A New Bellybutton...say huh? And Real Surgery...?

Oh it's been an exciting 3-4 days back!

Lets see. I got back Monday morning and jet lag beat me. Tuesday I forget what I did, but I think my mom came and picked me up and I was dragged to and through the Mall of America...puke.

Then yesterday, Wednesday, I woke up at like 5:30 and had something to eat around 6:30am. I watched some TV and started to do my laundry. It was probably around 8-8:30 when I started to not feel so good, and when I was doing my laundry it really wasn't good. So I layed down for a while and hung up my laundry and it really wasn't good. I layed down some more and it wasn't getting any better so I asked my mom if she would take me up to the office to get an adjustment because sometimes that helps.

By that time I could hardly stand up to walk and I was doubled over in so much pain. We went to the Kasson Clinic in hopes that it would fast track us through the ER, but no such luck. I hadn't thrown up or anything, but on the way to Rochester, before we left Kasson, I was like mom, mom, window and out the window it went. She turned around and went back to the office to get me a bucket and on to Rochester we went. We waited in the ER for who knows how long. She probably does because she wasn't doubled over in excruciating pain wanting to die. We got in finally after I had thrown up twice more, liquids, and then stomach fluid. I don't really remember much.

People came in and poked me and listened to my breathing and heart, and then finally at some point they gave me a drug for the nausea and told me I had to drink this dye stuff because they were going to run a cat scan of my abdomen. The nurse made me drink it to fast so I showed her by puking it all back up all over the floor. Then she let me drink it at my own pace. Before that apparently they gave me some Benedryll which completely knocked me out, but I managed to groge awake to drink that nasty stuff.

They cat scanned me and I passed out again or during who knows and I wasn't really awake when they told me I had appendicitis and had to go to surgery. I was kinda like mm ok, and passed back out. I woke up to them giving me anesthesia and putting cold things on me to regulate something I'm sure.

The next time I woke up I was in my hospital room with three little cuts on my abdomen. Apparently I got a two-for-one. Since I was born I had had a semi-outty bellybutton, but apparnetly that was due to an umbilical hernia, so they fixed that and now I have an inny bellybutton. I kind of miss my old one.

So now I'm home, in some pain, but thanks to the wonderful pain killer percoset I'm doing ok. Dr. Schuler, I will try to get that weekly report to you as soon as I can...sorry it's so late.

My first real day back

This is a short one, because my real first day back didn't consist of much. I fell back asleep at 4:30 this morning and woke up at 10 to a phone call from my x-roommate. I rolled out of bed and finally took a shower and then met up with her for an hour or so. I called my mom and she said she would come and pick me up so I could come home and do laundry and get some crap out of my already far too small apartment. I found out that my grandma was coming with and that my mom had to stop at MOA (mall of america for those who don't live in MN). So my first real day was spent trapsing at an incredibly slow slow pace through the mall. I never go to the mall. Gross. It was funny though when my grandma sat down to rest on a bench for a few minutes and my mom and grandma got up to leave but I had fallen asleep.

Now I'm home home and everyone is happy to see me. I have to finish up some school work and then it's back to work so I can save up some money to jump a flight to Phoenix, because that is where I really want to be. Hopefully I make it there before Aug 11th.

Oh, one more thing I find funny about being back, is that everyone complains about it being hot and I'm like hot? what? it's kind of mild/a little on the cool side.

I also check the news like every 5 minutes to see if anything else has happened because I worry about the people who are still there. And yet, I wish I was still there to finish out my season.

It's 8:30pm here, I only have to make it 1/2 an hour more before I can go to sleep and hopefully triumph over this stupid jet lag that is making difficult to do much of anything, including think.

Cuuuuurse you Jet Lag...

I'm back in good ol' MN. Safe and sound on US soil, wishing I was back on the dig. It's funny how you hate getting up at 4am and trudging up the hill to dig for 7hrs a day while you're there doing it, but once you get home you just want to go back. My brain is not currently functioning properly, not that it ever did in the first place, but it's slightly worse than normal seeing as I'm exhausted from the last couple of days.

Sunday: We got up (I was up at 5:30 but refused to acutally get out of bed until 8 or so), went to church at Redeemer Lutheran in Jerusalem and then headed to Tel Aviv where we sat for a long time doing nothing except talking and trying to find flights out. By some miracle my parents from back home managed to bump my reservation from the 28th to 11:55pm that night. This all occured at about 8:43. I quickly packed all my stuff from the airport and went through security. All I have to say about security is....wow, it is crazy tight and understandably so. It didn't help matters that I couldn't find my old boarding passes from when I came to Israel and the fact that I had no paperwork at all and booked last minute. I ended up having to take out my laptop and show him some of the survey work that I did and also my handwritten journal that helped to verify that I was there and the dates that I was there. I finally made it through and then Amanda and I were off to the terminal where we sat for a little bit, but relieved that we were sitting there about to get on a plane.

We boarded the plane and prepared ourselves to sit for 11 hrs and 16 minutes on a flight to Newark. I had the most prized seat of all, the middle seat. It really wasn't that bad except I was so tired and wanted to sleep and my eyes were burning out of their sockets, but I couldn't really because I couldn't get comfy. I watched the same 3 episodes of CSI about 3 or 4 times because I kept dozing off during some parts of it and because there were no good movies and I didn't want to pull out my laptop and watch one that I had brought. Side note: I was sitting next to this lady from Phili and I was telling her about my day and why I was on the plane and she's like man I wish I would have known, I would have been bumped so someone else could have taken my seat. But it was too late for that now.

Monday: We (Amanda and I) arrived at Newark at 4:30 am EST which is 12:30pm IST (Israel Standard Time). I got off the plane and didn't see Amanda and hoped that she had just gone ahead because her flight left and 2 hours before mine did. She must have because I didn't see her and she made it home. Anyway, after standing in the wrong passport line for a few minutes I switched over to the correct passport line and made it through there and customs just fine. I thought my flight left at 6:45 and I was pushing it for time so I got to the line to recheck my baggage to go to MSP and the lady at the front called for 6:45 flights and I started to go to the front and someone in charge thought I was cutting and wouldn't let me go and I turn to the lady behind me and I'm like did she not just call this and she agreed. Then the lady at front called it again and I was like hellllooooo I have a 6:45 flight and so the lady behind me and I walked to the front and got sent back yet again. Then finally she called it again and came and checked my tags and told me I had a 7:20 flight, which relieved me quite a bit. I got my bags rechecked and was on my way to more security. I came in by gates C120-124 (remember this because it will be important for later) and I was told to go to checkpoint one because my ticket said gate C82. So I truck my luggage all the way to the other side of the terminal and get through security, get to the gate, plop down and call my parents to let them know. I looked at the board at the gate and a flight was leaving at 7:15 for some place that was not MSP, but didn't really care and figured mine flew out right after. So I sat there for a little bit and talked to my mom and called Shawn and just relaxed. At about 6:35 or so I was like wait a minute if I board at 6:45 (which is where the confusion came from before) there is no way this is my gate. So I get up and check and sure enough my gate had moved to C124. So I trucked all my luggage quickly back across the terminal and my legs were killing me and all I wanted to do was pass out. I got to the gate, got on the plane and sighed a huge sigh of relief.

The flight home was wonderful. The middle seat was empty and the guy in the window seat was hilarious and we talked the whole way home which made time go by so much more quickly. We departed from the airplane and I called Shawn again and he wouldn't pick up so I called Tom and he said he'd be there in a few to pick me up. I was walking along and the guy that I had sat next too came up behind me and said let me take one of your bags. I was like no no it's heavy. To which he said "you look like you're dying," which I probably did concidering it was 9:30 am CST which is 5:30pm IST. I felt bad for having him carry my bag but there was no arguing with him about it so I just made some protesting noises and walked with him to baggage claim and picked up my suitcase. FYI next time I go some place or back to Israel, I'm not bringing back gifts because I could have packed 2 small bags and been just fine in Israel. Traveling light is the way to go.

Tom picked me up and took me home and I told him not to let me go to bed until around 9pm CST because I was going to try to kick jet lag's butt, but it was about 2pm CST 10pm IST and I could hardly walk or think or move and all I wanted to do was go to bed, understandably so because I had been up for 24 hrs + under semi-stressful conditions which wears on a person a lot. Tom gave in and took me home and let me go to sleep. I slept until about 12pm CST 8am IST and woke up knowing that jet lag had won for today. I will have to fight jet lag tomorrow when I am better rested. So now I sit here watching bad movies on TV and eating trail mix, picking out the raisins and throwing them away, because it's the only food I have. Luckily Tom was still up and brought me my laptop that had been charging at his place because my charger doesn't work. I was able to check on how everyone was doing back in Israel and check the news as well, and write this most wonderful blog post at 4:30am CST. I'm still exhausted, but not enough to go to bed, though if I layed down I would probably fall asleep. I also unpacked, which mainly consisted of thowing all my clothes in my hamper and taking whatever was not clothes out of the bags and putting it on my floor to be taken care of later.

Now for thoughts: I wish I was still on the dig. I feel almost guilty that people are still there and I had to/was able to leave. I also felt guilty for getting the first flight out of the airport leaving all my friends behind not knowing what was going to happen to them. I mean, in all honesty the airport could have gotton hit. I feel guilty that as an American I'm just able to pack up and leave while the people of Israel don't have the same luxury. They're not exactly stuck, but the entire population of Israel can't just pack up and leave.

I find it funny that when we could hear the bombs going off, and feel them in the case of Tiberias, that all of it seemed so real, because well it was. But when we were in Jerusalem and even Tel Aviv where we couldn't hear the bombs, it felt like everything was just fine and that we should be able to return to the dig, even though Tiberias has been continually hit, and apparently one hit on the side of the Kibbutz, though I'm not sure where. It's wierd how you know it's real, you were in the middle of the real, and once you're away from it for a couple of hours you forget how real it acutally is and have to remind yourself how real it actually is.

Side Note on the less serious side: It is also wierd now that I'm back in the US to be able to flush toilet paper. I keep wanting to throw it in the trash can. As most of you probably don't know, at the Kibbutz and most places in Israel you have to throw away the toilet paper, and empty that trash can very often, because the plumbing isn't good enough to handle all the t.p. So when back in the US where we have adequate plumbing I no longer have to do that.

Another less serious side note: I know technology is amazing and I use it daily and probably forget just how amazing it acutally is. When we were doing "surgery" on Amanda's computer, "tech support" aka Jon Bohlinger was all the way in MN and was able to send us video and instant instructions as well as answer questions immediatey and even mock the good Dr. thanks to IM. But the really amazing part was when we were in the airport and I was talking to my parents on IM, my dad was on the phone w/ Continental and even though the words had to be typed, we were able to communicate like we were in the same room and not 1/2 a world away.

It's nice to be back in the US, kind of, even though I want to jump a plane to Phoenix, which is still in the US, but not in MN, where I really don't want to be right now. It's nice to be back for the simple fact that I can finally READ something. I know what the sign on the store says and what the sign on the road says. Some things over in Israel are in English, and I should just learn to read Hebrew or Arabic, but it's so mentally tiring and kind of frusterating to pass these things constantly and want to know what was being said but not be able to. There weren't even recognizable letters. Also, I like having my bike back. I missed it in Israel. Well in IST its about 12:50pm which means I'm done digging and doing some misc. work before I go take my nap, so I think I will go "nap" now and see if I can't get a handle on this jet lag business.

Digging No Longer

So if you don't know all ready rockets hit Tiberias, the city thats is right across the Sea of Galilee that we can see even on a hazy day, at about 1pm on Saturday. It isn't far at all. Dr. Schuler made the desicion that we should evacuate so at 5pm we were on a bus to Jerusalem.

It was pretty crazy. The bombs landed and Stephanie and I were in the lab, we heard it and felt the lab shake and just turned and looked at each other like mm that was probably not a good thing. And obviously it wasn't. I wish we could have stayed, but it's good that we didn't because later that day while we were in transport to Jerusalem, Tiberias was hit again.

We spent the night in a very nice hostel in Jerusalem. This morning we went to the English service at Redeemer Lutheran in the Old City and then came back to the hostel and decided to just head to Tel Aviv, which took a taxi and 3 bus transfers to get to each time shelpping our luggage through security and bus stations, to wait for stand by flights which could prove to take quite a few days. Lets just hope it doesn't take 2 wks...although if it was that long then we could just use our regular tickets and maybe in the mean time film a real life "Terminal" movie...like Tom Hanks except we can actually leave the airport if we so choose.

I'm fairly calm at this point in time and just going with the flow. I'm not sure how the others are doing but hopefully they're doing ok. I'm just tired and hopefully can find a comfy piece of ground to pass out on.

Poles and a Day Off

Today is finally the weekend. Well it was the weekend technically starting last night, but today is the first full day of weekend.

Last night was so much fun. We all went to the pub and Andrea scared Dr. Schuler away so he went to sit by Amanda, who by comparison, is much less scary and doesn't try to make him to funny faces :) It was manages birthday, but most of the adults skipped out early because some of them were leaving early early (5:45 am) this morning and others just wanted to leave because they were getting up to see them off. Well Andrea, Cameron, Steph and I all went to sit outside and watch the band that only played 1/2 of a song and then quit and switched to a different one, and then only played 1/2 a set. So we were there laughing and talking like always and the Poles were over a little ways and one walked by and said Hi and we decided that it would be a good idea to go over and introduce ourselves and join them. And it was a good idea indeed. We learned how to say "lets drink," "hi," and "cheers" in Polish, none of which we remember today, except I remember how to say "cheers" and maybe "hello."

When we were hanging out with the Poles, the singing Pole (labeled because 1. We don't know their names because they said them too fast, and 2. Because he sings when coming down the hill from digging) asked if we wanted a beer and Andrea said no as did step and I because we had already had a beer and a smirnoff and the beer is not the size it is in the US...the bottle is definitely bigger by a lot. However, Cameron said he'd have one and so the singing Pole went off to the bartender to get what we thought was just Cameron a beer but returned with not only Cameron's but 3 more for Andrea, Steph, and I. We couldn't be rude so we drank. I didn't mind so much because my buzz from the previous two was gone except I don't like beer in general and definitely not this stuff We drank, it was 12:30, we had to go because we were all exhausted and had to get up to see the Canadians off and Drs. Pratt and Anders, which we missed anyway even though we showed up before 5:45...apparently this is the one time in Israel when the taxi was early...go figure.

That brings us to the story of this morning. It was our first day to sleep in since last weekend, but like I said last weekend was go go go in Jerusalem, which was fine and amazing, but it's nice just to relax. Steph and I woke up at around 5:30 and did some minor things to get ready to say so long to everybody. We opened the door for starters and were a little surpirsed to see the sun, we never see the sun when we get up. We started walking and we were kind of pushing it, but we got to the general area we saw people running away so we started running, but then the hands of the others started waving not to run because they had left. I was sad I didn't get to say good bye to those crazy Canadians that I had grown so fond of.

After the disappointment of missing them and me showing Dr. Schuler my watch which said we had at least 2 more minutes until 5:45 I went back to bed and Steph did well whatever she did it wasn't sleep. I slept until about 8 and got ready to go to catch the bus to Tiberias at 9. I was a little sick when I woke up but luckily that passed before we left for Tiberias. We got to Tiberias and did some shopping and accomplished everything we went in for...and I got a camera, thanks to my mom and dad, who I intend on paying back once I'm working and earning some money back in the US.

Tonight we are meeting the Poles on the beech at 8, it should be a good time.

mmm

Oh digging oh digging, I finally get a break from you. Well technically I had one last week, but we went straight from digging to cleaning up to Jerusalem where we were "running where Jesus walked," compliments of Dr. Schuler for the quote, and Andrea has a pretty funny picture to go with it. Today was pretty interesting. We dug for awhile, ate breakfast, dug a little more and then took a tour of the North West church that the Polish team is working on. After that it was back to more digging but it went fairly quickly. I didn't do any digging per say but I did extract my humungo pot with the help of Glenn. This thing is HUGE, and we found 2 possibly 3 more pots inside and the craziest thing I found inside was a 1/2 intact eggshell at the bottom. I mean seriously, who finds an eggshell at the bottom of some really old pot in a church that has gone through and earthquake and numerous occupations...weird, but interesting, but really just crazy weird.

Oh and a funny story for today. My parents send me this email entitled "a number of concerns" and they talk about Hippos and the bombing and if I'm eating enough and if I have enough money, but one of their concerns is "Are you using spell check---I know you're tired and typing fast, but some errors are glaring." Yes mom and dad, I'm making fun of you. And I apologize to all you readers who have to read through my atrocious spelling errors.

Oh, sad story of the day, my camera was not there when I went up this morning which means someone was snooping around last night after we were done digging and took my camera. Luckily I had transferred off all of my pictures and I'm going to Tiberias this weekend so hopefully I'll be able to get a cheap one to finish out the trip.

I also think it's funny that I have just used the interjection "oh" to start my last 3 paragraphs. Now that is some poor writing, but I will let it stand because I am amused because I'm so exhausted.

The crazy Canadians are leaving tomorrow morning at 5:45 am so we will get up to see them off and then I am marching my butt right back to bed to sleep until 8:00 to catch the 9am bus for Tiberias. I will miss those crazy Canadians and hopefully they will miss this rabble rousing, feisty american :)

Some of you have commented on how my blogs are not as sarcastic or cynical as I am in real life. I think I'm so exhausted that all the sarcasm and cynicism have dried up for now. That and I'm being forced to blog, though Dr. Schuler claims that I would use the internet if it were here anyway...but I still contend that I would use it far far less...he thinks I'm dependant...I'll let him keep his illusions.

Here's another "OH" for you. If any of you read Stephanie Randolph's blog you will see that she just had a "first time" for not showering for 3 days straight when we were in Jerusalem. I was a very large supporter of this. But I will have you know that I also reached a "first time" I believe. Today marks the 4th day in a row that I have showered. It is quite impressive. I probably sink less.

I think that's all I've got for now.

I've got nothin except an Islamic Crater...whatever the heck that is

I sat down to post and I've really got nothing to say. I'm exhaused, and yet still going to the pub tonight which I justify by the fact that Drs. Pratt and Anders are leaving tomorrow and well its a send off thing... Today I was a nomad up on the dig sight. I was supposed to open a new square with the crazy Canadians, but then I got demoted to mosaic world. I dug in a little dirt pile there for awhile and then visited Cameron over in the cistern area until Dr. Schuler walked by and then I told him I was ready to shoot the levels whenever he was...just so I looked like I was waiting on him and not taking a "coff