It is going on 9 p.m. Friday evening here in Kumning. Which means that many of you are just beginning your day and counting down the hours until the weekend. I’m still adjusting to the time change (13 hours forward if you didn’t do the math already). When jet lagged in Egypt a lot of the time I found myself waking up in the middle of the night. Some days I wake up at 6 am and can’t fall asleep, but for the most part I seem to have the whole going to bed when its dark, and waking up when it’s light thing down. However throughout the day I really drag…once 1 p.m. hits I’m fighting my bodys urge to fall asleep and return to the cycle I’ve known the past 6 months. I perk right back up around 8 at night when it seems like it should really be time for morning….but I go through these bouts where I feel that nauseousness you get from pulling an all nighter. I think tomorrow it should be well underway though.

The 20 plus hours of traveling and walking around various airports was surreal but in retrospect passed by relatively quickly. This includes the 2 extra hours I had to spend filing paperwork for the luggage that never arrived. It was a painstaking process as I was absolutely exhausted and beyond frustrated trying to talk to a woman who did not know any english and fill out a form that was covered in chinese characters. Meanwhile they would not let my field director, Alice, come and help translate…which of course is understandable because of air port security…but at the same time it really took a lot for me to try and shrug it off as something small I could do nothing about…there was a brief moment when I thought I was just going to start sobbing like an over exhausted child. I am proud to say that despite everything I did not shed a single tear. I was happy that I had packed extra clothes in my carry on in case something like this did happen. Since my plane didn’t arrive until after midnight, after everything was done, I didn’t get back to the flat in Kunming until after 3 a.m.

Right now I am in downtown Kunming, the capital of the Yunnan province. There are not very many tourists here so I definitely stand out. It is a pretty lively place with a population of about 4 million, but lacks the chaos and crowding of places like Beijing and my former home away from home, Cairo. The character of Kunming changes depending on the time of day. When I got in at 3 am, everything was dark and empty. The cab dropped us off in an alley. As the rain poured down, I stared at the ground dreading the idea of spending the next 6 weeks in a place that was shady in its demeanor and that left me feeling uneasy and unsettled. However, the next day, the sun exposed the upbeat and friendly atmosphere that hung from the awnings of Kunming’s quaint boutiques and restaurants. In the day, Kunming is a bustling place with street vendors selling hot pots, produce, and roasted peanuts. People weave in and out of each other’s way, on foot, on car, on scooter…it is a very strange hub of small shops, with everything you could ever need pretty close at hand….hiking/outdoor stores, salons, bars, theaters, restaurants, café’s…but all still without any sort of western or consumerist feel to it because every place is very mom and pop. Kunming is also interesting in terms of its racial diversity. Very few people here are actually Chinese, they are usually a mix of some sort. They speak of their minority clans and their minority lineages. Nonetheless I still stand out…Alice said that the fact that I wear matching clothes will make me stand out more than anything. Everyone else maintains a pretty loud and wild style…a lot of bright colors and mismatching of pattern. Kunming nightlife is probably my favorite…the whole city is painted with bright flourescent lights and glows unlike anything I’ve ever seen. If you saw this in America, it would look tacky and tasteless, but here it just seems so appropriate. It conveys a sense of free spiritedness that I find pretty unique, but I also haven’t seen places like Vegas lit up back in the states.

It didn’t take long for my luggage to arrive. It turns out that I was supposed to get my luggage in Beijing and go through customs there, recheck it and have it sent to Kunming. However this was not what I was told when I was in Detroit…there I was told that I would not see my luggage again or have to do anything until I reached my final destination at Kunming Air Port. Lesson learned. This will hold true on the way back too….I will go through customs in Newark and not in Detroit- which is a nice thing because that means I can just walk straight out of the airport when I land in Detroit.

My misfortunes did not end with the missing luggage. The next day I went to purchase an international phone (probably about time I got one) and some cards with minutes on it to use for the rest of my time here. My jet lag left me pretty unattentive and unaware of my surroundings and it didn’t take long for my stuff to get stolen. It was a sad realization of a good amount of money lost- but again I kept my spirits up knowing it was just a phone and it could have been worse…it could have my been my purse with my passport or something like that. I was still super bummed though because I was planning on calling jeff when I got home.

To remedey the phone situation for now though, I downloaded Skype and paid for unlimited use of it which only costs 13 dollars a month. I can call any landline or mobile in the US. So that is nice.

Today, we hike through the Western Hills.



It is a mountain range in Southern Kunming which holds various ancient buddhist temples. We hiked through the mountains, combining some site seeing with work as we looked down on where the site we will be surveying is. At one of the temples tehre was a statue of a Turtle. Alice turned to Matt and I and said that it is supposed to be good luck to touch the head of the turtle. The three of us looked down at it- each person kind of holding back but projecting the urge to touch the head despite the superstition behind it….I then blurted out…”I’m touchin it!....With everything happening to me so far I need some good luck.”

Our hike covered a good 10 km which is good practice since survey work will have us covering 12 km a day.





Those are kind of the happenings as they stand now. Monday we have to meet with customs and let them look through our computers. Then we have a subsequent banquent and meeting with the Chinese officials to go over some of the rules and things to be aware of while working here. Tuesday we pack up and leave the flat and head to the rural outskirts of Kunming. Our hotel is supposed to have wireless like I mentioned, and I am really hoping that it does so that I can remain in contact. If not it is going to be really difficult especially since we will be working straight through the first two weekends.

It is really different being a part of a project that is just beginning. It really allows for you to learn in a different way- exposes you to how things happen and what can go wrong before the shovels come out. I’m excited to learn more.

I Don't Even Know What Day it is

Bare with me as I try and adjust to some sort of routine.


At the main flat here in Kunming we connect using the ethernet, but only one person can connect at a time and my loyal mac has been particularly fussy about connecting. I think I have finally figured out how to successfully sign on, but there's still limited access to when I can sign on since 2 other people are here and use the internet as well.

When we leave for the field on Tuesday, our hotel apparently has wireless and so I should be able to post regularly like all other trips....if not I will be left to the mercy of internet cafes...which likely means I will abstain from posting unfortunately.

I got my luggage back last night...so that was a success...however I was greeted with more bad luck today when i finally chose to purchase an international phone to use when I'm in the field (you just switch out different regional sim cards and load it with minutes)...this experience taught me an important lesson that I will remember forever....never make yourself responsible for anything valuable while still delusional from jet lag....of course after buying the phone and the minutes, my oh-so-out-of-it self managed to lose sight of the bag my phone was in and it was stolen. Sigh...never even made it home to charge it and use it.

the day gets even better (sarcasm) but I will write more about that later on when I'm not hogging the internet.

Never a dull moment for the most tired girl on the other side of the world.

A New Scene

I have officially arrived safely in Kunming. It has been an adventure already...of which I will be sure to detail in full a bit later. As for now...operation recover lost luggage is in full effect. After said operation has been completed with the utmost success (for the love of God it better end that way) then I will return as the the verbose narrator of my stay here in Kunming, China. Check back in soon!

Final Countdown TAKE TWO

Well here it is, the home stretch. In the late hours a driver will meet me at my apartment and take me to the airport where I will board my flight headed back home. The past few days have been really great. Richard came back on Saturday and he took me out to dinner Monday evening to celebrate my season's end. He told me that everyone thought I was a great asset to the dig team and that the field directors really respected the work I had done. This came as a great relief since towards the end I really thought I was being taken for granted and after standing up for myself, I thought I may have burned a bridge or two. While this was not something that bothered me personally, because I thought my objections were completely justified, I was concerned at how my actions could reflect on Richard and everything he has done to get me here. Sometimes it's difficult when you know that what you do or say can have consequences for people other than yourself, but I make zero exceptions when I feel I am being disrespected. Luckily, Richard agreed when I explained everything to him and let me know that my work and my directness were appreciated by all. We talked about a lot of other things as well, grad school, some of the next steps to take for the summer etc. i am going to have to spend some time in Ann Arbor studying skeletal material for India. India has some species that I haven't dealt with before like water buffalo and around 4-5 different species of deer. I wont have a comparative collection to utilize while in the field so I need to master diagnostic features as much as possible. Shouldn't be a problem though, I'm looking forward to getting to work with bone again and to preparing for a trip somewhere new. The best part about my dinner with Richard though was the food. We ate at an Indian restaurant in the Mena House hotel and it was spectacular...It's called the Mogul Room. We got a few vegetarian dishes and split them. I don't remember the names of everything but we had vegetable biryani, dhal, chickpea dumplings, and an eggplant dish. It made my stomach very very happy.

Tuesday I took a well deserved day off. I've put in many hours of over time, on top of the 60 hours already expected of us, and not to mention...there really isn't much else for me to do....except database entry, and don't even get me started on why i refused to do that anymore. So I took the day off. I went to the pool and read for a bit. It was overcast so it was actually really nice for reading outside. Lately the sun has been very intense and sitting outside just makes me irritable. A calmer warmth is one of the things I am looking forward to when it comes to spring time in Michigan, though I'm sure nothing will seem warm compared to this. Today it is going to be over 100...what a parting gift! Realizing that I have not bought a single thing out here, I decided to mosey around some of the local bazars. Unfortunately for everyone, since my career entails a lot of travel, i can't possibly do the gift thing every time I leave. But I think you all agree that that is perfectly acceptable. I decided that since I got gifts from Egypt last year, and that I will probably pick up stuff from India, that there was really no reason to shop around Egypt this year. I have a really hard time shopping here because even the things that are not completely tacky and awful, you just don't really have an idea of the quality. But, if I saw something that I thought someone absolutely needed to have I picked it up...buuuttt this really only applied to me :) There were 2 things I saw that I absolutely had to have...a scarf (just one this season! but it is gorgeous!), and an Egyptian style long sleeve shirt. They were pretty good finds and that satisfied my shopping for this season.

Last night I also went out to dinner with my flatmates as a part of my final farewell. We went to the seafood restaurant that I raved about last year. Excellent grilled calamari mmmmmmm. I was very excited for it, though I was a little apprehensive about seafood so close to me having to get on a plane....well correction, a little apprehensive about seafood in Egypt so close to me having to get on a plane. In shallah everything is fine. After we finished a lovely rooftop dinner, we went to the store and Marina (lithics specialist and roommate) bought me an ice cream she owed me. On the second to last day of me working in the lab on lithics, she gave me a gorgeous projectile point (arrowhead, worked on both sides) to draw. Projectile points are very difficult to illustrate because of the level of detail and how small they are. When drawing a stone tool artifact you have to detail both sides, profile, and cross section. You need to show every scare from which a flake was removed during the manufacturing process, and you have to show the direction that the waves go so that it is obvious where it was being struck and what direction flakes were being removed to give it its shape. Understanding the process behind how the tools were made is important when drawing interpretive conclusions about specialization. (Okay this gets boring perhaps but there is a funny story everntually) One line of evidence for increased social complexity and organization under a hierarchical administrative authority is the level of specialization. Specialization can apply to any number of things from crafts, to food, to construction, art, stone tools, anything. There are many different implications for coming across highly specialized stone tools. In this case, the most intricately worked items are coming from raw material that is outside of Egypt, probably in the Sinai. Tools that are made with local material are very basic and quickly made, used, and discarded, you can tell by how worked it is, whether or not there is retouching etc. Tools made from imported material however, are usually completely exhausted. One way to kind of put all of this together is that in areas where there is finer raw material, there may be some sort of industrial production area that makes tools for trade. These would be of much higher quality and would be more expensive than the local tools and so individuals would want to get as much use out of them as possible to carry out their needs. When they either lack access to the imported tools, or simply can use something else, thats when they may just make something quick on site, and discard it after a single use. Another thing to consider when you get this level of specialization is the fact that, with population size at this time, the fact that people can allocate their time and energy to specialized labor, this case being stone tool production, means that provisioning of food and other necessary resources is probably at hand.

okay that was tangent- the point is, before you could ever get to these eventual interpretations you would need to know the process behind how tools are made, and this is why drawing is a very useful skill. Drawing gives you an idea for how it was made and how it was used. Again, you have to make sure you are capturing those details and so long story short, drawing can take a really long time, especially for someone who has only been doing this for a week and a half. The projectile point prove to be an even bigger pain in the ass since I needed a mangifying glass to see all of the waves and retouch. Marina had given me the projectile point to draw at around 12:15. I hold it under the lamp, put my magnifying glass to it, rotate it around and pick up my pencil. She interrupts my intense concentration to say, "Hey Kelly! You finish that before lunch and I get you an ice cream." I respond with, "Ohhh thanks a lot evil serb (her nickname)." My face drops to sadness and I whine some more.."That's so mean, you say that knowing full well that it is impossible for me to finish this before lunch." She does her evil serbian laugh knowing that yes, it was probably impossible for me to finish this before 1:00 when we would leave for lunch. Like i said, I need to draw all the details, I need to draw both sides of it, the profile, and the cross section. I put the whole thing out of mind and just begin working away. The most important thing to me is to do this well because I get to keep the drawing for my portfolio and if I ever wanted to get a job doing illustration, which at this point I was told is actually a likely possibility if I wanted it, my employer would want to see a fine finished product, not a rushed one aimed to satisfy a sugar craving. As time goes on and i realize how much I am getting done, i start getting pretty excited at the idea that i may MAY just finish it in time. With ten minutes to spare, I throw down my pencil..

"Bitch, you own me an ice cream."

"YOU FINISHED? Let me see this........" silence silence silence "Kelly this is brilliant...you can't even tell the difference between mine and yours."

Me, modest and humble as ever: "That's right, Boom Shakalaka"

For that reason, i got to end last night with a delicious ice cream care of my seberbian habibi. It was great

And now here I am....8 am and unsure with what to do really...I wont leave until close to midnigth so I have a fulll day. I may go to the pool since it is supposed to be so hot, but we will see.

I am definitely looking forward to coming home, but I actually feel like I have made a whole new family out here as well and I am really grateful for that. It was actually one of the things I was looking forward to the most this season...establishing the closeness and the lasting friendships that I didn't really have the opportunity to last year...at first I didn't feel like it was working, an that I wasn't fitting in, but in the end I would say everything was a success and I am very happy.

Now it's time to return to the love and the family I have always known, and a country that knows how to leave a girl alone when she walks down the street~!

So that's it!

Halas!

I get in 4:00 pm on Thursday. Probably be home between 6 or 7 after customs and traffic (i know i picked the worst time to fly in!). Then I need to stay up until at least 10:00 pm to try and regulate my sleep schedule. Ohh it's going to be an exhausting next couple of hours, but I am very much welcoming them with open arms!

Happy Mommy Day to my dearest Aunties

I love you both and will see you soon.

4 more days!

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!

Well I have not really written much..but no one has really said much to me either so...I suppose all is fine.

I had to move AGAIN

But it's okay. I'm sharing a room with Camilla and Marina and i adore them both. they are my habibi's. They are the girls I lived with originally before Farrah and the baby came. The three of us get along really well and we all have similar rhythms so it's a really good living situation...at least when it comes to our room...however as for the overall apartment, not as hunky dory.

I have held off from really complaining about some of the people I have really grown intolerable of here, for two reasons. One, I never know who could wind up reading this, and I don't really need to wind up having that kind of information circulating... even if it is completely true and justified. Second...it's enough to have to experience some of the bullshit the first time through...this is not a situation where talking about it makes me feel any better...it just gets me more worked up and frustrated and left counting down the days until I leave. Which is now only 10 more days. I get into detroit on the 15th, which is fun because I also leave here on the 15th...despite the fact that I will be traveling for 24 hours, I still get home on the same day! It's like traveling back in time. Also...since my flight leaves from here at 4 am, and I have to get to the airport at 1 am, so will probably leave my flat around 11:30...I just go ahead and say I'm leaving the 14th. I also don't plan on doing any form of work on the 14th...and maybe not even the 13th.

I'm trying to upload some of my sketches I have done in the lithics labs (per usual the internet is not cooperating). Again Marina told me today how impressed she was with them. It makes me very excited.

load pictures load!

Hmm what else...

I have total beach bum/dreadlock hair. I wash it a little more often now that I don't work on site, but still not every day.

I finished reading Deception Point the other day. It's a Dan Brown book that I can't believe I read, but even more than that I can't believe I enjoyed reading it. Of course it was cheesey and implausible at some parts, but it definitely held my attention and I finished it in only a few days. That means i've finished 5 or 6 books while out here, I've lost count now. It's amazing what you can do when you have no television. I have started a new book called Stones from the River and it is exquisite so far. I can't imagine it unraveling and if it does I will be most disappointed...however if the rest of it is anything like these first 100 pages I think this will be a new favorite.

Okay pictures didn't load, I waited a bit. Mumkin bokorah in shallah. (maybe tomorrow if god wills it).