Trip To Israel

Oi Vay! I am hurting all over. If you want to know why, here's the story:

We get up everyday at 4:45 AM. (As one of my good friends would say, "That just ain't right!")

We gather in the little snack area of the hotel and eat cereal or cake and coffee. The coffee is instant. But, it's actually quite good. [What do we know, it's 5:00 in the morning!]

We then gather in our groups to walk to the work site. We stop by the equipment barn to get our buckets, picks, brooms, dustpans, & wheelbarrows. Then we drag that stuff over to our site.

Our area (C2) is a new excavation area for this season. We are working on uncovering the Citadel wall, dated from the 7th Century BC; and excavating a "pool" area, that might be from the Byzantine era (3-4th century AD) OR it might be from the Roman Villa. We don't know yet.

My job is to help uncover the wall. I sit, squat, am on my knees {thanks Russ for making me take the good knee pads} and I use a little pick, a broom (no handle), the dustpan and sometimes a little trowel. I have removed buckets and buckets and buckets and buckets of dirt! And rocks that are probably from a collapsed portion of the wall. It is very hard work.

Let me tell you about our Team. We have two supervisors, Shahaf and Shani. They are wonderful, and they work real hard too. Then, us 'volunteers' include:
Joe, from Raleigh, NC, a physics major with a minor in religious studies and other things. He's a joker and keeps us laughing.
Chris is from MO, studying archeology at Mizzou. He is 24 and reminds me so much of Michael and his best friend, Josh.
Volker is originally from Germany, now living in Belfast, working on his Ph.D. These guys do all the heavy-heavy work.

The women include Anne, from Denmark. She lights up the room with her smile. Very Smart! Knows all the ancient languages. She wants to start Ph.D. work.

Melissa is from Albuquerque, and is retired from activities director at a nursing home. Yesterday she worked on the wall with me.

Magdalena is from Germany, and studying with the co-director of the dig. She is shy.

We also have a young woman from Jerusalem who comes and works with us during the morning. I don't know her name yet -- she helped me with the wall today.

They are all very intelligent and industrious. We all work very hard to keep things going.

At 9:00 we break for breakfast. It's a huge meal and we all eat well. Then, it's hard to get back to work. At 11:30 we have another quick break -- fruit or popsicles! Then we quit at 1:00, take all the equipment back, with any finds, and start washing pottery. That's a hard job. At 2:00, we're done.

I barely walk back to the hotel, shower and lay down. I don't have lunch because I just can't get up! And we had such a big breakfast, I'm not really hungry.

So, what have I found? Nothing yesterday. But today I found two pieces of pottery and a bone! A little piece of bone. But, I was quite excited. The people working in the "pit" have found tons of pottery. Nothing really significant. And they've found some bones -- probably from animals.

This afternoon we're going on a tour of the City of David, the old part of Jerusalem. So, I must hurry to get to the area where we are all meeting.

I sure am glad I did all those aerobics with the kids during VBS! It sure has helped with my stamina!

Love to all,
Debbie

After many hours of traveling, I have arrived at Ramat Rachel and have had my first tour of the site and been assigned to a specific area. I will be digging in Area C2 -- a site that has not been completely cleaned. So, beginning at 5:30 tomorrow morning, I will be on a crew to take the dust off the rocks and clear up other remains. Then we will begin to dig.

I have forgotten much of my Hebrew! When I first got here, I thought everyone was very fond of their mothers because I kept hearing them say "Ma! Ma!" I also thought they were a fun-loving group because I kept hearing "Mai Tai!" Turns out, MA means "What?" And Mai Tai (accent on the last syllable) means "When?" Good news this evening is that all the archeological folks get a 10% discount at the hotel bar. Now we're talking!

I am dizzy with no sleep, and excited at the same time. Security was unbelievable at Newark Airport, but I had NO problems getting into Israel when we arrived.

It's hot, but not too bad -- beautiful breeze today. We will see the sun rise every morning, as we will be walking to the site in the dark.

From the site we can see Jerusalem (Temple Mount) and Bethlehem. I'll write more about the site later.

Food's been good...buffet with good choices. Tried some stuff I really liked, and some stuff I won't try again. It's an adventure!

Seems like I've been gone more than just 1 day and a half. It's almost 10 pm here, and I have to get some sleep. Wake up call is at 4:45.

Shalom!

Had a great meeting yesterday with Liz Moreno who just got back from Israel. She gave me some great hints and some nifty items to take on my journey. This picture is from last Sunday (July 22), immediately following a great worship service...Baptism, super music and a full house of praying and praising! These are the folks I love and can't thank enough for making this trip a reality. The tee shirt I am wearing is the Official Biblical Archeology Society tee that they sent me when granting the scholarship. Thanks BAS!

I love you First Pres Wharton!

Getting ready -- starting to pack. Many folks have given me tee shirts to take with me to work in! My kids waving goodbye. Taken at Mo Ranch over the 4th of July weekend.

I'm investigating the last minute things I need for the trip. I got a new hat, with flaps to cover my delicate ears and neck. It's pretty hot, though...tried wearing it today while I was working in the garden. My new shoes are broken in. Will try to upload a photo.

Well, we're 26 days away from leaving and counting. More and more folks are reading about the site and learning about the exact place where we'll be digging.

The site is called Ramat Rachel, and is in southern Jerusalem. If you want more info, go to www.findadig.com, click on SITES and then click on Ramat Rachel. From there you can check out even more details at other sites.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more!