back in nyc

i have to admit it is good to be home.

the no smoking signs spattered across the whole of the city brings a swell of emotion and national pride something akin to old glory swaying in the wind.

france was good. the field season was relatively successful. we found a heap of large mammal bones. no primates, but we did unearth an entire horse. well...when i say entire, i mean all except the head. it appears this site has a growing number of headless mammal species. the horse was a very cool find but we had to exhume most of it in one big plastery block on the last day of work which was kind of a pain in the ass. the horse weighed about as much in this state as it did in real life if not slightly more. a creative system of logs strung together and the brute strength of 10 people carried our little marie antoinette over a substantial distance with only a few stops. i think the horse still split down the middle though. i don't think it felt anything.

i was utterly shocked and admitedly dissapointed by the drinking ethic of my fellow diggers at our site. they had none. it has been beaten into my brain that nothing is more satisfying after a long day of excavation than a beer-even a warm miller lite- if not several. this opinion was not shared by the college aged french students (and one american student). at dinner there was wine that none of my contemporaries consumed. i finally broke down out of contempt for this blasphemy and was the only student to consume the mediocre table wine with our older company. take that o youth of the clean living.

my french was not quite as acceptable as i had hoped it would be, and therefore felt embarrassed when i tried to speak it and guilty when i didn't. so i kept relatively quiet and read a lot over the month. it was fabulous. aside from the two dan brown novels (yeah yeah they were poorly written but they kept my mind occupied with decent stories) i read 'me talk pretty one day' by dave sedaris, 'everything is illuminated' by jonathon safran foher, 'american gods' by neil gaiman, and i have gotten half way through 'skinny legs and all' by tom robbins.

i am already missing and not missing french cuisine. while i enjoyed the food immensely i began to worry that i would become immense from enjoying too much food. luckily our bathroom scale is of the notion that i haven't gained any weight since i left. this is shocking as i ate far more food than i expended energy. i did bring back some coffee which makes me happy. and jittery. i do love the french notion that coffee should be consumed at all times.

the minute i was in germany was also good. i was in bonn for about 3 days (only one of which wasn't spent traveling) for a conference. the conference was alright and the beer was spectacular. unfortunately i didn't have enough time for pictures in germany. someday....

i'm happy to be back to some state of clean normalcy though. it is great to be able to wear a different pair of clothes aside from two dirty pairs of pants and five dirty t-shirts. i am also ecstatic to be reunited with my cat again. and internet. and air conditioner.

but alas. thursday will bring more travel. i will be returning to texass for a few weeks to visit family, friends, and participate in my first wedding. not my first wedding but the first wedding of a friend in which not only am i invited but have to be a bride's maid. oh the fun begins. aside from my weariness of traveling i'm looking forward to seeing people i care about in that silly state.

anyway. back to unpacking, packing, and attempting to finally clean my room. i look forward to catching up on everyone's blogs!