Wadi Degla and Today

Sunday. Koos, Brenda, and Gui and I headed out into the desert for some geocaching. It took us a bit of hassle to get there since our cab driver had NO clue what we were talking about. But finally, we arrived, and it was breath taking.

If you ever come to Egypt, go there. The Wadi Degla Protectorate. It's a nature preserve, a huge swath of desert, 30km in all I think. Of course, we barely saw 3km of it. But what we saw was brilliant.

We managed to find four caches. Finally, a few good caches in Egypt! One even had a beautiful wooden box instead of the more traditional plastic container. Found a nice present for my mom in there too. ;-)

We climbed rocks and hills and played in dust so thick that it felt like snow under your feet. We lunched, and cached, and enjoyed the view, and even met an Egyptian or two there for a long weekend of camping. I'd like to go back and spend some time there. They have camping, and a really nice visitor's center. Deep in the desert you can even see critters. :-)

We came home, and we ate, and we napped. Then we met with Quentin and Sandra at Pottery for a drink and some socializing. A very good day and a very nice evening too.

Today, unfortunately, I spent in the library working. I have a presentation to give on site in Amarna and Tuna el-Gebel next week. My project, the Boundary Stelae of Akhenaten, is extremely difficult. There are 14 stelae in all, scattered over the whole region, and most of them are badly damaged. The trouble really is that they are really only handled in detail in one publication, and it's scattered and confusing. Nothing is clear. Actually, the clearest information I've gotten so far has come from Wikipedia.

The evening was dedicated to ice cream, and a show called Castle, with Koos. I also got my first trackable, a little turtle I've named Ptolemy. His goal is to travel the world and get his picture taken with Egyptian things. :-) Check him out here: Ptolemy. :-D

Pyramids, Pyramids, etc.

Ok, at last I can really say I've been to Egypt. I have pictures of myself in front of THE Pyramids. So, it's official: I've been to Egypt.

Never mind the fact that I'd seen roughly 20 pyramids before ever setting foot on the Giza plateau. Whatever.

Koos, Brenda, and Gui and I headed to Giza on Saturday (28.Nov.09) It's completely insane up there. You think the pyramids are out in the middle of the desert. But no, they're right on top of the city. And the whole area is just crawling with tourists and Egyptians who want your money. "You want camel ride? Maybe later?" You just have to ignore them, but it's rather annoying.

The site isn't all bad, of course. The pyramids really are beautiful, and huge. The Sphinx is also really cool. There's a pretty nice mastaba you can go into. It's a pretty compact site, so it's easy to do in half a day. It's a cool place. Though, not even close to being my favorite so far. :-) I'm used to far fewer tourists. :-)

Afterwards, Brenda and Gui headed home, and Koos and I headed out to Dahshur. For me this site is much much more powerful. Here you have the first true pyramid (the Red Pyramid) and the Bent Pyramid. In addition you have a couple of Middle Kingdom pyramids (the Black Pyramid and the Pyramid of Amenemhet II) I like Middle Kingdom pyramids. :-)

To add to the glory of the site, there were almost no tourists. Much better that way. Koos and I made our way to the back of the Red Pyramid (there's supposed to be a cache back there somewhere, though we couldn't find it) and explored a little bit. A guard got a bit suspicious of us, but I just showed my permit, and explained that we were researching, and he smiled and let us continue. :-) Nice to have a tiny little bit of power.

Then we went inside the Red Pyramid. The hardest part of being an Egyptian explorer is getting into things. Consider this: the tunnel leading into this tomb is about 3ft high, at an angle of about 27º (which is to say, REALLY STEEP) and about 200ft (62m) long. And ends in complete darkness. Yeah. Ouch.

And totally awesome. :-p

So, I'm glad to say that Koos not only finally saw some ancient stuff, but finally also managed to climb around in a mastaba and a pyramid. :-) Too bad we can both hardly walk thanks to said exploring. Indiana Jones must have had thighs of steel.

I'm Alive :-)

Haven’t updated in WAY too long, and I’m sorry. This will be a looooong entry because SO much has gone on. I’m gonna record it all, mostly for myself, so feel free to skip around. I’ll make the important stuff bold.

Monday 23.Nov.09

Headed out to the Fayum for another 3 day trip. The first stop was another Coptic monastery (Deir el-Malak Ghubrail or Monastery of the Archangel Gabriel) which totally wins as far as Coptic stuff goes. The Polish have been doing excavations in the hills behind the monastery and found a few hermitages (houses for hermit monks) from the 5^th century. So, as usual, we went to see the ruins of some old church and then the archaeologist said “Feel free to climb stuff” so we ran off into the hills.

Important Bit 1: This was one of the most peaceful trips of my life. We climbed the yellow hills into the desert and climbed around in the hermitages of the monks. From up there you could see the green fields and palm trees end suddenly in desert, and the monastery, far below. We went high into the mountains. Quentin and I decided to climb the highest peak, and when he descended again, I stayed.

Silence and peace and nothing else but the wind. Incredible. I really didn’t want to climb down ever again. Once in the desert mountains you understand completely why the monks wanted to live there in isolation and peace. Not really because they somehow hated other people, but because the silence is just so incredible. If you’re a monk and want to hang out with God, the desert is a great place to start.

Next we went to Hawara. There wasn’t a lot left to see at this site, but it used to be a very important site for travelers. The famed Labyrnth was once here, though nothing now remains. I was happy to be there because the site also has the pyramid of Amenemhet III, which is to say 12^th Dynasty, which is to say, interesting to me.

Then it was off to our hotel in Medinat al-Fayum. Swank place. Ilona warned us not to go into town because the people there are, in her opinion, very unfriendly. Not dangerous, she said we’d just be hassled quite a bit. However, Kaz had finally been hit by the Ick and was miserable, so we mounted an expedition to brave the streets to find a pharmacy. Naturally, the pharmacist was one of the friendliest people we’ve met in Egypt so far. :-p

For dinner I had a plate of spaghetti piled so high with noodles that it literally fed four of us. Cost me about $2.

Then we all sat in the lobby and ate chocolate chip cookies and gossiped about our fellow Egyptologists.

Tuesday 24.Nov.09

After a very nice breakfast (coffee!) we headed off to Narmouthis. Another site that was entirely too modern, but also very very cool. Had a beautiful spinx lined main road that led to a nice temple of the crocodile god, Sobek. After our tour, we got to climb around the ruins of the temple and of the city. Couldn’t take photos, which is a pity.

Then off to the ruins of Dionisius, which is another Greco-Roman town with a really nice temple. One of the few temples with its original roof still intact. The temple itself (also to Sobek) was very cool, and we got to explore it a bit on our own. Steffie and I walked past a dark corridor and heard scritching and squeaks. When we investigated we found the whole place to be covered in bats! Little black bodies flying around. Love it!

This was the site where Brenda did her presentation, and she was a great tour guide. I hope my presentation goes as well.

Important Bit 2: If you ever go to the Fayum, stay at Zad Al Mosaref. Trust me on this. This place is beyond amazing. One of the top 5 coolest hotels I’ve ever stayed in. The place is sort of a compound of little houses (“chalets” as they call them) all made out of mud. They have electricity and running water, but they are literally made of mud, with thatched roofs. The others ran off to see the lake and I stayed on the little terrace and wrote in my journal, and just sort of let it all go. The terrace is brushed dirt, with wicker chairs and a thatched roof (held down by bags filled with water) and the entire compound is filled with brightly colored or sweet smelling flowers.

The others returned and we went into the pottery village (Tunis) and found a potter who showed us how to make a pot. Then we all descended upon his shop and bought many beautiful things. Then it was back to the terrace to wait for dinner.

Kenny and Quentin got a hookah (apple) and Brenda and I cuddled up with a blanket, and the others had books and we all chilled and watched the stars on the terrace. Dinner was good, and then we relaxed on cushions on the floor and talked well into the night. There was also a mini dance lesson. ;-)

I slept for the first time ever under mosquito netting. Because otherwise, I would have been carried off. Check out Facebook for many many pictures of this awesome place. And then go stay there!

Wednesday 25.Nov.09

None of us wanted to leave, but in the end we had to. Off to another Greco-Roman site, Karanis. Brenda and I were having a hard time getting motivated to see yet another not-so-ancient site, so we promised ourselves that we’d watch Up and eat chocolate ice cream.

Then we met Tony, the pre-historic pottery expert, and our opinion of the whole site changed. :-p

An American researcher, Beth, showed us around the place. Very cool site, though very very big. We got to crawl around on two more temples (Quentin and I even got to crawl under the alter of the crocodile god) and in and out of a ton of old houses. Beth and I bonded over the lack of ham for Thanksgiving (“I’m from Boston, and I know you can’t have turnip greens without bacon.!”) Then it was back to Cairo.

As promised, Brenda and I watched Up (with Quentin and Koos.) If you haven’t seen this movie, you probably should. Very strange, but very cute. Then we watched Small Soldiers. If you haven’t seen this movie, well, that’s ok, I guess. It’s pretty hilarious, but, well, hmm.

Thursday 26.Nov.09

Ok, had to happen. Back to work. I spent the morning at the DAIK researching for my presentation. Koos was hit by the Ick, but since it’s the African Ick, he got over it quicker than any of us. (We’ve decided it was probably Pizza Hut. Three of us ate at Pizza Hut and were sick the next day.) After making sure he wasn’t dying, I headed to the Egyptian museum to work on a project.

We have to look at the text on a stele and two drawings of the text by different scholars and see if the scholars made any mistakes. This doesn’t sound hard, but trust me, it is. First of all, the stele we had to look at was huge. Like, twice my height. Which means the first half of it was VERY difficult to see. Secondly, the stele was damaged, which made reading it even more difficult. I stayed at the museum for four hours and only got a third of the way through!

I then grabbed a Twix and headed home. We went shopping, and then watched a bit of Fantastic Four. I called my family and, thanks to Skype, watched the glory (read: chaos) that is a Southern Thanksgiving.

Friday 27.Nov.09

Back to the museum to finish up the stele. Took Koos with me since he hadn’t seen anything ancient yet. He helped me figure out the rest of the text and then we wandered around the museum.

Headed home and Quentin came over to start cooking. We had a Thanksgiving dinner with the entire group. Koos made bobotie, Quentin made chicken, I made mashed potatoes and sweet (iced) tea and Steffie made a cheese cake. We also had salad and bread. It was a great night of eating and laughing, and all the good Thanksgiving type things.

Ok, now I’m mostly caught up. I will make another entry for the (western) weekend tomorrow. Because I’m too tired now, and I have another early morning.

Stay tuned for: Pyramids pyramids pyramids, tomb exploration, adventures in Cairo taxi Arabic, rock climbing, quick sand, and discovery in the desert…

Off again

I didn't do a lot today. Spent most of the day in the DAIK, researching for a presentation. Had lunch with Koos, Brenda, Kaz and Quentin at Cilantro and was back to the grind.

Came home and crash landed. And then Koos took me to a really nice restaurant near 26 July called L'Aubergine. Had some AWESOME eggplant mousaka (even though I frankly don't know what that is. It was tasty, whatever it was.) Koos had the haloumi, which was also, AWESOME. And then the cheesecake. AWE, etc. Very nice place. I'll have to try it again sometime. :-)

Tomorrow is yet another excursion. This time a three day trip to the Fayum. So once again I will be MIA for a few days, and will then give you a long detailed (ok, maybe boring) account of all the old stuff we climbed on. And then flood Facebook with pictures of the desert and me with crazy hair and goofy sunglasses. :-P

Just another week in Egypt.

Helwan and Coptic Cairo

Woke up this morning with an appetite, so I knew I had finally recovered from the Ick. Alhamdulillah.

Today the group headed to Helwan. It used to be a huge archaeological site, but it's slowly been eaten away by illegal housing. The Australians, after a huge fight with would-be illegal developers (as in, death has been threatened and an inspector had a gun drawn on him) have finally managed to secure a small area to excavate properly.

We got a very nice overview of the history of the site, then we got to look into the storehouse of the pottery and human remains they've found.

A little history: the site was excavated in the 40s, and over 9-10 years they found 10,000 tombs. Ten thousand. Tombs. That is A LOT of tombs. The Australians have been there for 13 years and have found around 150 tombs. Cuh-razy. So, when they were excavating in the 40s, they mostly focused on intact pottery, and just threw all the shards into pits called "spoil pits." The Australians have gone through these spoil pits to get the stuff that was left behind. Modern archaeologists shift everything, because even the tiniest bit of writing on a dusty shattered tiny bit of broken pot can change everything that we know. But in the 40s all they wanted was the big shiny stuff, so a lot got missed. Which is good for us. And the Australians.

So we got to play with a few of these things that the Australians found. Very cool. The objects we handled have been hand picked for a museum exhibit, so keep your eyes open. ;-)

After a nice tea with the Australians and a tour of the site, we headed to Coptic Cairo and the Coptic Museum. The museum was filled with very beautiful things, but mostly out of our areas of interest and expertise. Then we wandered through the streets of Coptic Cairo. The best part was the cemetery. Check Facebook for the pictures.

Beautiful mausoleums, but crumbling. It's not that they're old, just crumbling. The sandy streets are filled with garbage, dogs roaming or sleeping, cars parked. There was even one tomb that seems to have been recently robbed. The coffin was lying shattered in the street, the body gone. I have to say that shook me a little. But all in all it felt like an ancient site. I suppose you get into scientific mode and it's hard to break out of it. The coffin was simple, if you want to know. Wooden, but with very beautiful metal handles in the shape of a skull and cross bones. The body had been wrapped in blankets. I wish I knew what happened.

After a long time in the cemetery, we headed back to Zamalek and all ate at McDonald's. Then some of us went home, and the rest came to my balcony for tea and laughter. Quentin bought a drum somewhere along the way, and he played along with Kenny and learned a few new rhythms from the party boat. :-) Now we're watching tv and eating ice cream.

Tomorrow: back to work. DAIK.

ICK

A little proof that I'm still alive, if only barely. Wednesday night, I was attacked by the Ick. I went to sleep feeling fine, and then, boom, sickness and despair all night. I really wasn't sure I was going to make it. Haven't been that sick in a loooong time. Fortunately, Koos kept me well hydrated, and Kaz gave me medicine. When I was finally able to get to sleep, I just stayed there. I slept most of yesterday.

By the evening I was feeling better, so I joined the others at NVIC for a lecture about funerary cones which was interesting. Then Kaz and Koos and I joined the Belgians at a beautiful restaurant down the street for the Belgian embassy's monthly Beligian Night. I wish I could have stayed a bit longer, but my energy dropped rather unsurprisingly after a day of eating nothing but crackers. So, it was time to get home again.

Koos talked to his dad, who is a doctor, and he told me what to take, so I took some anti-bug medicine and fell asleep. Woke up today around 11 still feeling a bit ick, but able to go on. So now I'm at the NVIC, attempting to get some work done. Koos has gone off to the train station to buy a train ticket to Alexandria tomorrow. Tomorrow the group goes to check out Coptic Cairo, and Koos decided to run away. Not that any of us can blame him. The Coptic period just doesn't seem to fit into Ancient Egypt in our opinion. More later, when I've done more.

Pyramids, Pyramids, Belgians

My days are starting to run together. Pyramids, pyramids, Belgians, pyramids. ;-)

Monday was another library day with the Belgians. Brenda got a "little package" (as Ilona called it) which turned out to be a rather large package filled with candy, some sort of SUPER sweet mush, and a lovely picture of Zahi Hawass. She also got a pencil and her friend instructed her to throw it down a shaft at the next site we visit. Brenda has so far lost a pen at approximately 4 sites. One fell down a, oh, 11-storey deep shaft at Saqqara. Adding to the history of the site. :-P

So we all worked hard on our articles and snoeped-out on Brenda's candy. Then I followed the Belgians home, and watched Big Bang Theory with Brenda. Got home to find a note on the door that read "We are very sorry for entry the children. Thanks." Apparently, Kaz and Sandra found a similar sign in a restaurant and were so impressed by its Zen nature that they felt they should put it on our door. :-D

Yesterday was stressful, and exhausting, and also a lot of fun. We went to a "workshop" at Cairo University. The day included: a tour of the Cairo University Egyptian and Islamic collections. This was quite a great honor because the collections are rarely shown to visitors. Much of the material there has not yet been published, so no pictures. But it was a nice collection. Which you will never see, ha! :-P Then a very nice lecture by Ilona (Creation and Development of Writing, whoo) and then a short talk by Dr. Tarek Tawfik, our guide and Egyptology professor at Cairo U, about a proposal to turn the site of Maadi into an archaeology park. Maadi is a hugely important site for the prehistorians (pots, pots, pots) and also a very swank neighborhood. The ancient site is being crowded out, and he wants to save it.

Then a (much awaited) lunch break, which was rather impressive. They took us to a nice board room with big beautiful Egyptian flags, and a long wooden tables with green table clothes. Beautiful. I felt more like a visiting ambassador. :-) Lunch was pizza and falafel, but it was certainly the best falafel I have ever eaten. And we got to mingle with some Egyptian students, which was very nice.

After lunch, we got down to our real business. The "workshop" was really more of a conference of sorts. There were 8 Egyptian students and 8 of us, and we all had articles to read. 8 articles, so one Egyptian student, and one of us had the same article. Then each Egyptian - Dutch/Belgian team presented the article and started a discussion. It was simultaneously mind numbing and engaging. It was all pre or early Dynastic, so a bit before my understanding. Which means sometimes I wanted to just fall asleep, and mostly I just learned a lot.

During (the equally long awaited) tea time (we were an hour behind schedule at this point, even though we started 30 min early...) we were offered a dozen different kinds of cookies. I picked up a few, and started chatting to one of the Egyptian students, Ahmed, ("You're from America? But you have Egyptian features!") Soon, another Egyptian students, Khaled, said to me "Wait, you have so much room on your plate! You need one of these, and one of these goes here, and here..." and he started piling my tea saucer up with cookies. I protested, perhaps a bit weakly at first, but I decided to draw the line when he tried to float a cookie on top of my tea! :-D

Then back to the conference. I was the second to last to present (the Penultimate Presenter, if you will) and I had a great time. My partner, another Ahmed, was also well prepared, and though his English was a bit difficult to understand, I think we did a rather good job. :-) Then, finally, it was time to go back to Zamalek for a little pizza and chatting. With the Belgians.

Oh, and to find out if Koos was alive. His plane was supposed to arrive at 5:30 am, so I assumed he'd arrive at my apartment at 7:30. Which was perfect, since that's when we all get up and get ready for the day. But, by 6pm (PM, people, PM) I still hadn't heard a word from him. I'd sms-ed him, from everyone's phone, and I'd called him, again, from everyone's phone, and NOTHING. Of course, I mostly assumed that his phone wasn't working and that he was probably asleep, but there's always that little niggle of "what if he's been kidnapped by Ottoman slavers?" As it turned out, his phone wasn't working and he was asleep. He tried everything to contact me too, because he was getting worried since I told him the conference would be over by 5pm and wasn't back by 7pm. Ah, the joys of modern technology. :-)

So, I punched Koos in the stomach, and Kaz and I dragged him to Picasso for a pizza and a chance to meet the Belgians. :-)

I've Been Walking In Memphis

Don't worry, I'm still alive. Didn't update last night because of, well, football (soccer). You see, Egypt and Algeria are fighting to qualify for the World cup, and they faced off last night. Egypt had to win by 3 points to qualify. Intense!

So after a rather slow day of homework and laundry, we met up with the Belgians at Picasso, a nearby restaurant, and joined Egypt in watching the game. Frankly, it was a pretty dull game. Egypt scored 2 minutes into the game, and 2 minutes before the end. Of course, the whole restaurant exploded with happy cheers. Egypt only won by two goals which means that they'll have to play Algeria again on Wednesday to qualify.

After the game, chaos ensued. The streets were filled with people. Every Egyptian in the city seemed to have grabbed a flag, and jumped in a car to cruise the city screaming "Misr!! (Egypt!!)" as loudly and as often as possible. Amazing. The streets were packed with people, stopped, filled.

Quentin went home, but Brenda stopped by my apartment to hang with me for a bit longer. Then we realized she'd probably never get home. She didn't want to walk alone at midnight in football crazed Cairo, and judging by the traffic across the Nile, a taxi would have taken a few hours. So I decided to walk her home and stay with her for the night.

Apparently, however, Zamalek is not the place to party. The streets were almost entirely empty on our side of the Nile. It was a rather pleasant walk, too. And so, I stayed with Brenda last night, and wasn't home to update.

This morning we met with the others at NVIC for a trip to Abusir and Memphis. Abusir was pretty amazing (and no, not just because of our archaeologist guide's painfully beautiful blue eyes!!) We started at the sun temple of Niuserre, and wandered through his mortuary temple. Keep an eye on Facebook for photos. We also got to see the mastaba of Ptahshepses, which is not yet open to tourists. It's one of the largest and most complicated tombs of its time. Very cool.

And then we climbed a pyramid. I think it belonged to Neferirkare, but regardless, we had entirely too much fun. From the top you could see forever. The Nile valley, Cairo, Saqqara and its various pyramids, the seemingly endless desert. So very great.

Memphis was much less impressive. There's a museum, and some stones scattered about, and a few tourist shops, boring. Then we got taken to another site, a temple for the god Ptah, I think, that tourists don't go to. And it was disgusting. Garbage everywhere, half sunken in greenish black water, and goats and their smell wandering everywhere. I found it rather depressing, and think that Ptah would be seriously put out. We went to another site too, though I have no clue what it was (oops, guess I wasn't paying attention!) and it was much better. Not a lot left, mostly looks like a pile of mud, but again, some beautiful views. Palm trees, green fields, and pyramids, pyramids, pyramids.

I've never even been interested in pyramids (the texts inside them, sure, but the structures themselves? Boring, especially when compared to the private tombs of the time, or the New Kingdom royal tombs!) but you can't throw a stone out of Cairo without hitting a few. And mostly, we hit the same few.

Then it was back home for a nap, a pizza and dessert at Pottery with the gang, and a trip home to watch Arabic and Korean soap operas. :-) Life is good.

Horoscope for Week of 12.Nov.09

Have you heard about the new sport of chess boxing? Two competitors play chess for four minutes, then put on boxing gloves and try to punch each other for three minutes; they continue this rhythm for up to 11 rounds. I suspect you'll soon be asked to meet a similar challenge, going back and forth between two contrasting modes. If you treat this challenge as a fun game rather than a crazy-making exertion, you'll do fine.

www.freewillastrology.com

Alexandria etc.

Don't worry. I'm alive. :-) Update to commence:

9th of November we headed for Alexandria. Stopped at Cultnat, which is dedicated to preserving the cultural and natural history of Egypt. You really should check them out: www.cultnat.org They aren't even close to being finished with their numerous projects, but they're still rather impressive.

Then we headed to Abu Mina, which was once a very important pilgrimage site. Not quite as ancient or as pagan as I prefer my archaeology to be, but still an amazingly cool site. The structure of the city was still apparent, so there were plenty of doorways to crawl through, and crumbling streets to wander down. And it was completely silent. No sound but the crunch of sand as you walked and the gentle whisper of wind. Everyone wandered in their own direction, and the city quickly came to look absolutely deserted. Not a living thing in sight, and not a sound. Just the wind. Amazing.

The coolest part was that I found something. I was following some animal foot prints in the sand, and stumbled upon a terra cotta jar, fully intact! These were given to pilgrims filled with holy water as a souvenir. Sure, at best it was roughly Roman era (which is to say modern trash ;-p) , but I didn't really care! Of course, being the good person that I am, I dutifully put it back in the ground where I found it. And then I bought a replica at the monastery gift shop. :-P

First night in Alexandria was interesting. We wandered the streets (our hotel was in the shoe district) and ate at a pretty nice restaurant. The waiters wouldn't leave us alone; every few minutes they were rearranging the silver ware. To close out the evening, Kaz, Quentin and I hung out by the sea and had a drink in the lobby.

10th of November. Headed to Taposiris Magna. Very cool temple of Isis, albeit, once again, Greco-Roman. Kenny, the adventurous one, immediately climbed into the pylon. I was a bit uncertain of it myself, since it looked a bit unstable, and was almost a meter over my head. But once all the boys had made it up without collapse, and I found that even Illona had been dragged up, I decided to risk it. Turns out, the walls in the room had perfect hand and foot holds. As if it had been made as a practice room for bouldering. So getting even my short self up was nothing close to the challenge I had expected.

The view from atop the pylon was amazing. The Mediterranean shining blue blue blue right in front of us, the Temple of Isis scattered at our feet.

Then the Egyptians came and sort of chastised us, but the guy didn't seem to upset. "You shouldn't have climbed up there, we aren't done working yet. So, wanna go see some mummies?" is my paraphrase of the conversation he had with Illona.

So we went and saw some mummies. In situ. They were still lying where they were laid! And when you squeezed into the little tomb shaft, they were just inches from your face. Face to face. Beautiful. There was also the skeleton of an infant. Very cool.

The rest of the day was free, so we all opted to check out the catacombs. Again, very cool. Heavy, humid air, and almost absolute silence. Silence is just not easy to come by in Egypt. The catacombs were also modern trash, but at least the guys were attempting some traditional Egyptian iconography. Even if the gods look all weird in Greek costumes. :-P

Afterwards, I decided to attempt to find a geocache hidden at the Library. Despite my best efforts (and a little theatrics, thanks Brenda!) I couldn't find it. There was another hidden on the street outside the hotel, but it was entirely too crowded to search. I decided to wait with the boys until midnight or so to search again, and it was a noble effort, but alas, nothing was found. Oh well.

11th November. Argh, mind numbing. Not only was it modern trash (4th century CE at the very oldest, blah) it was just a bunch of monasteries. Ok, it was interesting, and the places were all pretty cool, and the Coptic monks were decidedly awesome, but, gargh!

First we got a tour of the Syrian monastery by a monk. Whose English was... iffy at best. Then we got the same tour by one of the guys working on restoring and preserving the paintings in the monastery. His English was much better, but he spoke with such a monotone, and with such a dead look in his eyes I was afraid he might fling himself to the ground in despair at any moment. Then we got THE SAME tour by Karel Innemee, a Dutch researcher there. That was in Dutch, and very clear, but by that time I did NOT want to hear another word about saints, or 6th century monks, or 11th century paintings.

At least we did get to see some pretty cool ruins. And again, Coptic monks are pretty awesome. But, I was not particularly sad to see the place disappear into the desert behind me. I did learn something very interesting, however: flies are the servants of Satan.

Westerners have no idea what it means to be bothered by flies. Flies in the West are just these sort of goofy little buzzy things, that sometimes land on our potato salad. In the East, they are evil. When you swat a Western fly, it flies away. And stays away. When you swat an Eastern fly, it just lands on another part of your face. Instantly. You always see those pictures of starving children in Africa and figure that the poor thing is just too hungry to swat the flies crawling on their lips. The truth is, they probably don't even know the fly is there. Eastern flies have softer toes, I think, and it's really easy to just not notice them. Until they start jumping up and down on your forehead, or flying into your eyes. Up your nose. Evil little jerks.

The monks who lived at these monasteries, which are literally swarming with flies, saw the beasts as servants of Satan who were sent with the express purpose of breaking holy concentration.

Then back to Cairo, which brings me to 12th Nov. I headed to the NVIC in the morning to work on a few things. Hung out in the library down stairs, then met up with Illona and the others. We got our assignments for papers, and another mini-presentation. Then I hung out in the library upstairs with Quentin, Kenny and Cathelijne until the lecture. It was a rather interesting lecture too, on whether 18th Dynasty kings ever actually went into battle themselves (nope, prolly not.) The guy had a very nice presentation, and a very cute accent. :-)

Afterwards we all fled the scene, and headed to Ciccio for some dinner. Then back to our place with the Belgians for some hot tea under warm blankets. :-)

And finally: Friday, the 13.th of November. Oooohhh.

Yesterday was a pretty good say. I met up with Brenda and Quentin at the NVIC and worked in the library there until about 3. Then Brenda and I went shopping, and found some really nice stores with fun souvenirs. I got a bracelet, a wooden ankh symbol, a nice hamsa, and a sign that says Allahu Akbar (God is the Greatest) in Arabic. I found it to be a rather appropriate memory of Egypt since the phrase gets sung out of minarets five times a day.

Brenda and I then wandered most of Zamalek. Then back to her apartment where Quentin made some rockin' Arabic - Moroccan style chicken and tabouleh. After a delicious dinner, the three of us grabbed a couple of bottles of red wine and trekked back to my apartment to join Kaz and Sandra on the balcony to blow off some steam.

Which we did until 2 am or so. :-P

So that's been my week. :-D

Museum Tour

Another early morning. Kaz, Sandra and I met up with a Dutch tour group at a very fancy hotel. Then we headed to the Egyptian museum, and had a very nice tour. Huup, the tour leader/Egyptologist, was great to listen to and knew his stuff. He has a few rather unorthodox ideas, but I'm always a fan of such things. And people.

The group was a lot of fun. I swear they knew more about this stuff than I do. Huup sent us off on a mission to find a particularly cool sarcophagus (with the sky goddess Nut carved into the inside of the lid, very cool) but I wasn't exactly in control. My group knew exactly where to go, and went, and did all the talking themselves. Cool.

Then lunch, and I came back home. Nap. Prepared for a little geocaching. We're going to Alexandria for the next three days (no internet) and there are a couple of caches there I'd like to pick up. :-)

So, until we meet again. Have a nice week. :-)

Saqqara

I can never get pictures I've taken with a camera to load for some reason. Which is a pity, because today's picture is me crawling out of my first pyramid (Teti's Places Are Enduring.)

Today was Saqqara. A nice early start, and a loooong day filled with, sun, sand, and old stuff. Which means, awesome. :-)

We started with the French excavations (I think.) Climbed into a jeep and drove in the opposite direction of the tourist buses, which I thought was a grand start to the day. After bumping through the desert for a short while, we clambered out on a big open plain between the Step pyramid and Dashur. A guy who sounded rather Eastern European to me, but who was apparently French, talked to us forever about Saqqara and the excavations.

They're excavating a 6th Dynasty necropolis and he took us down to check them out. The coolest decoration was for the tomb of Haunefer. He's depicted in one scene with his wife, whose name I can't remember, and their children. And then, in another scene, he's shown with another women, who is apparently also his wife. Only, it's a different woman. And the faces of the children have been scratched off. Apparently, there was something of a family disturbance.

So, we wandered through these tombs for a while, and listened to the man talk. I was fine, feeling good. Not too hot, not short of breath, just hungry. And then I felt sorta sick. And then, I was sitting on the floor. Had totally passed out. Landing on the floor woke me up. The others were very calm about it, really. Steffie gave me some coke, and Cathelijn gave me some candy, and Brenda, I think, gave me water, and I was fine. Just a bit dusty, and slightly embarrassed. :-) I don't know if it was low blood sugar, or bad air, or both. Fun. :-P

We also stopped by the "Bone Tent" to talk to the physical anthropologist on duty there, Trixie Walker, I think. She was hilarious. American, and rather loud, and a great story teller. She showed us the bones of good old Haunefer, or well, what bones they have dug up so far, so his arms, and his right foot. (Apparently the guy was HUGE for his time.) And then she went off on anecdotes about Peru and other Egyptian sites. Nothing had to do with Saqqara at all, and sometimes not even Egypt, but we were all sort of spellbound. I could have stayed there all day just listening to her boom on about bones.

After lunch we headed to the Dutch excavations. Just as we were heading up the hill to the Djoser complex, guess who was heading down? Good old Zahi Hawass! :-P When we reached the top of the hill, we turned left away from the Step pyramid, and toward the tomb of the "Two Brothers" Khnumhotep and Niankhamun. Then we followed the pyramid causeway of Unas and climbed off into the desert to check out the Dutch excavations. Maya and Merit, and Meryneith were my favorites. We couldn't take pictures in Meryneith's complex though. There was a camera crew, with little stickers and hats that said "Discovery Channel." I suppose it doesn't mean they WERE Discovery Channel folks, but still, they were totally in the way.

Then we walked by the Cairo University site to check out their pottery. We got shooed away by a guard eventually, but it was still fun. :-P

Then it was on to the mastaba of Mereruka. No pictures were allowed, but Cathelijn gave the guard a pencil, and so he snuck us a picture of one of the false doors. He then shook my hand and also tried to kiss me. It was a very "innocent" "European style" attempt at my cheek, and while this sort of cheek smooching doesn't bother me with European men, it definitely DOES with Egyptian men. So, I just said thanks, and Cathelijn and I made a hasty retreat through the Spanish tourists.

Then off to the pyramid of Teti. Truthfully, I just wanted to go into the Pyramid of Unas, because it has the first examples of the Pyramid Texts, but it's not open. Alas. But no matter. Teti's pyramid has the second examples of the Pyramid Texts, so, it's not much of a loss. :-P We weren't allowed to take photos here either, but the guard let us. I think because we're scholars, because he warned us to put our cameras away before a group of tourists came in.

Then we checked out the onsite museum. Rather impressive, especially when compared to the Cairo Museum. I was very impressed with the way they displayed the mummy of Merenre (the oldest royal mummy, 6th Dynasty, 2283-ish BCE.) He was behind glass that was decorated to look like his tomb chamber. There was an opening that you could look through where the lid of the sarcophagus would have been. You had to get really close to see him. I found it to be very respectful. I hate seeing mummies just lying in glass boxes as if they were just another bit of broken pottery.

And then the drive back to Cairo. Dinner with Kenny, Brenda, Quentin, Sandra and Kaz at Pottery. The waiters all know us now. :-p

Tomorrow: Sandra, Kaz and I will be giving tours of the Cairo Museum to tourists. Fun!

Lazy Day

Yawn. Lazy day. I woke up at 8am, and was just, poof, awake. Kaz and I had talked about heading downtown for some shopping, but he had a headache, so today turned into a lounging day.

I finished up Special Topics in Calamity Physics (depressing, interesting) and worked on my kashkoul (my journal.) I ate, battled the ants (peanut butter, balcony) worked, and watched some Dexter.

Dexter is a show (based on books) about a police forensics expert who also happens to be a serial killer. He only kills bad guys, however. It's a super freaky show, but I'm rather fascinated by it.

Interesting happenings: saw a bunch of people water skiing (well, ok, they were on boards, not skis, but "water boarding" is definitely NOT what they were doing) down the Nile. :-P

Friday is the day of prayer in Islam, so the mosques always blast out Quran readings and such. But we think there's a new guy, or a traveling imam because the guy today had this crazy high pitched voice that just droned on and on in this strange monotone melody.

That's all I got. Tomorrow: Saqqara.

Horoscope for Week of 5.Nov.09

"The graceful dragonfly lives for just a few months. But a sequoia tree's time on earth can last 2,000 years. In the same way, some bonds, some creations, some worlds, endure for a mere blink in eternity, while others are destined to outfox the ravages of time. What will be the lifespan of the dream you recently hatched, Libra? It is time to decide and take action."

Take full advantage of this beautiful mess, my dear. Chaos this fertile is hard to come by.

www.freewillastrology.com

The Delta

Back in Cairo. SO much to say about the past two days, so I'll see what I can squish in. Which is to say, what I can remember. :-P

We left early on Tuesday and drove to the Eastern Delta (North East of Cairo.) Our first site was Tell el-Maskhuta, a Late Period site. When we arrived a bunch of people from the nearby village were walking by. The women covered their faces and everyone just stared and stared at us. The site itself was less than inspiring, but it was amazing how much ancient pottery was scattered about. Ancient bits of pots are in this country like dust. :-P

We then checked out the Ismailia Museum, which was pretty fabulous. They don't have a huge collection, and I'll have to admit that the best part was the descriptions of things. Because mostly, the English, she was not good, yes? My personal favorite: the depiction of some god or king or something from the "Geek Period" (as opposed to the better known "Greek Period") Kaz actually cried, he laughed so hard. :-P

Then it was off to the actual town of Ismailia to get settled for the night. Only, it was 3pm, so we didn't really settle. The girls dumped the boys in George's Bar (according to Jeff, the American... we'll call him an archaeologist for now, who came with us, George's is the best bar in Egypt) and ran off for a girl's night. Which is to say, we hit up the scarf shop, and wandered the town. The people here could not take their eyes off of us. Ismailia doesn't get a lot of tourism, and it's very obvious.

Had dinner at the Nefertiti Restaurant (ok, they must get a few tourists now and then) with Kenny, Sandra, Steffie and Cathelijn, which was really rather delicious. Then we got some ice cream. The flavors were all written in Arabic, so I translated for everyone. I then ordered in Arabic, and the guy scooping said, in Arabic, that I speak very well. Of course, I had to laugh, because a) I had used up most of what I know, and b) all I said was "one chocolate and one vanilla, please." And the Arabic word for chocolate is shokolata, and vanilla is vanilya. :-P

We finally met up as a group and wandered the streets of Ismailia. While nothing in comparison to Cairo, Ismailia's a pretty happenin' town. All the young people hit the streets, cruising and shopping. The girls get all decked out in their most together and sparkly outfits, hijabs piled high in very complicated patterns with tons of color. Very stylish. The picture of today was inspired by their creations. Poor imitation though it may be.

Kaz, Sandra, Brenda, Quentin and I went to a cafe and had some tea and mint lemonade. And then, bedtime. I stayed in a room with Cathelijn and Steffie, and Cathelijn and I stayed up later than we should have chatting. Because the next morning our alarms went off bright and early at 6:30. Bleh.

Breakfast was... traditional. For Egypt. Sorta. The waiter brought out a nice bowl of foul (pronounced: fool) for everyone. Now, it was 7 in the morning, none of us had slept long enough, and there was an overzealous donkey in the middle of the night, which woke most of us up, and we had all stumbled, blinking, into the dining room, ready for hot coffee or tea and some nice toast and jam. And then... foul. A bowl of lukewarm and rather tasteless brown beans swimming in olive oil. Good morning. Bleh.

Breakfast was redeemed a bit when the waiter brought out bread, and eventually an omelette and some hot caffeinated drinks.

And we were off again. And the education began.

The actual planned sites, while very interesting and educational, were really nothing in comparison to just driving through the countryside. We drove along water (I'm not sure if it was a canal or a branch of the Nile) and dotted along the shore were families, all washing their clothes and their dishes in the water. This would have been fine, except that the shores were littered with junk. Well, littered doesn't begin to describe it, really. Covered in, layered under, dripping with. There was even a dead donkey at one spot.

And the villagers all marveled at us. I think most of them hadn't seen Europeans before. We would pass through a town and all eyes were upon us. The women and girls often smiled at us, and the children always went wild. Most everyone waved. A lot of people yelled the typical yells of "Welcome to Eshipt!" "Welcome"

You always hear people say things like "Deep down, everyone is just alike" but I had quite frankly expected to have to search a bit harder to find similarities, connections. I'm quite the hippy dippy, love-one-another type, so I guess I had just assumed that my conviction that humans were all basically just humans was based on some hippy dippy, esoteric, sure DNA is the same sort of idealism. But so far, I've really noticed that people are just people. Not so deep down. Language, culture, religion. These things go deep, but... not really that deep, it seems.

Ok, down to business. Tell el-Dab'a. Very cool site, and our first real experience so far with a well excavated site. Oh, man, the site house alone is worth visiting. Siigh. And we got to meet Manfred Bietak, however briefly. Got to see the current excavations, the newest finds (one, a "tablet" (it was a tiiiiiny hunk of stone, but definitely had cuneiform writing) was found only a week ago!) and the fragments of the Minoan fresco found there. Very cool. Of course, since it's still undergoing excavation, I could only post a few, rather boring photos on Facebook that don't show anything. Nothing of the real stuff going on. Pity.

Then we drove towards the next site. And got lost. So we really got to see a LOT of small towns, and staring villagers. Haha.

Next stop: Tanis. (Which, according to Indiana Jones, was where the Arc of the Covenant was buried.)

Tanis was hands down the coolest thing I've seen so far. Call me a romantic, or an Egyptomaniac, or what you will, but OH MAN. The site looks like it's in the middle of an endless desert. Great blocks of granite are strewn around, obelisks have fallen over, broken. Hieroglyphs are everywhere. Depictions of the gods, too, half obscured, broken. Even a few statues, huge and crumbling, lie in various states of decay. Here a headless body lying on its back, there a face, here nothing but a crown. It looks like some Lovecraftian dream scape, sun bleached and deeply, horribly, terrifyingly ancient. So ancient it almost hurts.

Of course, the stuff all comes from Rameses II, and the site is mostly Late Period stuff, so hum, not so ancient as to be painful, but pretty old anyway, I guess. :-P

The police told us not to take pictures, but Jeff, our resident American, didn't hear them, and they didn't stop him. So yeah, lots of pictures. And we all got to run around the ruins, climb through some tombs, descend dark staircases. The royal tombs at Tanis, we were told, should have been just as famous as King Tut. They too were found entirely intact, stuffed with silver and awesomeness. Silver at that time, we were told, was more precious than gold. Unfortunately for this royal necropolis, WWII started up, so no one really had any spare enthusiasm. Pity.

Sadly, we only had an hour there. I could have spent the rest of the day there, walking slowly amidst the crumbling past, the wind like warm sand around me. Siiiiighhhh. Oh well, I got my hands dirty, and scrambled into my very first tomb, so I'm thrilled. :-)

Also, going back to the bus, the guards asked me, in Egyptian, if I was Egyptian. Which, as you can guess, was also thrilling.

And then it was back to Cairo. Though, yes, well, it took some time. First of all, we had to wait for our police escort. He was praying. :-P Now, I was a bit nervous when I heard we were getting an escort. But it's not really for our protection. They say it is, but the real purpose they serve is to help us get through traffic. The roads are pretty awful, and very narrow, and when you drive through a town, it can get a bit sticky. But the police just sound their siren, and everyone lets us through.

Though, of course, the police escort made the locals THAT much more curious, and us THAT much more interesting.

And it was two hours back to Cairo. And another two to three hours to get through Cairo traffic. We discussed at length which annoying song to sing to get on Kaz's nerves (he has explicitly forbidden us to sing in the bus.) I broke out into a rather moving rendition of "Burning Love" but he was asleep and didn't seem to notice. "If You're Happy And You Know It (Clap Your Hands)" finally did the trick. I talked to Jeff a bit about life in Cairo, and the ins and outs of Egyptian society.

When we finally arrived on Zamalek, Steffie, Kaz, and Sandra and I went to Pottery Cafe for some food, and then to bed.

Which gets me caught up to today. And it won't take long.

I spent almost all of today in the Pottery cafe. Free wifi, so I uploaded Facebook pictures. Unfortunately, the nice, quick, easy, Java deal doesn't appear to work in Africa, so I had to upload only 5 pictures at a time. Which took FOREVER. So I drank some tea, and worked on my journal. Kaz joined me for lunch, and we had some coffee. Finally, I headed home, and worked some more on my journal while Kaz and Sandra went to a lecture. But it was cancelled, so I soon got a call from those two plus Belgians. To meet at Pottery cafe for dinner.

The waiters all waved when I came in.

After dinner we brought the Belgians home with us, and drank tea and listened to the party boat. And that concludes my updates for the past few days. Thank you, please come again.

And We're Off

This is an uninspired entry. Today was Arabic and then the American University Rare Books Collection. I got to see a first edition of Description de l'Egypte. That means nothing to most people on this planet. Bon.

I did get to sample a local staple food today though. Koushari. And it is awesome. Rice, noodles, lentils, chickpeas, onions. There's a sauce you put on it, but I wasn't a fan. The dish is SO good. Seriously, just swap the onions for something green, broccoli or something, and you have a meal that is all sorts of healthy. Yuuuuuummmm. :-)

I then went home and slept for 2 and a half hours. We ate. I'm tired again. :-P

Tomorrow is another day, and our first excursion. An overnight trip to Ismailia. We'll be staying at the Crocodile Inn, and I won't have internet. So, no update tomorrow, though I'll be back to Cairo on Wednesday, inshallah.

How Do You Say Nose in Arabic?

I opened my bag in class today and what do you think I found? Ants! My bag was crawling with ants! At first I thought there were just one or two, but when I looked closer: hundreds! Ok, maybe more like dozens, but DOZENS! I shook them out on the balcony, but still, I was surrounded by ants all day. One or two stayed with me! :-)

After the ants incident, we had a sort of lecture about Cairo society. Which meant an intro to Islam. Which was nothing new. I think the Dutch folks were somewhat surprised by life in a religious society: the separation of public (no alcohol, for example) and private (wine with dinner, say) life, the omnipresence (no pun intended) of God, etc. No shock for me, but I can understand that it might take a bit of getting used to. (If the good Lord's willing and the creek don't rise!)

Then we went to "Islamic Cairo", the oldest part of the city. Really amazing trip! We got to see the old city gates and a few gorgeous mosques. Pictures will be up on Facebook by tomorrow (inshallah) so you can see how beautiful some of them were. We wandered through a more touristy area than we're used to, so we got a bit more heckled than usual. Nothing bad, of course, just "Hey Mr., Hey Doctor (everyone Western is called Doctor) come to my shop." "Special price for you" (you think this is a stereotype, it's not!) Though I did get hit on. Not for the first time, but in the most original way. None of this Kiss Kiss, Hello Beautiful junk.

"Hey, Egyptian girl," the man yelled to me, "I like your smile! I like your nose!" :-p Or should I say, :0)

A group of children saw us, and ran up to us cheering. One played a drum, and the others danced around us, laughing.

A woman in a niqab smiled her eyes at me and waved a shy wave. She giggled when I waved back.

A cat followed us through the marble courtyards of the buildings where the Sufis dance, begging for attention (and getting it.)

Plastic statues of Nefertiti on sale underneath grand minarets and arabesques. The modern buildings crumbling, the ancient ones restored. An amazing city.

After the tour, Cathelijn and Kenny went home to check on Steffie who is still not entirely recovered from the ick. Kaz, Sandra, Brenda and Quentin (whose name I can now almost pronounce) and I went for dinner (mushroom and cheese ravioli with tomato sauce: not typically Egyptian, but tasty) and then back to the Belgians' place for some chilling.

Did I mention Quentin lives in a palace? I'll have to find pictures for Facebook, his bedroom is HILARIOUS.

Tomorrow: Rare Book Collection of the American University.