So today Brandon and I got up and headed up to Polis, a 2 1/2 hour drive. Polis is in the northwest corner of the island and is a very picturesque little community. We are going to spend a week there working on a couple of different research projects. First we packed up the car, which is interesting since we are never rolling in the green we always rent small cars. And I mean small cars. The guy who set me up with my rental car bumped me from a 1.0 liter to a 1.2 liter Hyundai i-10. It can barely hold 2 adults and their luggage. Anyway, it was an uneventful drive, despite having to drive a stick shift on the left side of the road.
When we got to Polis, we went to the dig house and the project’s foreman brought us a 
set of keys for the house. Then we hit a major, and I mean a major roadblock – there is no internet at the dighouse anymore. This led to a lot of talk about canceling the work at Polis and heading back to Larnaka….well, not any serious talk…….ok, maybe some of it was serious. Anyway, this called to mind an incident three summers ago when after we finished our summer work at Polis, we spent a few days in Larnaka and the hotel we stayed at had an issue with internet connectivity on the third floor (our floor). A colleague, who will stay nameless, had a major breakdown about the internet that led him to a screaming tirade that concluded with him screaming that if they have the internet on the space shuttle, how can they not have it here?
After deciding to bravely push forward with the season, despite the lack of internet at the dighouse, we went to the Museum to meet with the staff, collect the key for the project’s apotheke (store room or building) where some of our pottery is stored, and discuss our plans for looking at pottery stored at the museum. The meeting went well, the staff is always friendly and helpful. The meeting did cause me to think since I came to Cyprus this summer right after finishing grading, attending graduation, running around to get things for my trip, and packing for the trip the morning I left – in essence always on the go. In Cyprus, things are more laid back. When we arrived at the museum, the staff insisted that we first join them for coffee/lemonade and discuss how things were going before getting down to business, which included local issues, world politics, and how things were back in the States. This really helped fill me with a sense of calm and peace….until I remembered that we have no freaking internet!
For lunch we out to the Yiolos restaurant, which has a chicken and halloumi sandwich that is awesome, best sandwich on the island. The chicken is marinated according to a secret recipe (I assume secret since when I asked last year for the recipe they would not give it to me) and very tender. After lunch we went to the apotheke to make sure everything we needed was there and to set up a work space for the next few days. It gave me a chance to try out my new magnifying visor for looking at ceramics. It is what the cool kids are wearing this summer.
What became clear to me today was how much I use the internet. There were several times today when I reached for my iPad or my laptop to look up something online, check some info in an email someone sent me, or open something from my dropbox/google drive/IUP personal drive and realized that I have become very dependent on having constant access to the web. And I don’t mean checking scores or my email, or looking up a fact online to settle a bet (though there was some of that). My research and work dealing with the history department/university is scattered in different places that I access via the internet instead of having it all reside in one place. I guess I need a hotspot that works worldwide, now if I can just find someone to pay for that…
RSM
Ancient History Ramblings 