Exhausted

Blahahaha.  I'm so tired I can't think.  I've been going strong ALL DAY.  (All week, really.)  Woke up at 8am.  It felt like my blanket weighed about 200lbs, but I managed to get out of bed.  Listened to the Political Junkie on NPR talk about the upcoming debate (I get my news a day late, so the debate already happened.  Tomorrow I get to hear the NPR response.)  It was RAINING, cats, dogs, hamsters, hard.  So I sloshed off to class on foot (I don't like biking in the rain: my thighs get wet and then I'm cold all day.)  

Egyptian translation.  Then I met with my group for the mastaba class to finish our project for today.  It took, oh, four? five? hours of pouring over books, searching for names, searching for pictures, describing the pictures.  Our task was to describe the Carrying Chair Scene as depicted in various tombs of the 5th Dynasty.  And by "describe" I mean, in great detail.  How many people, what are they doing, what are they wearing, what are they holding, what does the chair look like (low back?  high back?), what positions are their bodies in?  Seated?  Standing?  GaH!  Mind. Numbing.  Though, I have to admit I got into a rhythm somewhere around the 4th or 5th tomb and started having some fun with it.  And my group mates spoke to me in Dutch, which is awesome!  Also, the sun came out and it was gorgeous, and since the library has huuuuuge windows, we were all bathed in warm sunlight while we worked.  :-)

After that I had to rush off again.  Meeting with Hays.  I was able to stop by Easy and get some sushi (mini-Vega mix: veggie sushi, including my two favorites, tamago (egg) and inari (tofu pockets filled with sweet rice) to eat by the canal.  I almost made a new feline friend, but she was disappointed to find I had no fish.  I even found a few moments to chat with my mom.  She gave me some advice (and I'm not making this up.)  She quoted the Buddha(!) saying, "Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment." !!!!  How strange is that?! I put pretty much that exact quote in my blog (which my mom doesn't read) on Tuesday!  And here she comes on Thursday quoting the man!  My mom doesn't study Buddhism!  Well, didn't.

"Funny," she said "That man and I think alike!!"  And you know, she's right!  Golly, I love my mom!  :-)

After my moment of motherly zen, I raced back out into the world.  Mastaba class was once again awesome.  (Did I mention this professor lives in my building?  Cause he does.)  We talked about identity and individuality.  Not just in Egypt, but that was of course the point.  So good.  

Then off to dinner with the Egyptologists at Donatello's.  I talked to Kaas (I really don't know if that's how you spell his name, but that's how you say his name.) and everyone else.  They mostly spoke to me in Dutch, but I had a hard time understanding in the loud restaurant.  I've found I have a hard time understanding any language in a loud restaurant.  I feel like even international students do better understanding English in loud environments than I do.  

After dinner we watched a slide show of last year's Cairo Semester.  I'm ready to go now!  Argh, Egypt!  :-)  One more year....  Then we went to 't Keizertje, a bar, for a "borrel" which is a sort of group drink. I don't know that we have a word for borrel, but it's like getting a drink with your co-workers or team mates, or social club.  KSDA has LOTS of borrels, for example.  

And I just go back.  And I'm going to read a book (in Dutch) and go to sleep.  And I intend to stay there as long as possible.  Thank you.