Home is where less heat is....

Hello again. I realize it's been a couple of days since my return to the states, but I have been a bit out of sorts with the jet lag and all. I decided to write my final Israel post today (finally). The last day of the dig for me was pretty normal again. I spent the day in the tunnel for a change of pace. They did end up uncovering an interesting horseshoe shaped rock formation about 3ft across; it looked like a giant toilet seat. They also started to dig farther down to try to find the source of the water, but they hadn't found anything by the end of the day. I'm not sure what the progress is now. They have a blog about the dig, I just need to actually check it :p. We ended early that day so we could make it out to dinner at Elvis Burger. It was actually pretty good, and I got a free Elvis coffee mug. I don't like Elvis all that much, but hey, it's a cool souvenir.

After dinner I finished up my packing, then headed to the airport at 9pm. Security at the airport is pretty intense. You go through around five different security check points, and you get asked questions at each one. Maybe that had something o do with the fact that I was traveling alone, so I was flagged as a possible stupid tourist who may have taken something from someone, but I'm not sure. All I know is that it took a good hour-and-a-half to get through all the security checkpoints.

The flight was loud, but smooth. I will still never understand why people with babies insist on taking such long flights. It was good to make it back to Michigan finally. I loved the trip, but I was ready to be home. Especially for the food. My first day back in America consisted of Starbucks, Taco Bell, and pizza. Awesome. No wonder my stomach hates me.

I really learned a lot on this trip, and I came to a few realizations about my life. I have been struggling for some time about where I am in life. I have been very discontent and have wanted nothing more than to just run away from it all. It was made pretty clear to me that I am exactly where I am supposed to be right now, and that this is my preparation time. For what, I am not yet sure... well, 100% anyway. I have been so eager to get on with my life that I've been ignoring that I need to prepare for it. So, that's my next great adventure: a spiritual journey instead of a physical one.

One more day

Honestly, I'm not entirely sure what to write about today. It was another pretty average day. Found some pottery shards with painting on them, but no full pieces. I spent the entire day doing water sifting, so I was soaked and covered in mud by the end of the day. It's fun, but my shoes were soaked through.... and that's not entirely comfortable. Tomorrow is the last day for me. After work time we're planning on going to a place called Elvis Burger. I guess it's pretty good, and has a lot of Elvis stuff. Then after that I will get my final packing done, and then I will be on my way home.

I'm ready for some pizza....

Short and sweet

Hello all,sorry for the lack of post yesterday; the internet decided to take a day off in our hotel. Right now I don't really feel like writing a super long post. We spent yesterday around the Sea of Galilee. We visited Capernaum, where Jesus began his ministry, went to a monastery on the hill where it is guess Jesus spoke of the beatitudes (Luke 6), and also saw some more ruins. Long day, but really interesting.

Today we went back to work on the water system. I did water sifting pretty much all day, and got plastered with mud.

this was after only a few hours of water sifting

We can't do normal sifting here because of the fact that what is coming out of the cavern is pure mud. Fun stuff. I was like a little kid again playing in the mud today. It was pretty fun. Now, though, it is time for me to quit. I'm tired, and we just had "church service" together so I've got a lot on my mind. Night all!

110 degrees of misery

I had every intention of posting yesterday, but we ended up having dinner with Ozzy (the Zs sound like Ss), the Israeli man that has been working with us at the dig. He works the crane that hauls the bags up and down the tunnel. He and his family had us over for the most amazing spread I have ever seen in my life. Everything was awesome, and when you thought it was over, more food came. I was so full. I have never seen so many meat products served in one meal, but it was awesome... and there was no pork, just chicken and lamb. My stomach was happy about the lack of pork at a cookout. No pork is typical for Jews but it seems that most cookouts in America have pork products, and they don't agree with my stomach.

The cookout was great, but we got back to the hotel super late, then had to be up at five this morning to travel south to the Dead Sea region. Needless to say, today was a bit rough. Not just for lack of proper sleep, but for the temperature too. It got over 100 Fahrenheit easily; I think they said it got to around 110. Absolutely oppressive. Michigan summers are soooo much more appealing now that I've felt the desert in the srping, lol. It was still a good trip despite the heat, though, now I realize how rough 40 days and nights must have been for Jesus. I could hardly last 30 minutes without water out there.

No photos today folks, sorry. I'm trying to make this quick so I can sleep, and photos take forever to upload. Feel free to google though.

Our first stop was Masada. Incredibly impressive place. It was another palace complex and stronghold of King Herod's; his winter home since the heat is so miserable this time of year. Masada is built up on a mountain. You should seriously see some pictures of this place, it's pretty intense.

After that we made a quick stop at En Gedi, where David was hiding from Saul (1 Samuel 23). Pretty much we went to go see the nice waterfall there.

The most interesting part of the day was the Dead Sea. It was kind of bizarre actually. You float so easily that it's more like hovering. The "beach" is lined with salt build up. It was definitely an experience not to miss. The water feels so thick and slimy, and even the tiniest cut burns, but once you're all washed off, your skin feels so smooth.

By the time we headed to out last stop of the day, Qumran (where the Dead Sea scrolls were found), I started feeling pretty dizzy. I was well hydrated and had eaten enough that it wasn't my blood sugar, but I was definitely overheated. My heart would not stop racing. I really didn't enjoy the last stop very much. It was interesting, but my brain was foggy and all I wanted was some air conditioning. Once we finally got back to the hotel and I got to lay down in the AC, I started feeling much better. I think I will stay in a mild climate forever. Maybe not Michigan, but some place with a similar climate.

Well, it's bed time. We have another 5am wake up tomorrow with a long day of touring. This time we are headed north so it won't be so hot. I do, however, have to wear jeans and a t-shirt since we are visiting some holy places, and shorts and a tank-top are a no go. Goodnight!

Work day 3

I was way too tired to post last night. Sorry if you were actually disappointed. I'm pretty tired today too, so this might be kind of short. I don't know yet. Yesterday and today have mostly consisted of emptying out the tunnel dirt so we can make it down to the cavern at the end of the tunnel. We haven't started sifting yet, but we will once we make it into the cavern. Most of the dirt in the tunnel is from it was first excavated in the early 1900s, but the dirt all fell back in, so it's been pretty well picked over. Anything we've been finding is just pieces of pottery, but we can take anything of those that we want as long as they don't have any paintings or special markings on them.

I did make it down in to the tunnel yesterday. Finally got up the courage to make the jump over the ladder.... then they knocked out the fencing and put a smaller ladder in that didn't require any jumping to get too. lol. Oh well!

The tunnel is very large, long, dark, and damp. It's really neat though. Mostly what I did yesterday was to help make stairs for us to walk up and down, and I did a bit more of that this morning. The rest of today,though, I spent emptying the bags of dirt that the crane brought out of the tunnel, and sending empty ones back down. We did dig through the dirt some, but like i said above, anything we found was just pieces. We found a lot of bones today; a mix of human and animal. It is hard to tell anything from a bunch of random bones. Any dating comes from the pottery styles. I am learning a lot of interesting facts from the professors about archaeology. They are incredibly knowledgeable.

Well, I'm going to head off to bed pretty quick here. It is only about 7:40, but we get up at 5:30 and do a lot of hard work, so my bed time here is about 9pm. So weird for me.... goodnight all!

And the dig begins....

Today was a lot of preparation for the dig. We set up our break shelters, safety netting and other safety needs, ran electricity into the hole, and eventually started a bit of the dig near the end of the day. For those of you who aren't aware, I am working on the water system at Tel Gezer. It is basically a big dark hole in the ground.

Gezer water system

In our time of the dig, they are hoping to get down to cavern that is at the bottom of the hole. They opened it up part way last year, but they want to get the rest of it cleaned out, and they are hoping that there is a second entrance on the other side. I have not been down in the hole yet, but hopefully I will get up the courage tomorrow. To get in you have to climb a ladder over a barrier, swing you leg over to another ladder, then climb down in to the hole. Heights are not my friend, but when it comes time to dig, I will not miss out on it. I will just have to suck it up. Tomorrow we begin to clean out the water system, I hope I can find something interesting. :)

Caesarea, Mt. Carmel, Megiddo

We only went to three sites today, but it was much more of a drive. Our first stop was at the ancient city of Caesarea, built by King Herod and mentioned in Acts 10. It was a very Roman-esq city. Very cool to walk through. You can see remains of a theater, an amphitheater, the palace, houses, etc. I probably took way too many pictures.

Our second site of the day was to a monastery on the top of Mt. Caramel, the traditional site of where Elija most likely challenged the prophets of Baal (1Kings 18), and below in the valley was Jezreel. It was an absolutely beautiful garden and view from up there.

Our third visit was to the city of Megiddo, Armageddon from Revelation, and mentioned many places in the old testament. It was a huge site, with a tunneled water system beneath it that we could walk through. Another very cool place to walk around.

Tomorrow we begin the dig, so no more site seeing till the weekend, but I'm sure I'll still have a lot to tell you about. :) Sorry for the lack of photos, they wouldn't upload tonight. :/. They'll be on facebook eventually though!

Walking the Old Testament

We didn't end up going back to Jerusalem today since the rest of our group hasn't arrived yet, and they want to do all the big sites in one day for everyone. We did get to see some pretty neat archeological sites from the Old Testament. We started with Zorah, Samson's home (Judges 13). Most of the sites that have been excavated there date back more to the Byzantine era rebuild, but it was still cool to see.

Area for wine and olive pressing

The view from Zorah

These pitted out areas were all over

The next site was Beth Shemesh (1 Samuel 6). There was an under ground water system that we went down in to, and most of the excavated area so far were at one point the houses for the wealthier and/or government buildings.

Our next stop was what they are 90% sure is Shaaraim (I guess the name means literally "two gates") since it is in the geographically correct place, and is the only site with two gates (1 Samuel 17). It over looks the valley where the battle between the Israelites and the Philistines took place that ended with David killing Goliath. From there we could see Socoh and could kind of see Azekah, and the next hill over was Jarmuth. Along the base of the hill where Shaaraim is a brook, that was pretty much dry and not so rippling, but it is very likely the brook it mentions in the passage.

One of the gate houses, the gate is the opening farthest forward. The hill on the tight is Jarmuth, the hill on the left is Socoh, the valley is where the battle took place.

After that we headed to Lakhish (or Lachish), which is an area Joshua conquered at one point (Joshua 10), and was rebuilt and conquered several other times by all sorts or different people groups. It was very high up, so the view was incredible, but the walk was kind of killer.

Lakhish from the ground, but only one side.

Palace, and view

The last stop of our day was Gath, Goliath's home (1 Samuel 17, again). Another lengthy walk, but very extensive views from the top of the hill. You could see all the way to Gaza. The main excavation site was some sort of temple ground. There was a wash basin, and several rooms uncovered.

Temple Ground

I have so many more photos, but the internet at our hotel is a bit slow, so you'll have to wait till I get home and post them on facebook. :) Now I am going to bed.

Shawarma and such

We spent the morning and most of the afternoon in Jerusalem today. Mostly we just walked around and got a bit of history. We will do a bit more actual site seeing tomorrow, though we did visit the Western Wall (Wailing Wall) and I got a lesson in proper dress: NOT shorts and a tank top. Thankfully I had just bought a couple of scarves, so I was able to cover up to enter the area. The professor that was showing us around forgot about the rule regarding women's clothing. Here I thought my knee length shorts were appropriate....

I did learn some pretty interesting stuff other than that. In the cities here you're not walking through history like you would in Europe, you're actually walking over it. The cities are built in layers over layers of previous buildings that were ruined. The street level from Jesus's time is actually around 70ft below current street level, and there are more levels beneath that. It seems so strange to me when people would cover up their history rather than displaying it, but that may have something to do with the fact that in America we just don't have that kind of history so I see it as so valuable. We don't have Roman pillars beneath our streets! There are excavation projects going on though, so some of it you can see now.

We hit the market at a pretty good time, so it wasn't crazy busy. Tons of shops and vendors, and smells. Good and weird.... and sometimes kind of awful. We got shawarma for lunch from a street shop. It was delicious. Ever since I saw "The Avengers" movie I have wondered what shawarma is. Now I know, and I like it. Easy explanation: it is meat and veggies stuffed into a pita. More detailed explanation can be found here.

Well, that's pretty much it for today. I should have uploaded some of the photos I took today onto my laptop, but my camera is in my room and I am in the lobby. You can see them later. Maybe I'll post a big heap tomorrow.

Hello, from Israel!

Well, my day yesterday started off pretty normal. Finished up my packing, got my last Elbow Room (my favorite coffee shop) coffee for two weeks, had lunch, then headed to the air port. Up till I got to my gate, everything ran smoothly. I got there early so I was waiting around for  while, so I decided to check the time for my next flight. That's when I realized that my arrival time in NYC was the same as my boarding time for my next flight. Talked to the people at the gate about if there was something I should do since I had another flight right after. They were incredibly unhelpful and a bit rude, then they told me I could reschedule my flight. No way was I going to reschedule. Then, as I started to walk away from the counter, they made an announcement that our flight would be delayed 20 minutes. Now, those of you who know me well know how good I am at dealing with the stress of sudden changes: not good at all. Cue anxiety attack/mental breakdown. Called my mom back, freaking out. How the heck was I supposed to make my next flight..... there is no way I was going to reschedule.... blah, blah, blah. My mother is much better at thinking clearly when I am having my stress freakouts. We decided that I would just proceed as planned, and with a lot of prayer. Got to the gate in NYC at 8:05 pm. Finally made it off the plane by 8:15. My next flight was scheduled to leave at 8:30. I RAN. Like, the kind of running you see in movies when people are trying to catch a flight. Made it with five minutes to spare, and then they decided to delay the flight 20 minutes. And then it got delayed another 20 minutes because of weather. Ten hours later, hello Israel!

Tonight is pretty much just a catch up on sleep night. Got to the hotel, had dinner, now I'm in my room listening to music and writing for you. :)

View from our hill top hotel

Long time, no blog....

Well hello there friends, it's been a while. I have a bad habit of starting things and not finishing them. Tomorrow, though, I am leaving on a trip to Israel to cross another thing off my bucket list: an archaeological dig! I will be part of the effort to excavate the water system at Gezer. You can learn about Gezer here. So, I thought now would be an excellent time to re-start my blog. This is bound to be an interesting and amazing trip, so I would like to share it with you. For now, though, I need to sleep. The packing is almost done, and the eyes are tired. Goodnight!