HUZZAH!

I JUST SENT IN MY FINAL PAPERS FOR ALL THE ARCHAEOLOGY CLASSES I WAS TAKING THIS SUMMER!

HUZZAH!

EXULTATION!

WILD JUBILATION!

MAY THERE BE DANCING IN THE STREETS!

And life goes on. To my readers, thank you. It has been a pleasure writing these blogs.

Salud.

Hippos on the Hill

In a moment of extreme hilarity with my older sister last night, the two of us came up with a children’s book for the dig: Hippos on a hill. She’d write, I’d illustrate. Somehow "Fantasia" got mixed up into the book, and suddenly hippos in pink tutus were rolling down the hill with alligators in capes chasing after.

I believe this is the first sign of insanity.

These papers will be the end of me.

One excitement to another

Well, as proof of my reintegration to small town life, I went and watched a house set on fire last night.

No...really.

The adminstrator for our church is building a new house out in the country and wanted to get rid of the old, guano-filled structure that currently sits on the property. So, in a big shindig that was terribly exciting (AS exciting as anything in Israel), the masses gathered and watched as the firemen did away with the house. My nephew was beside himself (he's two and wants to be a firetruck...so did his father at this age). I cheered when the chimney fell in.

Hey, this was worth coming home to.

In other news, I miss the sun. I've been trapped inside working on the endless amount of papers for my classes. Three left. God save me.

Realia

For those of you dying to know how my feud with realia turned out, here's the response from Dr. Schuler to one of my many persistent questions:

"Archaeology is, in my view, an attempt to reconstruct past times andcircumstances based on material remains. There is some neutrality, because the reconstruction ought be driven by the data; but the datamust also be interpreted. What good is it to say, "a building 12 m by12 m"? Better, "a sixth-century byzantine church 12 m by 12 m." If one is to say that archaeology is fact, one must first define what afact is.I believe archaeology gives us an angle on realia, but so does theology,just in a different way. Davis would disagree."

And as for a bit of my own realia, holding my niece for the first time yesterday was reason enough to come home early.

The joys of scholarship

Hah! Paper one is done AND I learned something. Davis writes, "“An excavation should be a dialogue, not a monologue…. An archaeologist must approach a site with a question, but should not seek a specific answer” (pg. 151). Is this perhaps an example of realia?

The other truth for today: As I was working on papers this afternoon, my mother turned to me and commented, “This coursework is grounding you in your new reality, isn’t it.” Not having made that revelation prior, I could only nod my head. My mom then said, “That man [Dr. Schuler] is smart.”

It’s true.

Search for realia

Dr. Schuler warned me that 80% (or was it 90%?) of all archaeology is done in the library. This is too, TOO true as I sit here at home, dreaming of the dig while being overwhelmed by the written ramblings of my homework assignments.

Sigh.

But hey (or eh...hehe...), an archaeologist must be versatile, right? Therefore, with the same tenacity I attacked the dig site (and the centipede), I will overcome this book review for Dr. Schuler. I will! I WILL!!!

Along those lines, does anyone know what realia is? Davis (author of the Rise and Fall of Biblical Archaeology) states the fundamental theme of biblical archaeology is the search for realia. This may be true, but how am I supposed to know if I cannot even define realia? I have decided that when I become an academic, I will gear my work towards the popular audience, thereby not needing to wield cumbersome words like "realia" or anything that even the most intelligent of laymen do not understand.

These are my bitter ramblings and procrastinations.

Sigh.

Words to Live By

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered; Forgive them anyway.If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; Be kind anyway.If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;Succeed anyway.If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you; Be honest and frank anyway.What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight; build anyway.If you find serenity and happiness, there may be jealousy; Be happy anyway.The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow; Do good anyway.Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough; Give the world the best you've got anyway.You see, in the final anlysis, it is between you and God; It was never between you and them anyway. -- Mother Theresa