Israel, land of ten thousand rocks

Last week our group found a small Corinthian capital while digging. (A capital is a decoratively carved stone piece that sits on top of a pillar/column) It needed to be brought back to the lab at the kibbutz, to be analyzed and so that it wouldn't be stolen from the dig site. There was no way we were going to get it to the bus half a mile away. Yoval, who drives up to the site every day in his truck with our food and water, drove up to our church, and the capital was loaded into the back of his green truck. Now of course the capital would have to be unloaded too, so Marc H, Mark K, and I rode down the mountain with Yoval. "Rode down the mountain" entails the bumpiest, rockiest trail in the woods you've ever seen. (This was the Roman/IDF road) Yoval said in with his Hebrew accent, "The capital, I think it is Ok... I don't hear any...uhh...suspicious noises from the back". To cut a relatively insignificant story short, the capital did make it back to the kibbutz in one piece, as did the truck, as did I!

Normally dinner is pretty much the same food as breakfast. Lunch is the biggest meal of the day here. Friday is different. The Jewish Sabbath actually begins at sundown on Friday and lasts until sundown Saturday. To celebrate the beginning of the Sabbath they have a special dinner, called the Shabat dinner. They usually serve chicken legs (drumstic + the rest of the leg) and always serve wine for the Shabat. Most notably, some practicing Jews will dress up for the dinner; basically their clothes make them look Amish. That's the best way I can describe it.

Sleep: Most of the people from our group usually take some sort of afternoon nap before pottery cleaning. I'm really glad we have time for naps, because our bodies get pretty "whooped" (as Marc H likes to say) from digging, and with a 4:00 wake up time we don't get quite enough sleep. The fact that I'm writing at 9:40 means that tonight, like most nights, will be less than 6 hours. I may be a little short on sleep, but then again I didn't come to Israel so I could sleep in until noon every day!

Today Mark K. and I ran north through the banana fields and found ourselves at Gofra Beach, a long and rocky beach where many Israelis like to come and have a picknick or a fire or even camp. Past the beach we ran on a truck trail through the grass, with a beautiful close-up view of the lake on our left and a "minefield" on our right! (It was a fenced-off field with signs that say "danger, mines"). Only in Israel, only in Israel!

In the evening today all of the archaeology teams boarded a large boat for a short cruise out into the middle of the lake and back. It was a good opportunity for pictures of the kibbutz beachfront with the Hippos hill in the background. We were given watermelon, wine, and loud blaring American rap music. Put positively, my thoughts are that at least we had the opportunity to take the boat ride; I'll take the good with the bad!

Thought of the day: I really don't mind any aspect of digging, whether I'm carrying buckets, filling the buckets, picking rocks, carrying big rocks, or sweeping floors. However, digging trenches around the outsides of rooms is not fun at all, mainly because of the complete lack of shade. Ugg. I guess I really don't mind at this point, because tomorrow (Wednesday) is our last day of digging; Thursday is cleanup, and Friday I go home!

Tonight I led the group in a short devotion. The text was Luke 5:1-11, in which Jesus tells Peter and company to "let down the nets for a catch" after a fishless night, and they bring in more fish than the boats can handle. Jesus then calls these men to follow him and "catch men" from that time on. We have learned first of all that fishing was done at night, because fish can see the nets during the day. The disciples would have been reluctant to try to catch fish during the day for this reason. Second, they had just cleaned the nets and probably did not feel like having to do it again. Third, Israel is hot during the day! Nevertheless, they obeyed Jesus and look at the amazing results. Their astonishment is quite clear in the story. After this they left their whole lives behind to follow Jesus. It was a life-changing day for these disciples, but we can see from their miraculous catch of fish that God has great things in store when we listen to him and answer his call.

Tomorrow night (Wednesday night) we will have a lecture in which Dr. Schuler will tell us his thoughts about what we've found, what we've uncovered, the significance of our finds, and his excavation plans for next year's team. I plan to summarize that discussion in my blog. (Right now though I plan to "excavate" my bed and put it to good use!)