According to Dr. Schuler I am a Stallion

So I officially reached a new milestone in my life this past week. I went 3 days without showering. For some of you that may not seem like such a huge deal but don't forget I am in the middle east where it is hot and I am in dirt for seven hours a day. I really believe it is an accomplishment that I can be proud of.

The trip to Jerusalem was amazing. I had such a good time. Jerusalem is a beautiful city. We stayed in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City. It was incredible to listen to the call to worship every night and watch as the streets in that quarter closed down as each Muslim headed for his or her mosque. I loved the crowed streets of Jerusalem and the diversity of culture. We did have an experience in which we got to witness the negative affects of different cultures colliding but it was a great learning experience and it caused me to reflect on how i take my freedom to worship when and how I want for granted.

I think my favorite site at Jerusalem was the ruins of the pool of Bethesda. Going down into the cistern was amazing. (I mean when will I ever get to go down a cistern again in my life. IF only there was one close to where I work, say B4, that I could climb down into). I also loved walking the Via Delarosa (The Archaeologist one). It was a very moving experience for me. The only bad part of the trip was that There was so much to take in and so little time in which to do it.

The dig is still going well. My group has almost finished uncovering the street. By tomorrow we will be done and will move on to a different part of the street. I sure do hope that we find some more rocks because I just have not seen, moved, or dug up enough rocks. It was really exciting to start uncovering the street. It is a beautiful paved road. Most of the time I love the work. But I must admit that there are other times I just want to ask the tractor guy to come and remove the dirt in the square himself. But then I would not be able to experience the satisfaction of looking at the road and knowing that I helped uncover it.

I really like my Small Finds work. I enjoy being able to see all the things that people uncover during the week. I must admit that I have not done a lot of work with the pottery yet, but I find what I have done very interesting. I take all the pottery that is found each day and try to figure out what kind of pot/plate/bowl it came from. I find the fact that one pottery handle, rim, or base can tell me so much about the entire pot. This is assuming that my analysis is correct. But I'm sure it is. After all they dont call me Small Finds Rudolph for nothin.

Speaking of pottery I should go and work on some. I am going to attach some pictures. I hope you enjoy them!