Cairo News

Hello to you all from sunny Cairo! Yes it seems I won't be needing my thermals for a few weeks as the weather is really warm and lovely. Sometimes you can't see the sun for the haze of pollution, but you can still feel its presence.

Well, i survived the plane trip, despite being trapped in the middle up the very back, two stopovers and an engine malfuncion in Dubai. Yes....my adventures almost ended before they began! No anxiety attacks though! Probably thanks to the beer I drank so it seems I am destined for a beer belly! I don't remember Laura Croft having one though!

I don't know even where to begin to describe Cairo. I haven't had a chance to explore it properly yet because I've been working, but it is a very intense place. Just think of the entire population of Australia in a city the size of Sydney, and then add no order or sense of logic and you can perhaps begin to understand. I am quite perturbed by some of the issues here, like rubbish disposal and hygiene, something that is just part of our way of thinking, yet here it is just not understood or cared about. For example to get to this internet cafe I had to walk through puddles of piss and dodge piles of waste...and this area is very modern and full of ex-pat's. Oh... and you should see the cars. They don't have any road rules, traffic lights... it is like riding the dodgem cars. Last night we went out for dinner and our taxi got a flat tyre (not unusal here) and then the next one we jumped in had a stuffed gear box! They don't take care of anything and just drive them without checking the oil or putting water in the radiators so they break down all the time. Did I mention the stench of petrol that overwhelmes you as you are travelling along???.. by the time you reach your destination you are as high as a kite. I'll probably have to go into rehab to kick the habit when I get back.

The work itself is really full on. Long days running around the dig site and then trying to get through the ever mounting pile of object photography to do. The head of the dig, Dr Khoeler is an excellent boss though. Very easy to approach and no question is deemed too stupid, so I feel like I'm not doing this blindly. The rest of the team are really lovely, very much a 'archaelogist in club mentality' that I am yet to break through (half the time I have no idea what they are talking about), but I am a new addition so I expect to be a little on the outter until I get to know everyone a little better. It is just a hard thing to do when we are all exhausted by the end of the day!!!

Anyway, I must go now...love to you all, I miss you guys!!!!
Love, George