Virtually there

I have become a virtual teacher. I am teaching the rudiments of archaeology on an internet course in the open university. In practice this means that the students follow the lectures at three different locations over the country. What is sort of silly is that the students sit in a classroom and listen. So they don't have their own computers and microphones and the interaction part of the lecture is nearly non-existent. The only way to communicate is using the chat function of Connect Pro, the program we use for broadcasting the lectures.For the students, I am a talking head on a screen. For me they are even more unreal. Because they have no microphones, I'm talking into a complete silence which feels very weird. Luckily I can at least see a few of them in a webcam picture, so I know there is somebody out there, but I can't really see their reactions - whether they seem to be interested or bored out of their minds.

Am I witnessing the future of teaching in universities?

Hooray!

My article has been accepted for publication!

Of course I will have to do some editing, but still, this feels like a small victory. And it gives me some hope that maybe, after all, I will get my PhD one day, although not necessarily as soon as I would have wished (if you read my profile carefully you may notice a small but significant change). Oh well, as a past Finnish president said, one has to acknowledge realities.

End of season

The field season is over. I am currently in Amman, trying to get used to the idea of returning home in a couple of days. A month of fieldwork in Jordan is such an intensive experience that I find it hard to orientate myself to the normal life. I am often feeling strangely detached and a little bit blue. Helsinki looks alien and simple tasks like shopping groceries or taking a tram are confusing experiences, not the least because I can't decide what language I should speak.

To sum up the season in Jarash, I met many nice people I hope to keep in some contact with in the future, I learned lots of new things - although not necessarily those things I expected to learn, and I found out that being an archaeologist is still my dream job. In short, I enjoyed this season in Jarash enormously. Thank you everyone who were there with me. Tusen, tusen tack.

Home abroad

It is very good to be in Petra again. This is only a three days holiday in the middle of the excavation season, but it has been nice to see old friends and acquintances. And to move on my own - in Jarash we ladies are not allowed to go to the town without being accompanied by a male member of the team, due to some incident a couple of years back. Also, after spending altogether closer to a year here (in bits and pieces), this place has a certain feeling of being a home abroad. When I left in 2005 I had no idea when, if ever, I'm coming back. I did not quite fall to my knees and kiss the ground, but... yes, it is nice to be here.

After we come back from Petra, the students (and I) are being rotated to new squares. I might even get to do a little sounding of my own. I'm very excited about that! My previous fieldwork experience in Jordan has been almost exclusively survey, so this has all been new to me. Although of course most excavation skills are transferable to almost any environment. Speaking of which, I got to do my first Harris matrix since my own fieldschool in 1995 yesterday. Heh.

See Jarash and fry

Back in Jordan for the first time in almost three years. For those who haven't read the previous entries, or just forgot, I volunteered in a Danish-Jordanian excavation project. We are digging the remains of an early Islamic mosque, a Byzantine bath house and various other buildings just in the crossroads of the Cardo and the South Decumanus, so drop to visit if you happen to be walking past.

To tell about the conditions here in just a few words because the connection is really slow: The people are nice and the food is excellent - I have developed a taste for Near Eastern cooking over the years, provided there is some variation from the chicken&rice theme. The accommodation is not bad, by excavation standards - we have showers and toilets although of course water is scarce and the toilets do not flush but that is not really a problem. So far in the square I'm working in we have been just removing mixed layers of recent topsoil. The work is hot, dirty and backbreaking and far from glorious, which seems to come as a bit of a disillusionment for the field school students on their first dig. :)

So I am alive.

Indiana Jones' retirement

Warning, there be spoilers.

Let's start with a disclaimer: with a slight embarrassment I confess to being a fan of the Indiana Jones movies, so everything I write here should be seen in relation to that. Besides, I've always had a soft spot for Indy and Han Solo. OK, so now you know my dark secrets, let's continue.

Due to spending most of the summer either abroad or in our summer home away from the silver screens it took me this long to go watch the last Indiana Jones. After waiting for at least a decade and after all the disparaging comments I had heard about the movie from those who had already seen it, my hopes were not high. Therefore it was maybe easy to be pleasantly surprised. Not by the twists and turns in the movie, which could be foreseen easily enough, and combined every trick ever seen in the previous three movies put all together - catacombs, waterfalls, pits, skeletons, snakes and other creepy-crawlies, not to mention lots of very bad shooting by the bad guys.

While watching the movie I got the feeling that old friends had just gathered together to have some fun. But in my opinion the movie was quite entertaining, and when you get to the bottom of it, that is what Indiana Jones movies are about (although in the beginning they had managed to put in a few jibes at the present rule of the US). And honestly, folks, if you want to watch a French art film, you don't go to watch Indy, do you?

The best joke of the movie was probably unintentional. :)

The young guy says to Indy : - So you're a teacher?
And Indy replies: - Part time.
So even if you are Indiana Jones, you only get a part time job!

Btw, it was somehow very disturbing that the commie doctor spoke in the voice of Lady Galadriel. Cate Blanchett seems to have certain mannerisms.

I also noticed that there will be a new Mummy, starring Brendan Fraser (who is not half as sexy as Harrison Ford) and Jet Li, coming later this year. Apparently the terracotta army comes alive! This is a must!

Rafting on the river of Hades

Time flies, one week has already gone past. We work from the break of the day until the sunset, except for a four hours break for siesta in the afternoon. My job here is pretty boring to be honest, just augering to get soil samples. When I tried to show more interest, immediately after we came here, I was told (not quite in these exact words, but the message was this) that it is not my work here to think. Oh, great. Can you hear my motivation soaring?

So, instead of thinking, I went rafting on River Acheron today with some people from our field team. As you may or may not know, Acheron is the river of Hades. We managed to avoid the three-headed dog (well, actually he only had one head and looked pretty lame) and were safely back on the shore when I realized Kharon had extracted a payment for the trip, after all: my phone in its presumably water-tight plastic bag was dripping wet. I hope the ferryman will enjoy it as much as I did, in case it does not miraculously return to life.

But in case you try to text me, here is the explanation to why your messages are not getting through.