Photo!

So I'm worried about McCain's VP choice - apparently she wants to kill polar bears. And had foreign policy experience because you can see Russia on a clear day from where she is. Hmmm. And then New Orleans will be hit with a hurricane in 12 hours or so. It's a scary world.


I wanted to put up this photo (taken by Hakki, the most relaxed and chill human I've ever met) from the Syria trip because it's actually a decent one and Mum always fusses that there are never any photos of me (there's the original and then what I cropped below). I'm still working on posting the trip itself when I become unmired from entering Bike's locus sheets and edit Maria's senior thesis so she can finally get her hands on her B.S. The compound's beginning to empty too - season really is winding down. But I think we still have enough to try and play volleyball, so that's a good thing.

An incredible food experience

Mike's pretty sick - it seems that the infection he's had for awhile has spread to his hip joint or something, causing a bunch of hospital visits yesterday and then a MRI (among other things) to get a real diagnosis today. In the afternoon I went back with him to the hospital mostly to be a handholder and distraction; it was a long and tiring time with people saying conflicting things in Turkish in the heat. He also hadn't really slept the night before because the pain was so bad, so exhaustion was kicking in.

Thus we stopped to pick up some kebab on the way back home so that he could take the pain-killers doctor gave us. Hanefi took us to a place along the highway towards our village where he seemed to know not only the owner but the men sitting around their drinks at the "kafeteria". So we order, guy asked if wanted garlic, spicey pepper - sure thing, I figure they'll make a sauce to order or something. Then he opens a refrigerator with what seems to be a dead cow or two hanging there, slices off a chunk of meat, weighs it, and then puts it in the meat grinder right in front of me. It looked like one of those old hand grinders but was motorized. So that passes through a bit, then goes into the food processor with the pepper and garlic (this will be Adana kebap that's a bit spicey it seems). Takes it out, throws it on the wooden counter in front of me and proceeds to chop, mash and then form two meat circles the size of dinner plates on pieces of paper. Some tomatoes are thrown on top and a little boy runs them out the door and down the street a ways, presumably to be cooked.

Meanwhile another little boy brings us cola, comes out to talk with Mike and I in the dolmus (since Mike's not supposed to walk and standing hurts). We have a funny English and Turkish conversation involving places we've been, where we're from, and the boys trying to sell us Ali, the Arab boy who's somewhere between6 and 8. Terribly cute, but we resist (they were concerned that I didn't have children I think). Finally after almost too much time the boys appear with giant newspaper packets - the meat circles are on huge ovals of fresh-baked flatbread and too hot to touch. Incredible stuff. And way yummy.

Today we just got back from the private hospital (my blogging is half digging, half medical issues it seems this summer). It was a long time and lots of doctors, but they squeezed him into the MRI and found liquid in his hip but seemingly no infection there. So days of rest are in order - since digging ends tomorrow and then people just stick around for a week or however long it takes to get their paperwork and final reports done, that's pretty ok. The best part was probably being in air conditioning for more than 2 seconds... huzzah! Gotta love those silver linings.

Stormy weather

I've seen something I never imagined I'd see- rain here on the compound. Yesterday field crew had to stay home because of the wet, in the evening what promised to be a huge storm turned out to be a whole bunch of nothing. But playing volleyball in the sprinkling rain with it actually being cool was a lovely time. And we won a bunch -wooha!

Time here is winding down, digging ends Friday (and Ramadan begins!), people will be leaving right and left come 2/3rd Sept. Folks hold on in their own ways. I realized I never got to watch any Olympics - it makes me sad. And also that I keep not downloading photos, it's on the list to do I swear! (Although because of publication rights I can't post any of the site itself, so you'll have to see them in person if you're interested).

One cool project also mostly completed was my looking at over 40 pages of references to make them stylistically consistent. A big editing job, but I'm glad to have it done (I'm always wary these things will make their way back to me somehow - dealing with 2003-04 objects taught me that lesson already). I also learned the word for "publisher" in a couple languages, for example 'verlag' is German. Just to add to the bag of tricks I suppose.

Two days ago a girl here asked me "Are you really an English teacher?", her voice incredulous. I assured her that I'm just as, if not more so, goofy in class as I am often here. Can't believe I'll be going back to that in just a few weeks, although the plan to head back stateside is still going strong.

Other news of note was that I made some incredible brownies too - rich and gooey. Was proud considering I approximated some things and made other parts up. Chocolate helps when tension mounts.

That could become a peace-keeping strategy.

Syria? Yeah, I've been there.

Last Friday we escaped the compound (an intrepid group of 15) on a bus to Syria that we've gotten in what seemed to be a sweet deal with a tour company. The deal soured quickly, much to everyone's chagrin, as what was supposed to be included kept magically disappearing. Lesson learned - get mega-specific details BEFORE crossing borders.

Still, we went to Ebla (HUMONGOUS site) that was the seat of a big empire back in the day(yes, I should be better about dates and all that stuff I'm learning. It's late though). And Aleppo, a wonderful city. Mike and I got dinner on the street for what turned out to be perhaps 2 dollars for us both - incredible ice cream for dessert and everything. Our hotel was gorgeous old complex house with courtyards and roof terrace that was perhaps for an evening drink and narguile with some of the crew. The next morning we went to the incredible National Museum (so many artifacts to see) where I found figurines that look like fragments I've been seeing here at Atchana (very cool). Afterwards Mike and I wandered the bazaar with Stella (she and I tried to bargain up a storm, she got some great deals too) and looked at the outside of the citadel (the problem with group things is the time limits). Then another loooong bus ride to the temple of Ain Dara (where there were huge footprints in the rock). And finally back over the border (the way to Syria we sat there a few hours, the way back was quicker).

Thus there were maybe 18 hours of real vacation involved in the two day break we had. Exhausting. To top things off, we're having a heat wave with no wind (terrible) and it saps motivation to do much of anything. Thus my lack of photos online... I'll get there. Eventually. My current job is editing/proofreading a massive manuscript and spending lots of time in front of the computer - I hope to get out to site before excavation ends next week! (Where does the time go?). Meanwhile sickness runs rampant and the quest for cool continues.