A little more details

It is now time for the long-awaited story. I'm sorry to keep you waiting so long for this, it's been a week since it happened now. Hard to believe.

So, as y'all know. I was pretty sick last Monday-Wednesday. And on Wednesday, my computer also got sick. And then Thursday, the camera I used for the excavation also got sick. So, Friday afternoon was the day set aside for some surgeries/transplants. First we went shopping to Tiberias, and then lunch, then the Schulers took a nap. The first surgery was the easier of the two, the camera which just needed a little of the super glue we got from Tiberias. Next came taking out my hard drive, putting it into Andrea's computer to get some of the information off. We put all of My Documents onto his extra hard driver thinger, and then a few documents onto my jump drive. Then, he realized that I had too many programs starting with my computer, running in the background, and some that I didn't use because I didn't know what they were. So, we went through that process. Shutting it down and turning it back on to see how it was doing. And it helped to speed up my computer when it was turned on. So, satisified that we had done enough we shut it down, took the hard drive out and put Andrea's back in her computer, and mine back in my computer. Dr. Schuler turned it over and said something to the effect of, "Sometimes when a computer that's been broke is off for a couple days, I like to turn it on just in case." He pushed the power button, and after the screen staying black he goes to push the button to shut it off. But just the, it starts up. Dr. Schuler's arms shoot up, and even wave around a little bit as he yells, "IT'S HEALED!!" Everyone inside starts laughing. And I know there was more to it, but I don't remember all of it now. The one other comment that I do remember was Dr. Schuler when I was taking my computer saying, "Now, Amanda, if you see a swarm of pigs run into the Sea of Galilee...you know why."

Sadly, my computer wasn't fully healed. It is still dying. But next Tuesday or Wednesday I'll be bringing it to the Help Desk. I'm not sure how that will go down, but soon we will be able to tell.


Now a little bit of information on this last Sunday. We woke up, had breakfast, and then went to Redeemer Lutheran Church in the Old City. A lot of, if not all of, the students were very frustrated with the fact that if we weren't up at the site, we just wanted to go home, but there wasn't a flight for a week. After church we went back to the hostil and had a meeting. From there, it was decided that we were not going to tour Jerusalem while waiting to get a flight, we were going to go to Tel Aviv and see if we could accomplish more from the airport. We had to check out quickly. Even though it was after the check out time, they weren't charging us for another day, so we had to move quickly. We took 4 taxis to get us to the bus station. At the bus station we unloaded the taxis and waited for everyone to show up. We had to go through security before we could go in. It was there that I discovered there are still gentlemen in the world [even if their numbers are few]. I had my 2 large suitcases and 2 carry-ons, and a young man behind me helped me with my large suitcases. Then Rhoda went and got us tickets, and after she came down we made our way up to the third floor to our spot. She thought that we had an hour before it left, but we ended up having about 5 minutes. We had to load our stuff under the bus, which was already pretty full on the one side. And then load the bus, which was also pretty full. A couple people had to stand. I was going to stand, but Kody offered me his seat. Then, once we got to Tel Aviv, we had to go through our bags being checked. Then we got on our next bus, which we thought would bring us right to the airport. But we were wrong. We were let off at a bus stop, got our stuff out, and then got on a bus where our luggage had to go on with us. And then we were at the airport. Most of us then got luggage carts to move our stuff around. Then began the search for getting a flight out. Which involved Rhoda calling and looking for people to talk to. Arny went and looked up all the flights that were going somewhere that we should be able to easily get to the United States. And then he took me on the next mission to find out the numbers within the airport to call the airlines that those flights were for. Since I had flight insurance, my parents used the 24-hours emergency hotline and got me on a flight for 11:55pm. In our search of looking around, we found out we could go into part of the airport without going through security. And there was a McDonalds back there. So I got to bring people in shifts to get supper. I ordered 2 regular hambugers, thinking they'd be like the ones you order in the states [ya know, the ones that are from the kid's meals]. But no, one hamburger was about the size of my head. Ok, maybe just a little bit smaller than my head. I couldn't eat 2, so I gave my second to Arny, who hadn't decided if he was hungry or not.

After more waiting, time to go through security to board my plane came. The youngest of our group was going first. Rhoda helped me go through security, and up to getting a ticket. Halfway through, we found out that Jessica had managed to get a ticket on the same flight. We thought she also had the same one from Newark to Minneapolis, but we found out later that we were wrong. After getting the boarding passes, and finding out that I did have a seat I waited for Jessica to go through and get her boarding passes. After that, we said our goodbyes to our group and made our way to Passport Control and then Security for our carry ons [or perhaps it was vise versa]. Then we walked back to our gate and just sat and talked for awhile. That's when we found out that I was on a Northwestern flight to Minneapolis, and she was on a Contenintal flight an hour later. So, I was going to have to go through customs [quickly to make my next flight] alone. And I wasn't 100% sure what was going on even though Rhoda had talked me through it. Then it was time to board, and so Jessica and I parted ways since we were on different parts of the plane.

When I got to my seat, I found that I was in the middle this time. And I set my bag down. Sat down and prayed that God would guide me through all of this, and help me not to worry, to just stay calm and let everything work out to get to my next flight. Then the lady with the window seat came, so I had to get out so she could sit down. And then we started talking. She had just spent 6 weeks at a school that was in Jersualem [I forget the name]. She had 2, 3-week classes. Both involved "field work" of going around Israel and visiting different sites. It was interesting to hear about. Then, a girl behind me asked if she had heard right that I was from the Hippos excavation. She was from the Hafia team, and had left the dig Thursday and was wondering what was being in regards to evacuating. Then it came time to take off, and I tried to sleep as much as I could. I watched CSI once again. But I watched the CSI, and CSI: Miami episode then went to sleep figuring I'd watch the CSI: NY later. Well, when I later watched the CSI: NY, I missed like the last 10-20 minutes because it was time to land. [I watched part of Aquamarine too, and I thought it was pretty good] So, if anyone knows what happened on the CSI: NY episode with porcelain dolls, where the doll holds the secret of a little girl...I'd love to know what happened. Anywho, the lady sitting next to me was quite the blessing. Because when we got off, she made sure that I not only made my way through all of the customs stuff, but was able to find the way to switch terminals. And I made it to my next gate with a few minutes to spare.

The flight from Newark-Minneapolis was obviously a smaller plane, but it was bigger than the one we had from Minneapolis-Newark. I slept most of the flight there. Then, getting to my next gate in Minneapolis was quite a bit of walking. I found my way there, and read quite a bit. Then decided that I'd grab an early lunch [especially since it was supper time in Israel, and I was getting hungry]. I went to an A&W and then back up to my gate. I had almost 5 hours of waiting for my next flight in the Minneapolis airport [which is longer than it would have taken to drive up north]. I called my mom to let her know that I was there, and my grandma as well. It was kind of funny because at a couple of the gates there were a few soliders waiting, but it wasn't nearly as many Israeli soliders we'd seen on the buses from our trip to Tiberias and then to Tel Aviv. And when it was almost time for our flight, there ended up being something wrong with the plane...so we had to switch gates to switch planes. So they expected a 15 minute delay. Then, we got there and had to switch gates within 5 minutes. But that gate was our last one. But a lot of people were coming from the flight after it, and it was a little hectic. I thought it was kind of funny as people were commenting that they were getting frustrated. I have to admit it wasn't fun moving back and forth, but it wasn't nearly as bad as some of the events of the last couple days. It wasn't too long before it was time to board the flight. It was a very small plane, and I did not like it. I was all the way in the back. I was supposed to be up one row, but someone read their ticket wrong and so I said that since there was an empty row I'd just sit there instead of having them move. It was a pretty short flight. When I got off and walked inside to the building, my mom and dad were there waiting for me with cameras. We had to wait awhile for the lugguge to be brought in. I found out that I'm not as important to my little sister as her boyfriend. Evidently, it's a much bigger deal to go to the cities for 2 days [which ended up being 1], then to come back to the country after being gone for 2 weeks. So she needed to spend time with him. As we got in the van, we got a call for permission from the school to give out my information to the media that kept calling. Then we drove to Duluth, and ate at the Olive Garden. And then came home. I had wanted to watch "Aladdin" for a few days, but when we started watching it, I started to fall asleep. So then it was bed time. I did finish it the next day.

One thing that I've discovered since being home is that my dad is a blog junkie. He checks all of our blogs from virtual dig a few times a day.

Another thing I've discovered is that there are a lot of people who care about me. Those that were on the excavation with me, family, people from our church, and people just in our community. Monday and Tuesday we got quite a few calls to find out if I was home alright or what was going on. And yesterday, I even got a call from where I have had physical therapy. My mom also had a list of people [including pastors from the area] that she needed to call when I landed in the Hibbing/Chisolm airport.

Many people that I talk to say the same thing, "You're part of history now." or "You were there when history happened."

Thursday, we got the information of the changes in the syllabi for the courses that I was taking with the excavation. I have a lot to finish in the next week and a couple days.

Well, that's all I can think of to say for now.

Home

It's been almost 24 hours since I've been home, but posting a blog to keep everyone updated is not one of the first things I thought to do.

But I wanted to let everyone who looks on this know, that after a couple of long, exhausting, choatic days...I am home safe. My parents even drove to Duluth after I landed in Hibbing/Chisolm Airport so they could treat me to Olive Garden [which is my favorite restaurant].

I'll share the funny story about my computer later, I have to finish unpacking and lots of fun stuff like that.

I got a ticket to ride!

Ok...so I have a funny story to post later about the healing of my computer...which didn't last for very long. I was going to write about it when it happened, but after discovering the problem isn't entirely fixed and I can't really use my computer...I was too upset to bother. But, let me tell you...you should all be looking forward to hearing about it. [I'm not sure if Cameron or Jessica or maybe even Stephanie have written about it yet] It may be hard to picture, but it was great.

In other news, which I'm sure you've all heard about by now...Tiberias was hit Saturday and so we [as students, along with a couple adult volunteers] were sent to a youth hostel in Jerusalem. Which to say in the least has made a very chaotic and hectic last day and a half or so. We were going to tour around Jerusalem, but none of the students were fond of that. So here I sit in the airport. [more details will follow when I can use my own computer and am not using one being passed among the group]

But, thanks to traveller's insurance...I HAVE A TICKET! That's right, my dad just sent me an email saying that I'm on the 11:55pm flight to Newark, then to Minneapolis, to Hibbing. Around 2:30pm tomorrow I will be in Hibbing. Exciting, eh? [Yes, I still miss them Canadians...but who could blame me?]

Speaking of missing people...that reminds me, I'm gonna miss a lot of the people that we had to leave so quickly from the dig. 4 of the people I didn't even get to know because they got there and a couple hours later we were out of there.

But...I need to pass the computer on, and go and find Rhoda to tell her that my parents got me a ticket for tonight. [insert happy dance here]

Tesseritaville

That’s right. Today I spent my day in Tesseritaville. We had music and everything, so it was like a party down at the mosaics.

First off, tessera is a small square of stone used to make a mosaic. And the work done in Tesseritaville is much different than the work done on the rest of the site. In the squares of the site, large tools are used most of the time. Pick axes, turreahs [kind of like a weird shovel used to scoop dirt into the buckets], buckets. Occasionally, smaller tools such as trowels, dust pans, small pick axes, and brushes are used. But in Tessseritaville, the tools are much smaller. Scalpels and that sort of thing are much more common, as well as paint brushes are the more common tools. Maybe a squirt bottle for seeing the pattern more clearly. Another important tool…knee pads. Although, sometimes they are more of a hindrance than a help. The hard part of Tesseritaville is finding a comfortable position to work in, because it won’t be comfortable for long…plus, you need to watch out that you don’t sit or put your feet on the edge of another section of mosaic. So, the question is: are you going to kneel, or sit facing the area, or sit facing the other way, or squat, or maybe even lay down on your stomach? But, no matter which position you do choose, you will not be in it for very long. And that’s only the first part. Next comes the actual work. While sitting in the position that you have deemed comfortable, it is time to slowly scrape away at the plaster above the mosaic you are trying to get to. You see, there was mosaic floor down, and then just like laying on a new linoleum floor or something…they just put plaster down and put a new mosaic floor on top of it. So the section I was working on was getting the plaster off the bottom layer. Which is slow work. I don’t want to explain how small of a section I got done all day. But the interesting thing was I started to see these black tesserae among the white [there are also red in the Northeast Church for sure, I don’t know about other colors there but in other places there are a wide variety of colors] that weren’t in a line, or in any pattern that I could make out. Part of it was cleared before, and I was revealing a little bit more of it. So, out of curiosity I squirted a little bit of water on it to see what would appear before my eyes. And lo and behold, it said, “Happy Birthday, Nancy!” [In Greek, of course] The people who laid the floor knew that there would be crazy people digging up their flooring nearly 2000 years later, and so they left a message for the mosaic supervisor. Amazing, eh? [I had to add the “eh?” to help us all remember the Canadians. They will sadly be leaving us, some today…some tomorrow. They are amazing people, it was great to get to know them. And I loved the treat they had for us singing “Oh, Canada” last night. But not the regular version. Oh, no. Dan’s wife, Connie, found awesome lyrics off the internet. Thanks for that, Connie, that was great!!]

But back to my story, there was obviously not a birthday message to Nancy in the mosaic, and what the black tessera was, I have no idea. It didn’t look like a normal pattern, but there was way too much that still needs to be uncovered before we’ll be able to truly see what it is.

Today was very windy, which would probably sound like it would be nice. And it did create for being a little cooler. But the amount of dust was crazy. We were eating it all day long.

Photography was very interesting today. Since this seemed to be the week for things breaking for me [my body getting sick, my computer] it only seemed fitting that the excavation camera would choose today to break. We should be able to fix it with some superglue. But for today, I went around changing and setting up the sign, and Dr. Schuler took pictures with his high resolution camera.

And, since I keep talking about me being back up at the site today…I hope y’all can tell that I am feeling much better. My stomach does still hurt a little bit, but I’m pretty much back to normal.

But the question of the day has been, “Amanda, how are you feeling?” I wish I would have begun to count how many times it was asked. Andrea, Cameron, and Stephanie were around many times when people asked…so they began jokingly ask me questions kind of relating to how I was doing. There were multiple people in on this, but here’s kind of how part of it went, “How are you feeling? What are your thoughts on cucumbers and tomatoes? What are your thoughts on food? What do you think about this rock? What about life? Any thoughts on life?” Yeah, lots of fun.

Quote of the day: “She’s a closet crazy.”
[Andrea about me, in relation to those who are more obviously crazy]


And I just had to re-write all of that after losing it the first time [another thing that kind of broke on me, I suppose...], and although I feel like I had a little bit more to say this is going to be the end.

Special Thanks

One thing that I forgot in my last post was to mention all of those kind people who helped me while I've been sick. These are in no real order, but just as I thought of them at about 7am when I started to feel better this morning. And, I'm sure that I'm forgetting a couple of you...sorry!

Rhoda/Regina Logistica -- talking to Dr. Anders; checking up on me; getting me water, juice, crackers, and a popsicle (even if it was too sweet for me to stomach at the time); probably a million other things

Dr. Anders -- telling me what to do, and what not to do; for a house call

Dr. Schuler -- telling me not to go up to the site

President Holst, Dr. Chambers, Dan, Stephanie -- telling me to stop Monday

Tabitha -- for offering me just about anything one can imagine (kool aid, vitamins, a movie, and so much more)

Kody -- for walking with me from the truck to my room, and getting me a Sprite Monday

Kristina -- for keeping an eye on me that I didn't start shaking from the fever

Andrea -- for checking that I was breathing Tuesday mornning

Just about everyone else -- for checking to see how I was doing


-------


I didn't go up to the site again today, which was a good idea once again. 5:30am-7am was no fun for me. But after that, I've begun to feel much better. Sure, I may not be quite to 100% quite yet, but I can hope that tomorrow by 5am I will be. I already know I won't be allowed to dig on my square tomorrow if I do go up, I'll be working on mosiac. I guess that will help me decide if I want to do that the last 2 weeks, or if I'll have more fun digging myself into holes.

Sadly, my computer died last night sometime around 9:30pm. Although it was gone before that, the surgery was unsuccessful with Dr. Schuler operating and Jessica assisting around that time. Thankfully, we'll be able to do a transplant of the hard drive so that we can get the information that I need off of it, and my roommate has offered her computer to be the donor. I almost wish we could have a proper burial for my computer by throwing it into the Sea of Galilee, but I think the Help Desk still probably wants it back.

not so great last couple days

Yesterday, I made a decision that I shouldn't have...I went up to the site knowing that I wasn't feeling up to it. My stomach has not been my friend the last couple days. So, I went up yeterday, worked for maybe an hour on my square and then after hearing many people tell me that I needed to stop before I made myself even more sick...I decided to listen. I then got to sit in the shade for a couple of hours until breakfast, where I couldn't stomach to eat anything. Then after waiting another half an hour to an hour, I got a ride back to the Kubbitz. I took a few naps, and have been trying a lot of fluids. I got a house call from Dr. Anders around pottery cleaning time. I gotta say, it's nice to have a medical doctor here. I wish he wasn't leaving in a couple of days. I was told there was no way I was going up today, and I didn't. Which is a good thing. But because I'm still not up to 100% I'm probably not allowed to go up tomorrow either. Which, considering that I'm starting to feel like I need to make a run for my room at pottery cleaning...is probably a good thing.

But, I wish I could say that was all my bad news. But, alas...seeing as I'm sick, my computer decided to get sick as well. For some reason the button that goes off when the laptop is shut is broke, and so my computer now thinks the laptop is eternally closed. We're trying to get it fixed. [Have some e-mails out to the Help Desk, and such] But for the moment I'm using Andrea's [yay for my roommate!!]. We have a couple people e-mailing for advice on how to get the button to come back up, but we have a back-up plan of taking out the harddrive and having it in another person's computer to get My Documents off of it.

But, I need to run, so
th-th-that's all folks!

Time to Catch Up

It's only been a few days since I've last written, but at the same time...so much as happened. Although a big chunk of it was quite the blur...I'll let you in on as much as I remember at the moment [sure, there may be a few spots missing here and there...and perhaps a few details mixed up...but I'm sure you'll get the idea]

Thursday

Laundry day to many. However, I decided the night before to handwash the stuff that I would need to bring to Jerusalem. I also got a backpack from my loverly roommate, Andrea to bring with to Jerusalem and Bethlehem. But, the day started out as the four that had come before it. Basically get up a little after 4am, rush yourself into getting ready as fast as possible, and getting down to the bus around 4:35 and 4:40. My day was spent in F4 instead of E0 again. Linda [who just happens to be the person who found the gold last year] found a coin in C4. I finally got the routine for pictures down, and it goes a lot faster now [and I haven't run into time problems or forgetting that I set some stuff up for myself but not remembering where I put it]. We had a lot of shifting around in our squre. Krisitina was still taking my spot in E0. Andrea was drawing [her job for the dig]. So it was Rhoda, Jessica, Cameron, and me. Which was good. But then just a few minutes later...Dr. Schuler called Cameron away [which, maybe Cameron is writing about. But he got to organize the tool shed. With no help. It was not a happy day for poor Cameron]. So then it was three. Which is really hard with the routine you need to get down. And then after we got used to it and adjusted, Jessica was stolen to do some surveying things. So it was down to two. Buut...we ended up getting Irene from her square into ours, and things went a lot quicker. The exciting thing of the day was towards the end, when Irene noticed something and Jessica began to exacate it. Now, it's not a complete pot, but it's a huge one. But it's on the edge of the square, and so we're not sure that it will get out this season. The end of the work day was a rush, getting things ready for the weekend. Making sure to move the tarps that provide shade so they don't knock over. Getting the tools back to the tool shed. And of course all the normal end of the day stuff.

Then after getting back to the Kubbitz, we had a little over two hours to get ready to leave for Jerusalem. I didn't even bother changing for once, but just dropped my stuff off and ate. Then was able to take a shower. Packed my bag to make sure I had the minimum of stuff that I would need for the weekend. And all of that fun stuff. We then made it to the bus for our almost 3 hour bus ride to Jerusalem. Although I tried my hardest to stay awake the entire time, I was just too exhausted and slept the first half of the way there. Then, after getting to Jerusalem...we had a nice walk up to the gate from the bus, and down the road to the Austrian Hostel that we stayed at.



























It was sooooo much cooler there than at Hippos or Kubbitz Ein Gev. They said it was going from 110 degree temperature with high humidity, to 85 degrees with 55% humidity. Amazing. Going up there some of the time...it almost felt too cold to stay up there. But it had a pretty good view of the Old City.
















We had a great supper. And then devotions in the chapel, which was absolutely beautiful. Sadly, my pictures of it didn't turn out. After that, we were pretty tired and went to bed to get ready for the next day.

Friday

So...I woke up, and everyone from our group in the dorm was gone, and I was freaking out that I had slept in and why hadn't anyone woke me up? Then, Tabitha came in and told me that it wasn't even 7am for breakfast yet, don't worry...I had plenty of time. So, I got ready, was able to quickly check my e-mail on the computer they had there, and then at 8:45 we were off to Bethlehem.

In Bethlehem, we went to the Church of the Nativity
















and a church with caves inside and downstairs

















and a Lutheran school place. All of that was pretty cool. We got some time for shopping, then we got to have grab a falafell for lunch and it was back to Jerusalem!

One of the things about Bethlehem that was not expected by me at all was how dumpy it was. It was like walking through ghetto back alleys. Lots of children out begging. The streets just filthy. But afterward, I was talking to Andrea about it [who came here last year] and she was saying how last year, at first she was disappointed with it. But then we got to talking about how even though it's like that...God chose there for his son to be born. Of all the places he could have decided instead, somewhere much more majestic and worthy...he chose Bethlehem.

Then was the half an hour ride back to Jerusalem, with a stop on the way out of Palestine [yes, Bethlehem is in Palestine instead of Israel] to make sure that we all had passports and could be in Israel. As the bus was making it's way back to drop us off at the gate Dr. Schuler suggested...it was blocked off. And he couldn't get back to the gate we were normally dropped off at. So he dropped us off and we had to walk a little bit of a way. As we walked, a lot of people were leaving. Then, we got to the next police stop, and there were a lot of men there that weren't allowed in. We all just followed Dr. Schuler's lead, and in spite of some of the people shoving to get in with us, we all made it through. It wasn't really scary...it was more of an awkward situation. Being called names for being let in, especially after an argument with a street vendor in Bethlehem [which was just a misunderstanding of him not listening to us say no, and when Dr. Schuler said, "Go away," he went on that we shouldn't tell him to leave his country, we should be the ones to leave]. We stopped at the hostel to drop off the souveniors we bought, and Dr. Schuler explained that the men were Palestinians and because it was Friday [Muslim day of prayer] and with the increased tension, the Israeli decided that Palestinian men under the age of 45 were not to enter. After discussing the situation and a little bit about what to say and what not to say, we were on our way. And now the blur truely begins. I don't exactly remember everywhere we went, but there was a problem with so many of us travelling around that we didn't get to everything. But we still saw some cool things. We took a walk around the city to go from one gate to another, and this is where I'm pretty sure my pictures will be a little jumbled out of order.

















We saw the "Mark and Rhoda" Church.

















The Wailing Wall [closer than we planned]

















And we went to the Holy Sepulchre where they commerate the place of Jesus' death and resurrection. There were different church groups there having mass, and so it was a lot of waiting in line to see the tomb...and then it was disappointing to see a big stone box. It was much to decorated and beautiful for it to be the real thing, you know? But then President Holst showed some of us where they have real tombs in the back to show. And that was a lot cooler to see.

















That was pretty much what happened that day. Got back in time for supper, had devotions [which was also a blur of confusion on time and place], and then went to bed. We had walked almost 10 miles...so we were pretty tired.

Saturday

I was one of the first girls to get up Saturday, and got ready quickly. Checked my email, and then went to breakfast right away at 7am. After that I went up on the roof and read a little bit. Then went down, packed my stuff, and met the group a little before 8:45. The hostel had a place for us to keep our stuff while we were touring the rest of the day, but had to be checked out.

After setting off for the day, we hiked up the Mount of Olives. That is quite the hike, let me tell you. Then we went to where there was a church commerating the ascension, but it's now a mosque. There's a stone inside that's like a launch pad for where Jesus ascended [there's like a footprint]. So that got all of us imagining that Jesus took off like Superman when he ascended into heaven. Then we went to the church commerating the Lord's prayer, where they had the prayer in like 62 languages.

















Next a few of us did a little shopping, and then we went to an overlook from the top of the Mount of Olives.
































Then we had time to go to a few different churches on the Mount of Olives. The Tomb of Mary, the Church of All Nations, and one more...but it wasn't open. But this Russian Orthodox Church was...and so Linda, Kristina and I went there because we had time. It was beautiful, and I took one of my favorite pictures there.














































Then was shopping and food time. We [a handful of us] went to a Pizzeria right across from our hostel...and it was pretty much amazing. I was a little surprised, I must admit. I was expecting it to be such great pizza...in Israel. And the guy that served us said his dad started it, and it was the first pizzeria in Israel. And lastly, on our way out of Jerusalem, we stopped at St. Anne with the pools of Bethseda. Then we made it back, and had a little bit of down time [which involved time in the Sea of Galilee and more chair surfing], supper, and devotions.

Sunday

After reading all of that...I have finally made it to today. Another dig day, the first day of Week #2. I was back in my square E0 today. We took out the floating wall and made some progress on getting down to the ground. It won't be long before we need to open another squre. But the real exciting news of the dig today was in the cistern. It was the first day of it's excavation and Cameron found gold!! Although I forgot about the north arrow for the first couple of pictures, photography went smoothly after that. Finished in plenty of time.


Quote of the day: "Amanda, you look ready for prom."
President Holst, while we were working hard on our square [and I was covered in dirt]



But now, I must leave because pottery cleaning finished a few minutes ago but I really wanted to get this post finished!