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!