Incredible Thoughts

Though I have left Turkey and am home safe and sound, a part of me is still there in spirit...mostly in the form of me describing my Turkish trench assistant to people. He was, to keep it short, a unique spirit whom we termed "The Incredible Edible" in conversation (due to his name, which I will keep secret).

The Incredible Edible tended to speak somewhat poetic English and we later decided that he must think in haiku (5-7-5 for syllable beats). Once we determined this, my good friend Liz was able to tap into his possible thought processes and create some haiku based on real events from this summer. These are the results of her brilliance:

Sleeping-
I need a mattress
I think I'll take her mattress.
Why is she angry?

Bathing-
This water is cold
Thank you for reinforcing
My thought processes

Laundry-
My clothes are dirty
I'll put a lemon with them
And they will smell clean

Eating-
Adam and Lily!
I'm hungry and I am dream-
ing of the meatballs

Hygiene-
They say I'm dirty
But I cannot smell myself
So I must be clean

Sharing is Caring-
I'll take Katie's Coke,
But I'll give some to her friend,
So she can't be mad.

Day in the Life-
This was a big day
First I ran the wheelbarrow
Then sat in the shade

My trip to Iran-
They said I was lost.
But I wasn't lost at all.
I knew where I was.

A visitor-
My girlfriend's coming
Maybe I'll take a shower;
No, I guess I won't.

Creature comforts-
Fans are great for naps.
Maybe one fan is enough
But two are better.

Lost in Translation-
Katie spoke Turkish
But my Turkish is better.
I'll reiterate.

Diplomacy-
Katie's workers call
Her names. But I won't tell her.
She might get angry.


I kid not, all of these are absolutely based on real events. To be fair, he was a kind guy, but was definitely unique. If you are ever interested in hearing more, I have many, many more stories to share :)

The Countdown Begins!

On my way home soon! Good riddance! Its been a long two months with me basically working non-stop (part of the reason I have not recapped my 'good-spirits' on the blog). Anywho... Excavation finished last week and I'm just finishing up some paperwork and writing a final report. I'm heading back on the 31st of August, then back to MN a few days after that. Yikes! My feet just don't stop!

Anyway, hope you all at least enjoyed the pictures despite my silence. It wasn't all bad, but it definitely wasn't good for the most part. I'm sure in a month or so I'll be back to saying, "oh, it wasn't so bad..." If I get that way, remind me of my daily debates with my workmen, my flaky/ lazy assistant, so-so food, and being sick a total of 5 times. Thanks :)

On the upside, I still love Turkey, the people, and the language. This experience has only tainted my flavor for the archaeological excavation. When I'm away from the site, I'm back to being a happy Katie. I'm sure I'll be back, but next time just for traveling fun, no more excavations (at least not here!).

Photo Update!

I'm way too super busy to write, but I'll include some photo updates so you all can at least see what I'm up to. Things are getting better around here, although everyday or week has its ups and downs. I can't say I'm healthy, but I am happy, so things are good! I'll try to write soon!

Photos 1
Photos 2
Photos 3

The Baklava Battle

Overall things are going well at the site. I am making decent progress in my trench and have been told by my supervisors that I'm doing a good job. The area isn't too complicated yet. I have a wall, which we removed this week to get to a lower level, and now I have another wall which I started work on today. Both of my walls are made of mudbrick with stone foundations, at least the one. The rest of my trench is fairly blah because I am working through layers of fill (dirt) before I get to levels where actual activities took place.

I have been getting along well with my workers and am improving my Turkish daily. Things were going well until yesterday where there was an incident concerning baklava. I basically said all of my workers couldn't stop working at once to eat baklava (it was to celebrate the birth of one of their nephews), but that they could take turns eating it. They had a break an hour earlier and I didn't want them to stop working. There is a little more to it, but that's the situation in a nutshell. It set off a storm of anger and my workers stopped talking to me for the rest of the day. I apologized at the end of the day for the misunderstanding and they said it was fine, but only one worker talked to me the entire day today.

Things have been stressful in the trench for other reasons too. I was given a new assistant who is Turkish. Things were pretty good the first day. His translations were helpful and we got a lot of work done. That was the highlight of his work career though. He has overslept twice in four days and shows up an hour+ late to the site. He also talks a lot, which slows work down and he doesn't do anything unless I ask him to. Between him and my young workers (4 are 21 or younger), I am essentially babysitting the entire day. Alas. Luckily there is only one day left this week and then I am free. Hopefully this weekend will give them some time to relax.

On a high note, I had a great time this past weekend. I went into Antakya with some of the Turkish folks and we walked around for the entire day. We started off by going to the Antakya Museum which has some amazing mosaics! Wow! The color and detail of these were phenomenal! While these were the highlights, there were some other interesting pieces and some cool things from our site on display as well.

While in the city, we walked around the bazaar, some of the old city with amazing architecture, and some various religious structures. We had kofte wraps (seasoned meat) for lunch and kunefe, a very sweet dessert made with cheese, sugar, and a shredded wheat-like subsistence topped with ice cream, for a snack. It was really great to get out of the compound; I was starting to pace like a lion daily. I've loaded some photos of the day on Facebook, so check them out! (Also, I've updated photos from my life at the site -- see previous blog entry for link).

Even though things have been a bit rough this week, I am still really happy to be here. There are a lot of interesting personalities and various ages at the site/dighouse which keeps things fresh daily. I'll try to write again soon. I'm likely going to a few other archaeological sites this weekend, so I'll have more photos soon! :)

Life as a Square...

Made it to my site without trouble. The 14 hour bus ride was not very enjoyable (a baby cried most of the way, we were stopped in the middle of the night by the Jandarma = military police, had a little girl throw up behind me for several hours, etc.). When I arrived at the bus station, I called my site director, Murat, and he came to pick me up.

Currently, I am living in the dig "compound" as it is called. Wow! So comfortable compared to the last time I was in Turkey! We have several buildings inside a security fence including the dorms, conservation rooms, work rooms, etc. Quite posh! The highlight of all of this though is the fact that we have western toilets! I almost jumped up and down with delight when I saw these glorious features. I was sharing a room with two other girls, but there was a bed shortage so I volunteered to sleep up on the roof (something I'd been asking my director if I could do for a while because my room was so hot I was only sleeping a few hours a night).

There are a fair number of people here. Majority are grad students and specialists, but there are a few undergrads too. It is really enjoyable to be with an older bunch on an excavation as opposed to being with inexperienced groups as I have done in the past. Everyone here is pretty nice, so that's not an issue. A lot of the girls here talk non-stop, so I have been preferring to hang out with one of the Turkish archaeologists and an Italian one who are both about my age. As a result of this, not only is my Turkish improving, but my Italian as well!

I can't believe how much Turkish I know already. Completely mind-blowing how quickly the brain adjusts when it is needed. My workers have taught me a lot too, which is also helpful. Speaking of working in the field...

I was made the supervisor of a trench! Normally they are square in shape, but the area I'm working in is a bit strange, so we had to readjust it to be 6x10 instead of 8x8. There are a lot of responsibilities and a lot of material to keep track of, but I feel like I'm doing alright with it. I even have my own assistant, actually, I will have two soon, plus five local Turkish workers. My workers are great! Most are pretty young, so they are pretty talkative and like to joke with me when I can understand or find someone to translate my answers back to them, haha! Even with the language barrier and my uncertainty in what I'm doing, life in my square is going pretty well!

We celebrated the 4th of July last night since we have to work Sunday morning. MmmMmm good! We BBQ'ed on the grill, had chips, watermelon, different types of meat, and plenty of vodka with juice, haha! The night was really relaxing and it has been great having Saturday off to do nothing. I slept on the roof for the first time last night too --- so much better! We have been having strong winds lately too, so it stayed really cool.

Alright, enough of my blathering for now. Here is a link to my photos. There aren't too many yet, but I'll try to get some of the compound and some more of the site as work continues.

Last Day in Antalya :(

Seems I just arrived here, but I'm preparing to depart again to go to my site to start work... Lame. I will definitely miss this city, especially Murat and his family! They have been very hospitable and have taken me all over the city and a few neighboring areas. Just to give you an idea of some of my daily activities...

At least three of my mornings started out by going to a local swimming spot where one must climb down about 200 meters to the sea. There are stairs, but they are spaced unevenly and end up being quite curvy because they were built following the cliff face. These are called the Falez Cliffs, named after the local rock type. There is no beach at the bottom, only rocks and a short boardwalk-like structure leading to a ladder. Everyone claims a rock and leaves their stuff there while swimming. The spot is quite popular with the old local men, many of which were former administrators of the city Murat tells me. The water here is crystal clear and warm. It is possible to see the bottom of the sea quite a ways out, even though it is deep. There is little current or waves, so swimming is relaxing and enjoyable. I've noticed its helping my ankle a lot too, which is great! We swam here one night too and that was great too, although the water was pretty wavy (but that was fun too for a change and the water was even warmer).

We went to the beach two days on two of the other days. This place was called 'Nirvana Beach' and was made up of well worn pebbles instead of sand, which I have decided I prefer the former because I can stay clean after getting out of the water. Luckily, we have gone early enough in the mornings that we can leave before noon sun -- meaning I haven't burned yet! :)

After the beach or morning swim, we eat breakfast which consists of 3-5 cheeses, 3-4 types of olives, bread, several types of nuts, tomatoes and cucumber in olive oil, bread, and whatever Murat's mom, Leyla, made on the stove such as an omelet, fried cheese, etc. There is also, of course, tea with plenty of sugar. We take about an hour to eat, which certainly rocks the socks off of my usual mornings eating a breakfast of cereal or granola while standing in my kitchen. I will certainly miss these breakfasts. *Sigh*

We wait out the hot part of the day in the air conditioned room while reading or watching TV/movies. A few naps have been thrown in there as well.

Other days when I am not being a slug or a fish, we've gone out exploring. My first day, Murat and I went out in the late afternoon to walk around Old Town. There are a lot of lovely buildings around here, some which are very old. This is also primarily the tourist area and is near the harbor. We walked around here and looked at the boats. Murat decided we needed to take a boat tour, so we did that. It took us along the cliffs providing a nice view of the city.

Two days of my visit were dedicated to seeing ancient sites. Yay! The first one we went to was Termessos, which is a Greek site located in the Tarsus Mountains on the top of one of the peaks. We drove the car up part of the way and then hiked up to the top. The view was spectacular! Impossible to capture in photos or to describe, but absolutely breathtaking! The ruins are scattered throughout the peak, so we hiked around to find them. There is a lot of vegetation blocking some of the fragments and makes it seem very untouched. I liked exploring!

The next day we went to Aspendos, the site of an excellently preserved Roman theatre. There was a great view from the top of this too. The theatre, as I said, was well preserved with virtually every piece intact. Much of the original sculpture from the theatre remains intact at the Antalya Museum (which was different day's actitivity). There was a guy dressed as a Roman soldiers costume that he made himself. Murat's mom wanted a photo with him and I ended up getting one as well. After this site we went to Perge, another really old site, but with remains primarily from the Roman period. A lot of the site was overrun with vegetation, really tall vegetation. The highlight of this site, for me, was the stone canal which ran down the center of a colonnaded area leading up to a large, what used to be grand fountain with a sculpture and three arches that held additional pieces. I could imagine what a welcome scene this would be in the heat.

I think that covers the highlights. Now I'll post the link for the photos so you can see what I've been babbling on about. Enjoy!

Arrived Safely and with ALL My Bags... Check!

I feared a repeat of lost luggage would be in order for this trip, but thankfully my bag arrived when I did. There were a few moments of uncertainty, such as when I was watching the baggage being loaded onto the plane while still in Detroit. I watched them start the process and was getting nervous as the cart became more and more empty and my bag still hadn't been tossed on the plane. Finally I saw it get put on the conveyor belt (the very last of the bags!) and move up toward the door. Suddenly, the belt stopped and started going in reverse and I watched as my bag fell off the belt and on to the ground. I watched it there for several minutes prepared to raise hell if someone didn't pick it up before I got on the plane, but thankfully someone noticed it while walking by and saved me from doing anything rash.

The flights were ok, all were delayed at least an hour. I had a long layover in Chicago (8 hours, haha), so my old roommate, Brian, came and picked me up and we got to visit for the day. Everything in general, aside from the delays, was smooth sailing. On the long flight, I was next to a guy who must have felt he didn't have enough space in his seat because he was constantly bumping me and at one point sleeping with his back against my shoulder as a prop. Meanwhile, I was the most cramped I'd ever been on a flight in part because this window seat had a large curve from the shape of the plane which stole some space. The guy also slept most of the flight and I was only able to get out once from my spot because I couldn't wake him otherwise. Anyway... all was righted when I somehow ended up with a First Class ticket from Istanbul to Antalya! I sat there shocked as the plane was loaded expecting that at any moment I would be kicked out of my seat because I do not recall having that ticket. It didn't happen though and I was treated to a fancy meal, beverages, and stewardesses who were actually really nice!

Murat and his mother picked me up from the airport. I didn't think he'd be able to find me because my phone is not working as it is supposed to be, so I had no way of telling him where I was. Somehow we connected and made it back to his parents apartment where I'm staying while in Antalya. I like the city so far. Its warm, but not as warm as I was anticipating and there are beautiful flowering bushes everywhere! Yesterday we went swimming early in the morning and spent some time in the Old City. We took a boat ride along the coast for another view of the city, which has some amazing cliffs, and the mountains near by.

Overall, its great to be back in Turkey. I will be sure to update soon with some photos and more news. :)

“There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign.” - Robert Louis Stevenson

Its that time of year again! I'll be on the road again in less than two days. Destination: southern Turkey. I'll be in two places as I mentioned in a previous blog, Antalya and Hatay. I'm pretty excited to go back to Turkey and to have the chance to explore new areas of a country I already love!

In the meantime, I will enjoy the rest of my time at home with my family before I set out on the open road again. I've been home for a week already and it has been very relaxing -- and has gone by way too fast!

Overall, not much new to report other than I'll be leaving on Saturday. Instead of mass-emails this year, I'm just going to update the blog that way I can actually include photos. :)

To set the mood for my bon voyage, I'm including The 50 Most Inspiring Travel Quotes as listed by BraveNewTraveler.com. The website is pretty great overall, lots of funny and useful travel articles if anyone has the travel itch!

Farewell for now! This will be the last stateside update for a while!

Sum-Sum-Summertime!

Postponed the zoo again and went to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. This well maintained arboretum is owned by the U of MN and is free to students. I was feeling a bit stir crazy since I had not left the cities since my trip to Stillwater over spring break, so I opted for the 40 minute drive out into the countryside.

It was a beautiful day and the fresh air was refreshing. There are several gardens available to walk through as well as numerous nature trails. There are also sections which specialize in specific trees, so for example, there are sections of only "Ash" or even areas dedicated to different types of hedges. I didn't walk out to these, but I drove through them on my way out and definitely plan to visit these on my next trip.

Not many of the flowers were in bloom yet, only a few flowering bushes or trees. The gardens would be quite lovely I imagine once everything has come to life for the season. Some of the specialty gardens include a multi-terraced rose garden, a medicinal garden, and a large herb garden.

I walked through the Shade Tree exhibit and the wildflower gardens which were both part of some of the trails. These were well maintained and had a pleasant and varied landscape. There were few bugs, mostly non bothersome types.


The arboretum was not far from a decent sized lake. I passed one on my drive in, but I believe the one in the photo is yet another lake.





Had another adventure previous Sunday. I went to a friend's party that previous Saturday and a friend was telling me that she had given her cat a bath. I laughed and said I could never do that with Mea because I would fear for my life! She absolutely hates water. When she gets in her mood to try to pounce/attack me, I grab a water bottle and spray her for her misconduct. The following day (Sunday) I was feeling inspired by my friend and decided to try it out with Mea anyway.

I suited up with leather gloves and a thick work shirt in the anticipation there would be much scratching and biting. I ran some warm water in the tub, got an old yogurt container to use for pouring water, added a bit of soap, then locked the kitty in the bathroom with me. I quickly picked her up, set her in the tub, and poured water down her back and did it again. She hardly moved. I believe she was in shock that she was all of the sudden soaking and did not feel the need to fight it because the damage was done. I got all the way through the bath, extra soap and all, without any trouble from her.

Her abundance of fur held a lot of water and she dripped for a long time. She wouldn't let me too near to her to help her dry off, so she had to stay locked in the bathroom for a while. I did manage to snap a photo of her all wet, which you can see posted on the blog wall. I think its pretty funny.

It is late now, so I will finish part two of this post tomorrow and inform you of my other activities of the week. Sweet dreams all!

Freedom!

Yay! I am officially finished with my first year of graduate school! The end of the semester was absolute madness between trying to do all the reading and writing for a 20-page paper in less than a week's time, grading my kids' exams/figuring out their final grades, and other end of the year requirements. It the end of it all came on Sunday. It felt very strange to finish with all that on the same day. I was so hyped up from it all I keep having to convince myself that I am truly done and that I didn't forget anything. Its been several days since then and I still feel like I'm missing something.

The first three days of my vacation were spent in front of my computer watching Heroes seasons 1-3 via Netflix, cooking (which I've hardly done this semester), and doing a little reading for pleasure. I even did some painting for fun the other night! The idea of not having to do anything academic for three months is mind boggling and wonderful. Christmas break was nice and needed, but I knew I had stuff to work on during break. For this lovely summer I now have ahead of me, I feel weightless!

I am also excited because I leave for Turkey in a month! Yay! This also means I'll be home in less than a month to see my family! Double Yay! I can't wait!

Can't remember the house situation last time I posted. I think I said I offered on a house and was waiting to hear... Well... The company who owned the house started to be really inflexible/ bossy and started trying to jerk me around with extra costs -- not to mention I didn't get the Truth in Housing report until after I already put an offer in (my mistake), which showed a lot of really required and expensive repairs. I withdrew my offer and abandoned the house. I still really love the house and think it would be awesome once fixed up, but alas. It was somewhat satisfying too because I stuck it to the man in a small way. Now, they are still sitting on the house and have had to lower their price because no one else wants it. It would have been off their hand already if they would have been decent people.

I had all but given up for the summer when another cute one came on the market. I put an offer in, but they decided to go with another offer instead. I must have been outbid since I offered full price on that one. Again, alas. I've decided this is the universe's way of telling me I am not meant to own a house this summer. Hopefully I will find something in the fall so I can get in there and get settled before winter hits. Another downside to waiting is that Minneapolis is one of the few places in the USA where the housing market is supposedly bouncing back. Bad luck.

Let's see...what else... I finally heard about my article that was supposed to be published some time this year. I saw a semi-final version a week or so ago which allowed us to make any revisions. The final, in-print version should be out in a few months. Yay! If I get a PDF copy of it I will send it via email to whoever is interested. Its full of science and statistics, some of which I could barely comprehend at the time, so if you aren't interested in reading it you can at least look at my name on the title page! :)

I've also notified my professor that I had the artifact analysis class (the weaving tool project I have mentioned) with this semester that I wanted to see our project through to publication. Bad because this means I have more work to do, good because it will solidify my authorship position, which means I'll have at least two publications before I get my PhD --- which is pretty rare! I have a few things I'm doing with that tomorrow. We photographed a bunch of the artifacts for that last week and tomorrow I am photographing the modern equivalents for these. Its pretty neat.

I met with the prof for this class last week too and she gave me a lot of praise about what a great job I did on the project and what a great contribution to this field of study it will be. I was super pleased with this and a little shocked because she seemed to think most of what I did was crap earlier in the semester, haha! I definitely needed the support though, it was a good way to end things. I also had to meet with my adviser at the end of the year and he too thought I made great progress overall. Yay!

I've definitely learned a lot this year, about my field and myself. I wont go into inner reflection via the Internet, but I spent a good deal of time pondering what exactly I want out of life, how I will get it, and what kind of person I want to be in the end. It was disappointing to me to realize I lost so much of my positive self this year (it felt like I was eating lemons/limes without salt or tequila), but I've figured out how to make and enjoy lemonade instead of attending lonely pity parties and I feel quite relieved as a result.

In close to this week's ramblings, I hope everyone has a safe and happy Memorial Day! I'm going to the zoo finally so I know I will enjoy mine!

Wrapping It Up Like a Christmas Present

I finally have a free moment to update! The past few weeks have been a toss up between being busy, exhausted, or house hunting. Luckily I seem to have solved one of these problems!

I'm nearing the end of my first year in graduate school --- holy cow that went fast! I have a lot of stuff to do before then end of the year still. I'm almost done with the big project (analyzing the weaving tools). I have one more big paper, and then a short 5 pager. I think I'm going to make it :)

Teaching is going well. Only one more lab this semester and I am done teaching for a few months!

I bought my ticket to Turkey for the summer. I'm leaving June 20th and will spend a few days in Antalya (be sure to click the link and see the Wiki page for photos) before going to my excavation site. The site I'll be at is called Alalakh. I'm getting pretty excited. I'll be there for over two months.

On to the good news. Don't want to get ahead of myself like I did last time, but it looks like I've got a house. I should explain, my offer and such was accepted, I'm just waiting for a good inspection. I thought I was going to have a house a month or so ago, but the inspection went poorly and I withdrew my offer. I've taken photos of the house already, but I'll wait to post them until I'm 100% sure. Keep your fingers crossed! Its a pretty big house in need of a good deal of work, luckily its mostly just aesthetics --- no major structural issues that I'm aware of!

Other than that, I've been trying to have some fun when I can. I planned on going to the zoo today, but it was much colder than the rest of the week has been and it was supposed to rain, so I decided to postpone it. I did manage to get a late breakfast instead which was really yummy! I get random cravings for biscuits and gravy some days. I'm not from the South as far as I'm aware... Tomorrow my friend Linda and I are going to the Minneapolis-St. Paul annual home tour. I figured it would be a good way to see what some of the other houses around here look like so I know what my competition will be when I go to sell mine in 5+ years and also it will be good for getting some ideas about how I want to decorate! I'll try to take pictures of the good ones!

Mmmmk...nothing else too exciting to report other than my strange eating habits: I've almost eaten an entire package of Oreos in two days (only one row left), chips with canned cheese, and some other strange things. That's the thing about eating natural foods/mostly organic, when you get cravings to processed stuff, you end up binging on it and then you feel like crap later, but you just can't stop eating. I think that illustrates some major food altering/added chemicals to make you addicted to the food! Yikes!

Stress.

Classes are busy. Super stressed.

Now addicted to coffee. Non-voluntarily awake-ness late at night. Tired. Need more coffee. Vicious cycle.

Important revelation had. Grad school is like joining the military. Breaks your spirit and re-trains you how to think. Don't like the former of these. Similar to domesticating animals.

Trying to find a house to buy. Stressful. Two fell through already. Still looking. More stress with a touch of constant nervousness.

Teaching is good. Didn't get the fellowship I applied for. Sadness. Will be teaching next fall. Lame.

Leave for Turkey around June 20th. Very nice.

Figured out my tentative committee. This is good. Narrowed down possible dissertation topic. Also good.

Weather is improving. Definitely good.

Finally updated blog. Very good. Will write more later. Satisfactory.

Ello, ello!

I have not been updating because frankly I am exhausted! It is the beginning of the "bad part" of the semester and it is going to be pretty crazy. I will try to share a few things though...

My classes are fine. I am working my ass off in my artifact course. I was up twice this week til 3:30AM and haven't gone to sleep before 12:30 for the others. Its pretty time consuming, but seems to be going well. I got over my own insecurities and trusted my judgment enough to name/label my bone tools that I am responsible for based on my own opinions and reasoning. It may sound like a ridiculous fear, but everyone in archaeology has an opinion and I had to really think about why I was making the decisions I was. I had to consider whether this would make sense to others and if it was logical. My assessment was going against previous work done on this topic and I feared I may receive strong criticisms for it. The work we are doing on these artifacts will be published eventually, so I want it to be thorough and good.

I have a wonderful bunch of students this year. I've received several compliments from a few recently telling me that I'm doing a great job as a TA, that my enthusiasm has not gone unnoticed, and that they appreciate the extra effort I'm putting in making sure they are doing well and that I care. It has really lifted my spirits and confidence. I tried really hard with my kids last semester, but most were so bitter toward the course that they didn't care how hard I tried/cared. I honestly do want to see them do well and I'm glad when they do. These kids are also doing much better in the course which also works well for me because I can start using up my vintage sticker collection. Haha! I tell them to look at the copyright dates on some of the stickers and they laugh because they are definitely from the late 1980s or early 1990s. I knew I didn't use them for a reason! :)

Let's see, what else, what else... We have spring break next week which I cannot wait for! Mom and Greg are coming for a visit so I will finally see some of the cities, haha! I will be sure to update about what we did/saw/went. I also have a lot of work to do, so it wont be all fun and games.

My undergraduate professor, Mark, that I went to Turkey with has a new series on the History Channel. The show is called Battles BC and airs Monday nights 9PM E, 8 PM C. It started this week. It was fun to see Mark on TV again (he previously was on the show Bible Battles). The new one is neat because it is filmed in the style of movies like 300 or Sin City. The budget is obviously significantly less, so the quality isn't as good, but it is still fun.

Mea is well. She has started sleeping on my side of the bed now (her big monthly move of the favorite spot). She is stubborn as stubborn can be though. I got into bed last night and kept nudging her out of the way and ended up with my feet under her. She couldn't have been comfortable, but she didn't move... Are children like this??? If so...ugh.

Anywho... I'll leave all you Michiganders with an interesting link. It is a photo-story from Time magazine called Detroit's Beautiful, Horrible Decline. It was pretty incredible to see these photos. I've always thought Detroit was an absolute shithole, but it really was something back in the day. I didn't even know half of these buildings existed. It is sad to see their current state because many are lovely, but broken and dirty now. Another strange experience I had looking at these was the feeling that I was at an archaeological site. Quite similar actually because the only things present are the structures and trash, no people or signs of life. Very eerie and apocalyptic.

Alright, on that cheery note, off to do work (hopefully).

Who Doesn't Like a Good Cat Video?

Its been a yucky week so far, mostly because I'm sick again and am starting to feel the crunch of the semester. I somehow got on to YouTube and ended up watching cat videos after a while. These are some of the highlights sure to bring a smile to your face. Enjoy!

Treadmill Kitty
Mea's Long Lost Cousin?
Talking Kitties (an oldie, but still funny, also see the translated version!)
Piano Playing Cat
The Funniest By Far...

And just to provide a brief update... Classes are fine, I'm quite tired though (probably just from being sick). My kids that I'm teaching this semester are pretty awesome...very smart and quick with labs which I think is VERY nice. Outside of school, nothing too exciting going on in my life...its pretty much all school all the time...school and Netflix, haha! Sad to think I'm wasting all of my "good years" in front of a computer or in a book... I'm sure grad school will be worth it in the end...

I don't think I posted anything of substance last week either, but it wasn't a very good week either. Another of my dogs, Chip-Chip, as I called him, had to be put to sleep. I was pretty sad, but he was Rook's best friend, so at least he will have company up in little doggie heaven. Its crazy for me to think that Rook died a year ago already...also crazy to think I was in Europe this time last year too...it went by so fast! Yikes! Speaking of Europe, I will try to get some pictures up eventually or a video. Maybe I'll do that over spring break when I'll have a moment or two for an actual life... Haha! Don't keep your fingers crossed, but I will do my best!

What Would Charles Darwin Think?

Hello, hello! Happy Valentine's Day all! It has been an eventful week in history! Some of you may know that it was Abe Lincoln's birthday on Thursday, but it was Charles Darwin's 200th Birthday as well!

Since the first month of 1001 (the Human Evolution course I TA for) covers nothing but evolution and natural selection, compliments of Darwin, I figured it was only appropriate to throw him a birthday party :) Linda and I teamed up to throw an across-the-hall party Thursday evening chalk-full of Darwinian fun. We named each of our apartments after an island in the Galapagos where Darwin visited (I was Daphne Major and she was Genovesa). Our food was all themed around the Galapagos or Darwin as well, including: fruit, nuts, seeds of various sizes (tied to how Darwin figured out natural selection), a birthday cake with a Darwin fish on it, and seaweed salad, which was quite good I assure you. We also had Darwin-themed games such as "Pin the Beak on Darwin's Finch" and "Darwinian Pictionary." (Click the link to see the results of the game and the cake!) It was all quite clever and dorky overall, but it was a really great time :)

In general, that was the highlight of my week. Pretty uneventful other than the party, but good overall! Here is a link so you can have some Darwinian fun yourself! DEVOLVE YOURSELF!

Winter Carnival!

As I mentioned last week, I was off to attend the Twin-Cities Winter Carnival (see previous blog entry for the link if you want more info). Instead of filling up my entire blog with photos (1. take too much time to load, 2. no one wants to scroll through an endless screen, etc.), I'm providing a public link to my Facebook photo album from the event. The photo here is just a teaser.

I will just start by saying it was so darn cold that my fingers were having a hard time moving to push the button on my camera --- that's with my two-layer pair of gloves. My nose was frozen, my eyes were on their way. Basically any part of your body not covered by something out here will start to freeze...I'm going to go on a tangent for a second because I find this amusing... It gets so cold that your eyes burn and start to water, but, the water blows into your eyelashes because of the wind where it proceeds to freeze almost instantly. Another example I laughed about while walking to the bus stop this morning was that I had a runny nose from the cold and was able to sniffle it back in where it froze hard. I could actually feel the hardened piece of sniffle INSIDE my nose, haha, its so cold its just laughable. I will still take this cold over all the snow we get in Michigan... And we're back. Right, so it was really cold and hard to keep steady for picture taking, but overall, I think they turned out quite nice considering it was night (we were told to go at night because it is better for viewing the sculptures). I think it helped that the ice and snow sculptures were well lit. Anywho, here is the link to the photos: Winter Carnival

Apparently there is a whole story to go along with it. Something about the god Vulcan coming here with someone...not sure on all the details...maybe next year I'll be able to relay them more.

Not much new to report about this week. The semester is still going well. I like my classes and the way I have everything arranged. I have a lot more free time away from campus where I can get my work done, which is quite a relief. No big plans for the weekend. Going to my friend Burt's tomorrow night for a movie night with fellow Anthropology TAs.

Next week, Linda, the girl who moved in across the hall from me and also Burt's girlfriend, and I are throwing Charles Darwin a 200th Birthday party. It will be pretty dorky with various evolution themes and references, but should be a good time.

Have a great week all!

The Ball is Rolling!

Before I get started with the update, I want to share an article recommended to me by a friend. I watched a documentary recently called Beyond Belief (about two women who's husband's were killed on 9/11 and decide to do something positive about it and help Afghan women who are also widows from violence), and have become interested in what is going on with the average citizen over there. I thought that this was another interesting case of someone helping the people over there, in this case, Afghan youth. Enjoy!

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On to the update. I've officially been through an average week in my new semester and the future looks bright! I am taking Anthropological Archaeological Theory, Pagans and Christians 100 to 430 AD, and Artifact Analysis. I honestly can't remember the last time I felt this inspired about my field and that I could actually contribute some new ideas to current body of knowledge. Its a really good feeling :) The semester is going to be a lot of work and I have a lot of reading each week, but I'm going strong so far!

I am teaching two lab sections again this semester. My kids are really great, such an improvement from last semester! They answer questions, pay attention, and understand the material...its wonderful! I am so excited to teach them!

In other news... I went to my first ever wrestling match last week. It was interesting to watch and to try to figure out the rules since I know nothing about the sport. It looked painful being stretched and pulled like they were. I was amazed at how much strategy was required, a simple placement of the arm could make or break one's lead. Interesting, though I don't think I'd want to go again.

I received and AeroGarden for Christmas. I decided to plant flowers first, just to make sure I get the hang of it before I try herbs or veggies. It is doing really well and gives me hope that I will be able to actually grow things in my apartment again. Its nice to see something green and alive everyday when it is so cold and snow covered outside... Here are some pictures of my little indoor garden so far :)
















Nothing else much to report. I'm going to the Winter Carnival tonight over in St. Paul. Hopefully I wont freeze my cheeks off (either set). We were supposed to get our end of January heatwave this weekend (a whole 30 degrees), but its not looking promising at a steady 18 degrees outside... I will be sure to post pictures of that next time I post...that is, as long as my camera doesn't freeze...

Spring Semester, Here I Come!

I find it laughable that they term the upcoming semester "Spring" term. Granted we don't have school for most of January, but spring is by no means in sight. I am pretty proud of myself though. For three or four days in a row it was below zero outside and I was comfortable (yes, I wasn't just admiring the cold from my apartment either). We have had a nice high of 20 degrees for the past few days now too --- mmm, toasty. Enough about the nice weather in Minneapolis though.

As I said, the Spring Semester begins this week --- hooray! It couldn't come at a better time. While it is enjoyable and I will be cranky about a week from now, I need a break from my apartment and Netflix. I subscribed when I returned from Michigan and have been quite addicted since. I wont even disclose the number of movies I've watched in the past 1.5 weeks alone.

One of the interesting parts of Netflix is that you can rate movies you have seen too so it can recommend new ones to you. Sad to say, I've ranked over 730 movies. Haha! I knew that I had seen a lot of movies in my lifetime, but I had no idea it was that many! That only includes ones that I have come across on the site too, not ones I've searched for. Terrible. After seeing that it made me realize how much time I waste and how all of those hours could be spent doing something constructive (does blogging count? probably not...). I guess when I think about it though, I am usually doing something else while watching a movie, like finding new recipes or responding to emails.

Speaking of recipes... I have been quite ambitious the past few days in the kitchen. Maybe ambitious isn't the correct word because nothing I made was that difficult, but it sounds impressive I guess... Anyway, this weekend I tackled homemade crackers and corn chips! I'm feeling very domestic at the moment and wanted to see if I could make my own and have them actually taste good. The crackers were a lot of fun. I started with a simple wheat cracker base and added a few extra spices, though I was only working with what I had and have much tastier ideas in mind. I rolled the dough out and used cookie cutters to make shapes instead of plain rectangles. The consistency ended up being similar to Kashi's multigrain/whole wheat crackers or a thicker, less greasy Wheat Thin. I want to give it a few more tries, but I will definitely post my final results as soon as I get them in order.

The corn chips were interesting. The flavor was on, but not the consistency/texture. They were super thin based on the recipe I followed. I have another one I plan on trying soon and again. It sounds like these would be tricky (which is why I said 'ambitious' earlier), but they really are not.

Alright, enough boredem for now. I need a break from the computer and Mea wants her dinner. Until next time...