4 months down

Hi Everyone! See I promised I would put up a new post and prove to you all that I'm alive :-) I have a feeling as the fall and winter go on my posts are sadly going to get a little fewer and farther between. I have been a very busy girl at work lately...over the past couple of weeks...and winter begins dig season, which means I will be traveling a lot more to cover excavations and such.

Let's see... since we last talked I have been working on three different books. (AHH!!) But I should be seeing a prototype for the first kid's book this week which I'm very excited about! I'll let you all know any further details or possible publication date as soon as I know something. I've been doing lots and lots of writing for other books which are also in the works... and this is part of the reason why I have been so horrible at posting blog stuff, writing emails, etc. I do nothing but sit at my computer and type up stuff all day! I edit articles, books, press releases, photos, correspondence and ten million other things every day. Sadly by the time the day is over I don't want to look at a computer or even think about writing anything else. So please forgive me for being a little lax in my communication.

On top of that I'm also trying to take my evenings to study for the GRE which I will be (re)taking on November 3. Please pray for that I do REALLY well on this! I'm applying to PhD programs for next fall and really need to have a kick a$$ score to boost my chances of getting in anywhere. I'm hoping to have between 10-15 programs on my list. So far I have (in no particular order): UofMichigan, Johns Hopkins, UofChicago, Brown, UPenn, Bryn Mawr, Columbia, Princeton, Case Western and possibly UofDelaware, Boston College, Harvard and a couple yet TBD. Really easy schools to get in to right??? yeah... hence me freaking out about my GRE. And it will take me a vast amount of time to get through all of these applications and make sure I put 100% into every one of them. I figure if I ever have a really good shot of getting into a PhD program, this is going to be it. *Fingers crossed*

I am really starting to miss fall. Fall is my favorite season and its killing me not have all the "fall-y" things that I'm used to. I had the same kind of feeling in Memphis but we still did fall activities, like football games and corn mazes and pumpkin carving. Here there is none of that. And on top of that its still in the mid 90s. YUCK! I will be home for my vacation in a little under 2 months!! HOORAY! And cant't wait to have some cool weather. This past week's weather has been rather interesting in Cairo. I was unaware of the annual crop burning that goes on in the Delta, but this past week was evidently the time for this annual event. As a result Cairo was clouded in this thick smoke, ash and pollution that was absolutely disgusting. The gang went out for dinner on Thursday night and we got a table on the outside deck of the restaurant. By the time I got home and took a shower I smelled like I had been sitting next to a campfire all night and I had ash stuck all over me. Gross!! I hope this passes quickly.

Nothing too much else exciting. I get up, go to work, come home, make dinner, maybe watch some TV or a movie and go to bed. Repeat. I also haven't had a weekend off in a couple weeks. I was at a filming all last weekend which kept me very busy. Thankfully I had this weekend off to catch up on rest. Then in two more weeks I'll get another weekend off, yippee!! No plans as of yet to travel anywhere but we might be able to come up with something. I went to Coptic Cairo yesterday with Casey, one of my friends who is sadly heading home for a few months. I'm including some pictures here. I hope you all are doing well and for those of you who are going to be in the Ohio area between Nov. 19 and Dec. 3 please let me know so we can hang out! : )

This was the dome in St. George's church in Coptic Cairo. I'm glad it came out because the church had almost no lighting.

And here's St. George with the dragon. I'm a little sad we weren't there at night because his spear was wrapped with white rope light. I'm sure it looks awesome in the dark! hehe

Meghan....like the car

So I've been in Egypt for a little over 3 months now. The first day I was in the office I was taken around and introduced to everybody and there was somewhat of an issue over saying my name. Most people have been calling me Maggie, because that was the first person to have my job. But there have been several people who say... "Meghan?...like the car?" I had absolutely no idea what they were talking about, but about a week after I had been in Cairo I saw a Megane driving down the road. So from then on I found myself saying, "I'm Meghan...like the car."

There are a bunch of people at the office that have Meganes. This one was conveniently parked outside the other day and I had to snap a picture. I mean how often does one have a car named after them??

Ramadan Karim!

To say that I was a little trepidatous over the first day of Ramadan is an understatement. I have never known anyone who celebrated Ramadan, never really knew to much about the goings-on of Ramadan apart from what was reported in the news, and I had certainly never been in a predominantly Muslim country during Ramadan. So I went in to this new holiday not really knowing what to expect. But so far, so good.

First off, don't worry I am not starving to death and yes I can get food. While many many stores are closed during the daylight hours, grocery stores still remain open. So no worries there : )

Secondly, I've been asked...what exactly is Ramadan? How is it celebrated? In a very shortened version, Ramadan is a month of fasting for all people of Islam. From sun-up to sun-down you can't consume food or water, you also can't smoke, have sex, or partake in any other vice-like activity. To give you an idea...sun-up is considered at the first call to prayer, which is at 4:30AM and you break your fast at the 6:45-7PM call to prayer. During the evening hours, all bets are off. People can eat and drink as much as they want. The overlying purpose of Ramadan is to make people aware of the suffering of the poor, particularly those who go without food or water on a daily basis. Ramadan Karim (meaning literally, "generous Ramadan") is a common greeting during this month and points to the fact that those who are able should be generous during this time.

One of the big focuses of Ramadan is the iftar, the meal which breaks the fast every evening. Traditionally the first thing you're supposed to eat is dates because that's what the Prophet Mohamed ate after his fast. Fresh fruit juice also seems very popular around here, particularly coconut, tamarind and pomegranate juice. We grabbed a "juice bag"... a bag full of a bottle of each of these juices the other night and they're delicious! Many community organizations, neighborhoods, mosques, etc. sponsor iftars. Some are geared towards the poor so that they can have a nice meal at the end of the day, and others are very lavish affairs. I'm hoping that I get invited to an iftar at some point during this month just so I can see what its like.

Now you may be thinking... this sounds like such a sober, somber holiday. Everyone must be very depressed and grouchy over not being able to eat. While its true that some people are a little more snappy (the boss included... I wouldn't do well without my morning coffee either!) I have been truly amazed by how people seem to go out of their way to be a little nicer, a little more generous, and even a little happier during this month. And there are some truly beautiful Ramadan decorations! The traditional decoration for Ramadan is a fanus, or lantern. Just like Christmas trees, fanus run the gamut from being very simple and plain to being super huge, glitzy and fancy. One of my Egyptian co-workers gave me my first fanus! I was so excited!! Its silver with small rounded windows with pink covered glass. I still have to find a candle that will fit inside of it but for right now its sitting on the table next to my bed where it can catch the light from my lamp. There are fanus "christmas tree" lights that people hang strings of from their houses, a lot of prominent homes have really big fancy ones that they set out on their front porch, and the hotel across the street has decorated the front of their building with light-up stars, crescent moons, and fanus. A lot of the streets have also criss-crossed the alleyways with silver and gold garland. Its very festive : ) To get an idea of what the fanus look like go here.

All in all, while I was not sure what to expect by Ramadan I have found it to be a really nice holiday. I feel bad eating at work... Beth, Steph and I try to eat as quietly and quickly as we can and we keep water out of sight. If I get invited to an iftar I will fast for that day, just so I can get the full experience. I also thought about trying to fast while at work just as a sign of solidarity to my co-workers. I don't know if I can go without water during the day though. That has actually been a very large concern across the Middle East this year. Since Ramadan is falling smack in the middle of the summer, many people are worried about dehydration. Rania of course has been very quick to point out that Ramadan is not meant to make you sick. If you need to eat, you eat. If you need to drink water, you drink water.

I look forward to what the rest of the month has in store. I think we could all take a lesson from Ramadan and focus on being a little more generous and identifying with those who have so little. How very blessed so many of us are to have an over abundance of so many things. Ramadan Karim everyone!

Tonight is a mac and cheese kind of night

For those of you who know me, you are all too familiar with my addiction to mac and cheese. Its my comfort food, my... i'm going to sit down, eat this, and have a zen moment... kind of food. And I have no qualms with telling you all that my go to mac and cheese is Kraft Velveeta Sharp Cheddar...yep straight out of a box. No snobbery involved. Although, I was majorly craving a homemade batch of Bobbie's mac and cheese today! (Can I put in a request for that when I come home, please?) At any rate, in the immortal words of Simon and Garfunkel... when I'm weary, feeling small, when tears are in my eyes... I go to mac and cheese. (ok maybe the song didn't quite go like that, but you get the point)

I think this week has brought on my first real pang of homesickness. I knew it was going to come at some point, it was just a matter of time. Of course reading over the previous blogs reminds me why I'm so very lucky and excited to be here. But I'm still getting really tired of constantly being smacked in the face with the realization that I am a stranger in a strange land. The second I walk out of my building I am stared out and I am continually stared at, and commented at (sometimes nice comments: "You are so beautiful" to not so nice comments: "American whore"), and sometimes hissed at. I really look forward to coming home and being ignored! This past weekend also placed me in a complete new and not so welcome scenario... I was really really looking forward to a vacation to Alexandria. Yes, the Alexandria that had the lighthouse and the library (there's a very fancy new modern library there now). But its also the Alexandria that is located directly on the coast of the Mediterranean. In fact the city stretches out for miles along the coastline and its beautiful. I figured that I would get a nice relaxing break from Cairo, listen to the waves lapping on the shore, get a tan and cool off in the Med. No such luck. Instead it seems that women are not allowed to enjoy the beaches of Alexandria...unless of course they're fully clothed. The only women I saw on the beach were covered head to toe and worse than that the private beach of our hotel backed right against the main road where an eager crowd of onlooking men sat waiting to unleash they're disgusting and lewd comments on any poor unsuspecting female. No thank you!! It turned out that the highlight of the trip was the food. For those of you who are seafood lovers and even for those of you who are not... the seafood in Alex is unbelievable! I do not like shrimp...at all! but I full shrimp here, legs and all, and loved it. I also navigated my way through eating an entire fish for the first time. I couldn't quite get over the fact that they were staring at me the entire time though.

Aside from that I have had some good moments in the past few weeks. Like, I turned in the text of my first book this week! :-) The book is now off to be formatted but Sandro (my Italian boss... the one who pays my salary and brings me bottles of Italian wine occasionally) assures me that his print house wants to get the book printed and on the shelves ASAP. I'll keep you all posted. Another awesome event was meeting my cousin Zack for the first time ever! (Hi Zack!) It turns out that Zack was studying Arabic in Cairo this summer and we met up last week for pizza. It was great to meet him and to learn about a whole chunk of my family that I haven't seen or talked to. Zack is going to Brown and will be a sophomore next year. I told him that I would give me right arm to go to Brown for my PhD and that if we both end up at the same school we will then have absolutely no excuse to not talk to each other. I walked away that night thinking... how completely random it is that it took moving all the way to Cairo for me to meet my cousin. Its funny how things work out sometimes.

Ram-sphinx Avenue outside Karnak Temple

OH! and as promised here are some shots from the whirlwind trip to Luxor mentioned in my previous post.

Mortuary temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahri

The west bank of Luxor at sunrise

The gangs all here! At Luxor Temple (we're all imitating Ramesses 'cause he's so cool)
From L to R: Rob (Steph's husband), EB, Alana, Alana's mommy, Nina (Alan's cousin), Me, Ashley,
Yasser, Rania, Josh, Katy, Beth, Steph, Damien (Beth's boyfriend)

I want my mummy...

Sorry for not being better about updating everyone in the past couple of weeks! I've been very busy at work and this past weekend I was completely out of computer contact because the office traveled to Luxor.

Let's see where did I last leave off... OK so you all know about my job news. Yay! And I just got my first paycheck which is a double yay!!

Life around the office hasn't been too crazy. Especially this past week since Dr. Zahi has been on a press tour for "Chasing Mummies". On a side note... if any of you watch this show please don't think that any of those people actually work for us or that Dr. Zahi actually acts like that. Its ridiculously awful reality television and from what I hear about 90% of it was staged...and badly staged at that. The show just premiered last night and I have been inundated with hate mail ever since. Basically just don't mention "Chasing Mummies" in my presence haha

I hope everyone has gotten my pictures from Kodak. My apologies for the confusion over Facebook and Flickr. The best part about Kodak is that it will allow you to sign up for an account and buy my photos if you so choose. I know I've received comments from a few people about wanting to do this. Hope you enjoy them :-)

The trip to Luxor was phenomenal, I'll have to write a more detailed post later when I have time. It was a crazy whirlwind two day trip but it was very much worth it. Unfortunately it has also completely exhausted me and I haven't been able to focus on half of the projects I was hoping to accomplish in the week that Dr. Zahi was gone. Ah well... at least its the weekend! I'm having everyone over for an American style cookout tonight. Burgers, pasta salad and beer :-) Yummy!

Oh! And for the women readers of this blog, you might appreciate this story and be very thankful that you're not living in Egypt...

So last night, everyone from the office decided to go out for dinner to celebrate Rania's, our Egyptian co-worker, birthday. We went to our first choice restaurant but found out that it had been rented out for the evening. So we moved on to choice number 2. A restaurant which none of us had been to but we heard that it was very good. So we make our way there, walk in and are promptly told by the waiter, "I'm sorry you can all stay but the 'veiled woman' has to leave." We were stunned! I suddenly felt like I had been transported back to the '50s in the south. Rania brushed it off remarkably well although all of us were up in arms about how ridiculous it was that she wasn't allowed in. Rania explained that this is very common and just accepted among Egyptians. There are places that are for foreigners only and places that are for Egyptians only...although in a tourist based economy these are much fewer in number. Of course Egyptian men don't have nearly as many problems because they're not wearing a veil, called a hijab. But when nearly 80% of the female population wear hijabs its just repulsive that restaurants, hotels, etc. can operate under the regulations of "Foreigners Only."

All I can say is God Bless America and the freedoms that we are truly blessed to enjoy!

I'm so excited and I just can't hide it!!

Hi Everybody!
First off, I'm glad you all enjoyed the Sufi photos and I'm sorry that you couldn't all access my photos on facebook. I thought you'd be able to at least see my photo album even if you weren't signed up for facebook. I'll work on finding somewhere else to post all my photos for everyone to see!

The main reason for this post is that I have big exciting news! I'm going to be the editor/co-author for a new series of children's book by Dr. Zahi!!! They're going to be published by Heritage World Press and don't worry I'll be sure to let you know when the first one is out. The first book will be on King Tut but its still in the first draft/rough editing phase. The second one will focus on "How to Become an Archaeologist." I'm still working on the outline for this one. Needless to say I'm super pumped!!! One of the main points of anger amongst my predecessors was that they never got their name on anything they wrote... which is a lot... one of my main job functions as I have come to find out is to function as a ghost writer... but not with these! My name will actually be in print on a real published book! *Insert Meg doing a happy dance here*

I'll keep you posted on further updates. I hope all of you are having a great day and celebrate extra on July 4th for me :-)

Snapshot of Islamic Cairo

This past Wednesday everyone in the office journeyed down to a section of Islamic Cairo normally referred to as Al Azhar (named after the main mosque in this area). The above picture is of the minarets of Al Azhar. The mosque is also right across from the famous Khan el-Khalili market. Pictures of this will have to come later as we didn't actually have time to venture into the market on this trip. Our main purpose was going to get dinner at this very authentically Egyptian restaurant that specializes in pigeon and then going to see a Sufi dancing show. Its so nice to be able to separate yourself from the tourist horde that lingers around this area. There were 10 of us who crowded into this small back alley with rickety card tables and plastic chairs but we were surrounded by Egyptians. None of which bothered us, tried to sell us anything or pester us with "Welcome to Egypt! Where you from?" It was great! As was the dinner that followed. Fresh tomato-cucumber salad, lots of pita bread, tahina, and pigeon for everyone. I also tried this interesting concoction of pigeon broth, lime, salt and pepper. Basically a soup broth but served in glasses as a beverage. It was really good and evidently has medicinal properties similar to chicken soup. And how much was this delicious feast?? About $6... yep, not being a tourist is a wonderful thing.

After dinner we headed over to Wikalat al-Ghouri, the building where the Sufi show would take place. I've seen this performance twice before but will have no problems going to see it again! For those of you not familiar with Sufism go here. Now granted the performance in Islamic Cairo is just that, a performance. Not nearly the same religious ceremony as the Whirling Dervishes, but its a similar concept. At any rate it really is entrancing and beautiful. The performance space itself is incredible. Al-Ghouri is part of a huge complex of mosque, Quranic school, caravan stop and mausoleum. They recently renovated a large section of this and the building used for the Sufi performance is part of the old caravan building. I guess at one point it was also used as housing for Sufis which seems rather appropriate. Today the building is protected under the SCA and is used as an art studio/performance space. It was beautifully restored as you can see from the pictures:

And now pictures of the dancing itself. I'll only include a few here, but for those of you who want to see all the pictures from this trip go to my facebook album here.

These are the two singers that went along with the extremely large group of musicians. I still haven't figured out if they're the same as the muezzin that does the call to prayer in the mosque but they're similar to a non-Egyptian/Islamic ear.