but pretty good.
After breakfast, Frank let me take a shower in what has to be the world’s smallest bathroom….I barely had enough room to get clothes back on after I was done, however, beggars can’t be choosers and I was damn glad to have a shower. We then left so that I could see some of the fun things Amsterdam has to offer (I’ll spare any build up, no I did not go into any of the “café’s” I kept this a pretty PG visit. We did visit the Anne Frank House though. We were able to walk through it and everything, walking behind the bookcase that hid the only entrance way into the area that house Anne Frank and her Family. After that we walked through some of the really expensive shopping areas of Amsterdam. I took some pictures because I really enjoyed the archtecture.
What isn’t to love about a quaint and cozy downtown with that classical/gothic character to it…inviting and welcoming…but low and behold don’t get all warm and fuzzy yet…lurking in the center of Amsterdam is none other than Death Itself…Double Death to be exact. I didn’t really figure it out, but for whatever reason, two individuals dressed as the grim reaper were collecting donations or something…what a pitch, “Donate to this cancer fundraiser so that we don’t have to go collect the dead children…” I don’t know if that was what was really going on.
I also took a picture of this man and his music box. The cane makes me think he’s blind, but my cynicism (read: intelligence) makes me think he’s not actually.
After some of my picture taking in the downtown area, Frank and I went to the Van Goh Museum, which was totally kickass even if I was verging on incoherence from jet lag. It was decided that afterwards, I could probably use nap. So nap I did, for 3 hours. When I woke up, Frank and his roommate had made dinner, a spinach pasta. When dinner was done, it was time to return to the airport and prepare for my flight into Cairo, of course not without having one more cup of European coffee.
Again, the flight was pretty speedy and easy. I slept a lot again, this time watching Atonement. I arrived to a much calmer Cairo compared to last year (which makes sense since I was getting in at 2:15 in the morning). As soon as I walked in from the shuttle bus, I saw a man holding a big sign for me. He told me exactly how to do everything, how to get my visa, where to get my luggage etc. It was kind of hard for me to understand his English, but when I told him how excited I was to be here he replied, “You have no idea what an honor it is to hear you say that.” All did not follow smoothly however. While I was most pleased with the fact that he got me through customs VERY quickly and painlessly, he was also supposed to walk me directly to the terminal for my next flight to Luxor…well he certainly walked me somewhere…and after standing in a long line for the security check in, I was told that I was at the wrong terminal, and that I had to go next door. So I did…and when I tried asking if I was in the right place, this is when I was told “No English- but those eyes, Beautiful!” So I show the guys my itenerary to see if they have any idea what’s going on (I’ve learned that most Egyptians really have no idea what is ever going on). Again they shake their heads, apologize, but then say I have pretty eyes. Finally I find someone with infromation and he basically starts freaking out, shouting in arabic about the fact that I’m so early (I’m sorry?) They agree to let me come in anyway, but tell me that I am not allowed to leave once I come in…seemed simple enough because I assumed this terminal would be connected to the rest of the airpoty (it isn’t). So here I am, in cairo airport, FREEZING. It’s only 40 degrees outside right now and whereever I am, there are open doors (despite the fact that I’m forbidden from walking out of them). I am sitting at a café…but I can’t tell if it’s open or not…a nice hot coffee would definitely be ideal right now….but I don’t know…I get the feeling if I try to ask for coffee or if the stand is open (there is a guy sitting there, but there are no lights on) there is just going to be some language barrier that will frustrate me futher. Ugh only, 4:15, still 3 hours until my flight!
Friday Night 2/22/08
Well…eventually I wound up in the right place at the right time in Cairo in order to board my flight to Luxor…I was getting pretty nervous for a bit there. I think I held it together quite well seeing as though at that point I had not had a night’s sleep in a bed since Monday evening, I was alone in a foreign country, at the wrong airport terminal, surrounded by people who did not know any English. I figured things out eventally…Check In for Egyptair was a nightmare. I was fairly certain my luggage was not going to make it to luxor. I stood in this line preparing to check my suitcase. In theory it should have been a a quick line to stand in…but sure enough for every ONE person that was in front of me, moments later, their family of 15 would come and meet them in line (hence cut in front of me) with each individual having their own bags to check…I was getting frustrated until I reminded my self that with all of these people I was just going to be waiting around somewhere until 7 anyways…doesn’t really matter if I was waiting in the luggage check in line for a long time. I got through that chaos and by 8 am I was in Luxor. I was met by Richard, and he brought me back to our hotel where I checked in. Luckily, Richard had things he had to do all day and I just got to do whatever I wanted. Now, as I said…I’m getting into luxor 8 am Friday my time, which is about 1 am Friday in Detroit and this all considering the fact that the last time I slept through the night was on Monday (and even then I’m pretty sure I only slept for around 4 hours since I know I got up that day to drive my aunt to work and use her car to run errands). So we might as well say that the last time I slept beyond a nap frame of time was Sunday Night. But I had slept a lot on my various flights and even took a 3 hour nap at Frank’s in Amsterdam, so while I was definitely tired when I got into my hotel room, I thought I would sleep for 2, maybe 3 hours tops. Richard said lunch was at noon and there was a reception party everyone was going to at 5:00. I start to get ready for my sleep…I go to pee and then when I flush…the flusher gets stuck and as a result, just never stops flushing….beautiful. I am exhausted, verging on incoherent and now I am living with the forever running toilet. Obviously this would not do, so I had to have my room changed. No problem I get settled in room 2 and I fall asleep at 9:00. I don’t bother to set my alarm because I am certain I wont sleep more than a few hours since it is the middle of the day….foolish me, I fell asleep at 9:00 only to wake up to my phone ringing at 4:00. It was Richard calling to let me know that we were meeting for the reception at 6:00 instead of 5:00. I could not believe I had slept all day. At that point I got up to take a shower. Now, for whatever reason there is no shower curtain, but at this point I just don’t care…fine, the bathroom can fucking flood for all I care…I go to start my shower and of course something breaks and the showerhead wont turn on…I’m not about to stop everything I’m doing just to change rooms again, or ask for help from the staff and be nodded and smiled at, so I just take a bath- probably the more relaxing way to go anyways. I took my shower, I got ready, met the crew at 6:15 and then we went to this rooftop party downtown.
I mingled and got to know everyone else currently working in Luxor. At around 10, I walked home with two other girls, came home and fell asleep until 3:00 am.
And that brings us to today/tonight
So i woke up at 3:00 a.m. fell back asleep by 6:00 a.m and then woke up at 1:30 p.m. At this point I decided to get up and shower. Unlike last time, a timid girl likely to opt for hanging out in my room until people from the project were back, I decided that I was not just going to sit in my room waiting around. I decided to walk around the city a bit. Luxor is a wee bit calmer than Cairo, obviously its not nearly as densly populated, but it is pretty similar...everyone asking you to shop in their bazaar or get in their taxi, or carriage...everyone asking you to give them money more or less. After walking around I ran into mary ann, recall that I worked with her last year, she is the ethnobotanist. She was taking some students to the office to look at some charred plant remains under a microscope. I tagged along and afterwards found Richard in the hotel lobby. We agreed to meet up in a little bit and he took me around Luxor, showing me where Luxor temple, the winter palace, and karnak temple were. He bought me an excellent guide book on luxor for me to use. I am waiting on my antiquities pass (the neatness that allows me to get into every site for free) before I explore the monuments around here. I will take plenty of pictures and provide ample explanations for those interested. Hopefully Monday, I can go off to Luxor temple on my own, as well to karnak temple (about a 2 mile walk) and then on Tuesday or Wednesday, Richard will go with me to the West bank and to see the Valley of the Kings and der el Bahri. If i get bored enough tomorrow, i will take pictures of my hotel room and talk about that for a bit so that you can get the full experience of my stay. I'm only here until Friday evening and then I head back to Giza. I thought I started working that following Saturday, but I will actually have Saturday off and will begin work on Sunday March 1st.
There...plenty of reading material for you all. Ma salama!
Thursday, June 7, 2007
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!
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
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.
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.
Monday, June 4, 2007
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!
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!
Sunday, June 3, 2007
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.
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.
Friday, June 1, 2007
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.
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.
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