More from the desert
The party on thursday was excellent. I dressed up and felt clean and nice and all that good stuff for a little while at least. I had a few drinks, but definitely not as many as others. We also had bbq chicken, which was tasty but apparently tainted. Friday morning literally HALF the people on the trip woke up really sick. Possibly food poisoning, possibly something else but a lot of people have been quite ill. I've had some stomach cramps and other unpleasantness but for the most part I've been ok.
Friday was relaxing. Those few of us who were not ill went to a pool at a hotel here in Madaba. It was a bit too chilly, but really nice and relaxing and fun. Saturday we had our first field trip to some desert "castles" (not really castles...one was a meeting place, another a kind of resort). Most of them were early islamic era, but one was a Roman era which was then rebuilt by the islams and used by Lawrence of Arabia. It was incredibly interesting and cool, but I had two unfortunate things happen. First of all, I discovered that when my camera says it has half battery power, it lies. My batteries died so I only have pictures of the first two sites. I'm sure everyone else on the trip will share though. The other thing is that I wasn't feeling particularly well...my stomach cramps started in the middle of the day unfortunately. I've been doing better today, but still not 100%.
Today on site there was nothing particularly interesting. We removed some big rocks, generally cleaned the site and took measurements and levels. Levels are pretty cool...basically measuring the height above sea level using some fancy equipment. Too complex to describe here. In lab we learned about washing bones and registering pottery both of which probably sound way more exciting than they are, which should give you an idea of how boring lab tends to be. It's not bad though since the company is good and we usually have decent music going. On that note though, my brother's cd player stopped reading the cds I brought. It's an mp3-cd player and it won't read any burned cd...I have yet to test a regular cd. Fortunately Tory, who sleeps across from me, has a laptop and plays songs for me when I get them in my head.
I seem to have come down from my elated high of the new place. Still doing great but not as freakishly and un-Ellie-like happy as before. I'm sure it'll come back as the last few days just haven't been the greatest. I wish I had time here to read everyone's journals, but the netcafe is kind of expensive for a poor starving student so I try just to stay a half hour at a time. Perhaps one of these days I'll make an extended visit and catch up with everyone so to speak.
I had something else to say but I forget what it was. I hate that feeling. It'll come to me sometime randomly in the middle of the night.
Friday was relaxing. Those few of us who were not ill went to a pool at a hotel here in Madaba. It was a bit too chilly, but really nice and relaxing and fun. Saturday we had our first field trip to some desert "castles" (not really castles...one was a meeting place, another a kind of resort). Most of them were early islamic era, but one was a Roman era which was then rebuilt by the islams and used by Lawrence of Arabia. It was incredibly interesting and cool, but I had two unfortunate things happen. First of all, I discovered that when my camera says it has half battery power, it lies. My batteries died so I only have pictures of the first two sites. I'm sure everyone else on the trip will share though. The other thing is that I wasn't feeling particularly well...my stomach cramps started in the middle of the day unfortunately. I've been doing better today, but still not 100%.
Today on site there was nothing particularly interesting. We removed some big rocks, generally cleaned the site and took measurements and levels. Levels are pretty cool...basically measuring the height above sea level using some fancy equipment. Too complex to describe here. In lab we learned about washing bones and registering pottery both of which probably sound way more exciting than they are, which should give you an idea of how boring lab tends to be. It's not bad though since the company is good and we usually have decent music going. On that note though, my brother's cd player stopped reading the cds I brought. It's an mp3-cd player and it won't read any burned cd...I have yet to test a regular cd. Fortunately Tory, who sleeps across from me, has a laptop and plays songs for me when I get them in my head.
I seem to have come down from my elated high of the new place. Still doing great but not as freakishly and un-Ellie-like happy as before. I'm sure it'll come back as the last few days just haven't been the greatest. I wish I had time here to read everyone's journals, but the netcafe is kind of expensive for a poor starving student so I try just to stay a half hour at a time. Perhaps one of these days I'll make an extended visit and catch up with everyone so to speak.
I had something else to say but I forget what it was. I hate that feeling. It'll come to me sometime randomly in the middle of the night.