“Look at the little birdie and say cheese!”
Category: Syria
“Just a trim – I’m trying to grow it out”
It doesn’t matter where you go in the world, some things are universal. Especially when it comes to the minds of children and what they like to do for fun. Many little girls, and little boys, love to play with hair and create all kinds of fun unique styles. They have an assortment of brightly …
Bend it like Bakhit: Pick-up soccer with the locals
I dedicate this post to my fellow Ladybugs (if you're unfamiliar with the reference Google it) and to my Dad who spent every Sunday driving all over the state to away games where he coached us Ladybugs with much patience and encouragement. I consider myself to be a fairly decent soccer player, well I was …
Continue reading Bend it like Bakhit: Pick-up soccer with the locals
Chillin’ like a Villian in the Vill-age
'Rollin' down the street with my homies sippin' on gin and juice. Laid back.'
Abed 2 and the Magic Laser Crystal Meter Staff
On a dig, it always takes a bit longer to establish a good working relationship with the teenage workers than the older people. On my excavations in the Middle East, there have always been a few guys between 15 and 18 who are trying to establish themselves in the world as competent adults while still …
Continue reading Abed 2 and the Magic Laser Crystal Meter Staff
Faiz the Funny Man
There’s one of them in every group – the funny guy. The class clown. The guy that makes jokes and falls down just to get a laugh. In our own shabab this was Faiz. Faiz the Funny Man. In archaeology, sometimes there are really long days being outside in the hot Middle East sun …
Bell Bottoms and Bride Prices
- aka my friend trying to sell me for a dowry to a guy with pants I wish I was cool enough to own in 1998.
Trasha and the Shabab
It’s time to introduce our shabab! I love this photo. It shows what the majority of the Syrian people believe in and want - peace. Even long before the war. Rasha and I combined our names and called our excavation trench ‘Trasha.’ It was so much more fun to say than ‘Area B Square …
Tahir the Turkey
Gobble gobble gobble! In honor of Thanksgiving and a celebration of refugees fleeing persecution finding a new home in America, today I post about an animal I met in Syria. Tom Tahir the Turkey came by my excavation trench often. He would waddle over and puff out his meaty breast taunting me with deliciousness. My workers …
The Road to Syria
The road to El Dorado may be paved in gold but unfortunately that’s not the norm for the rest of the world. I could be overly dramatic here and say something like “the road to Syria is paved in blood” but it's not. Technically the road I know is paved in dirt. And probably …
Little camera hogs hamming it up
The little kids loved to get their pictures taken. They would come out and make the 'camera click' motion with their fingers and then pose. They all wanted to be front and center. I think the littlest one didn't know what to make of it but he had to follow along with his siblings. Looking …
Rasha and the girls
I first met my friend Rasha when I was in Syria in 2010. We were co-square supervisors excavating a tripartite building and spending our days documenting what felt like a never ending number of sling bullets. Five years later Rasha and I are still friends and now we even live in the same city working …
Most Adorable Archaeologist EVER
To continue my positive Syria and Middle East, I'm going to start with the kids. This is my little digger buddy! He would come out and help me with my excavating. I don't think he recorded his bevel rimmed bowl sherds correctly but he got pretty good with the brush. We gotta start them young! …
Save the Children
I am utterly disgusted by the ignorant bigoted Islamophobia I have been seeing on Facebook against refugees since the Paris terrorist attacks. Innocent children are not terrorists. Innocent Syrians, or any Muslim people, are NOT ISIS. ISIS attacks its own way more than than anyone else. To counteract all of the fear mongering and ignorance, …
Tracy's Middle East 