Tomb Work

So, what we have been doing is organizing and recording all of the pieces of walls and columns that were recovered in the excavations of this tomb and trying to find where they fit together and where they fit on the walls. This is really fun work. I can't find anything to complain about. Except that tomorrow is our last day.
We were able to find a lot of the North wall and here I am with a really nice piece from the entryway to the second pillared hall.
Oh, I wish I'd been able to photograph the mummy head in the box in the corridor. I can complain about that. It was so cool. There are apparently loads of mummies in Egyptian tombs. Like tons of them. They are everywhere. And our tomb has pieces and bits and all, but the excavation team has pretty much put them all in boxes and they are stored in the surrounding corridors of the tomb. So when Mariam was showing us around the first day, AJ found a box with a mummy head in it and the box was labeled "mummy". It was just too cool. But we can't take pictures of it. Alas. This is not an open tomb so it is not supposed to be photographed. Fuckity, fuckity, fuck. Well. Anyway. The work itself is totally fun and I will really miss the smell of tomb in the mornings.
I soooooo hope we get to do this again next year!!!!!

Opening the tomb

Our inspector Mahmoud was finally able to meet us and open our tomb. Here he is with Ganawy, the guy that is supposed to help us with the heavy stuff, and some other guy who hasn't come back since so I don't know him.
The opening of the tomb was pretty cool in a very low-key sort of way. The locks had actually been sealed from when it was closed when the Italians left not long ago, so they had to break the seals. Cool.

Queen of Punt

Now I could complain forever about the lack of concensus, but that's probably what makes Egyptology fun :)
Anyway, here is the queen of Punt from the Cairo Museum, originally from Hatshepsut's Temple. As you can see, her back is curved and her body is fat. People go to great lengths to argue what this means. Some people say she has a disease, like elephantiasis. Some people say it is a way to make her look less beautiful than Hatshepsut. Nobody knows. But it is a rarity in Egyptian art for any woman to be depicted like this, therefor it must mean something. Maybe it was just how she looked, sort of. I mean, there's nothing wrong with being fat and lots of cultures find it attractive. So maybe the queen of Punt was just normal or even really cool for her culture?

Hatshepsut Temple

Some more pictures from Hatshepsut Temple. Mariam is a kick-ass guide, so it was much more informative a trip though the temple than I normally make in these places. We had translated the text from this temple where it describes a voyage to the land of Punt made by the emissaries of the monarch Hatshepsut to bring back all kinds of goodies and the expedition was greeted by the Queen of Punt who was depicted as short and fat with a curved back. We found the space on the wall where this scene was depicted but we couldn't find where the fat lady was. It was tres disappointing.

Hatshepsut

We walked around the Temple of Hatshepsut the first morning we went to work because our inspector wasn't able to meet us to open the tomb in the morning. This is a beautiful temple and I wish I could post all of the pictures from there. Alas, this thing is slow and I have to get to sleep soon so I don't have time to wait for them to load.

Going to Work in the Tomb

We are working in the tomb now and it is sooo cool! I can't find anything to complain about aside from the brutal starting hours. We have to get up at 6:30 every morning so we can leave here at 7. The transport to and from the tomb is this cool truck called a taxi balady. A lot like Guatemalan transport, but with a cover :)
Our driver is Nagag. I think that's his name.
Anyway, we have a site manager named Mustafa who is also an inspector for the SCA, but he is second in command of the Harwa project and in charge in Tiradritti's absence. He is very nice and funny, and he comes over in the mornings for coffee then goes with us in the taxi balady to the tomb. Here are some pictures of AJ, Mariam, and Mustafa on our way to work in the mornings.

More Casa Italia

Some more views from and of the Casa Italia.
The Casa is always prepared for a party, apparently :)
AJ got a room with a balcony. I just got a window. But whatever, it's all cool really. He has more mosquitoes. Not that I want him to have mosquitoes. I want him to slay them all. DO they do any good? I guess some things eat them, but not enough things eat them, I think, for them to be worth their price in blood and agony. The mosquitoes in Egypt seem to be of a particularly martial variety. But there are NO bedbugs here! Yay!!!
And we finally got the password so we can use the wireless internet, so all is good now. And I dance on the roof in the afternoons. And if you are (un)fortunate enough to have ever seen me dance, you might appreciate the full hilarity and fun-ness of that. If you haven't seen me dance, you have missed out in life. So you won't be deprived, here you go:http://jennywinnywhiney.blogspot.com/2006/12/dancing.html
I have many skills, but I never said I could do everything.

Casa Italia Arrival

We are officially part of the Italian Archaeological Mission of Luxor since we are working in their tomb. So, we get to stay in the Casa Italiana. It is fabulous and has a an awesome staff with a chef who is either magically great or I am too used to my own crappy food. I had reached a point, I thought where I was actually making good food. Then I came here. And tasted the culinary masterpieces of Abdul Nassar. Now I am abashed and humbled.
Aside from the food, which I could rave about for days, the house itself is cool. It is on the edge of the desert with a gorgeous view of the mountains that surround the Valley of the Kings. We can't actually see the necropolis, but we can see the buses going in and out and the mountains around here and the desert are beautiful.
And the flatware is all printed with the Casa Italia logo which is totally cool.

Arty-Farty Amsterdam Pictures

Some pictures from around Amsterdam that just look kind of cool. Kind of, I said. Note the multiple layers of meaning in the first one - the reflection of the buildings in the window is particularly effective. Bwaaaaa-Hahahahaha!

Pretty Amsterdam

Some pretty pictures of Amsterdam. I wish it were quicker to upload photos on this thing.

Amsterdam 2009

We had a 9 hour layover in Amsterdam. Mariam wanted to sleep. So AJ and I went into town. We bought tickets from some girl who wanted to offload the ones she and her boyfriend had just used. We don't know if we got ripped off or not because the train service in Amsterdam never checked our tickets. Anyway, we rode from the airport into town and walked around in the central area and I made AJ go to the Red Light district. We got our pictures made in front of all kinds of dens of sin :)
I wanted to stop at a "coffee" shop and smoke a joint, but for some reason we just didn't. We walked by several of them. We did stop for sandwiches at a tiny little cute place. It was really cold and it rained some. But Amsterdam is totally cute. I'll post the less controversial sights of Amsterdam in the next post.
I forgot to say, I saw this poster for Living Colour and was surprised that they are still around. I had to get a picture :)

My Christmas Tree, 2009

I put up my christmas tree this year right after Halloween since I won't be home for much of the real Xmas season. I had my same ceremony - drinking a bottle of wine and listening to christmas music while putting up the tree in my pajamas. I enjoy that.
Now I still have to wrap some presnuts. I failed to get presnuts for myself this year so it's kinda bleak. I hope I get a chance to buy myself a lot of stuff in Egypt and wrap it for myself.

Grandfather Mountain

I can't believe I haven't posted these pictures yet!!!! I must be really busy with school this semester, huh? Here are Scooter, Al, and EJ, the first time I met any of them. And these Scottish Heritage celebraters are what make these festivals fun. I'll post some pictures of ME and Miss Naincy next. This was in July and it was freaking COLD at night up on the mountain. And it was cold during the daytime. And it was dreary and rainy- lot's of 'atmosphere'. We plan to make it an annual event!

Alexandria - my hotel room

I stayed 2 nights in Alexandria. In this hotel and I can't remember the name. It had breakfast included and shared bathrooms, but my room had the sweetest little balcony and a fucking gorgeous view of the bay where the lighthouse used to stand. There was a constant breeze in my room. Unfortunately I got food poisoning. I don't know from what. It could have been anything. The breakfast, the sweets, the huge lunch, or the glass of water I forgot and drank at the coffee shop because I was used to drinking tap water in Cairo and forgot you can't anywhere else.
So I sat on my little balcony and ate sweets that I bought at a pastry shop in town and then I started feeling woozy. I made it to one of the shared bathrooms and then didn't know which way to face. It was really bad. I threw up all over my pants and the floor and I couldn't stand up and I thought I was going to die. There. By myself. In Alexandria Egypt. In a strange hotel. In a shared bathroom. And I thought, "what a funny way to die."
Obviously I survived. But it was scary for a bit.
This picture with the plant in the window is the actual bathroom that I was sick in. And this picture of the food, MIGHT be the culprit, although I am more inclined to blame the water.