"If we rolled off this you'd really be dead"

This quote is one of the first things that I heard on the first day of my dig as I drove up the backway with one of the directors of the Haifa team. (The road, that leads all the way up the mountain to our site, is many times right at the edge of a big droop off)

Happy 4th of July!

It is amazing to me that I have only been in Israel for a couple of days. So much stuff has been happening. On July 1st the group and I spent the day touring Holy Places near the Sea of Galilee. It was a great trip but there was so much to take in. My favorite spot was the church that commemorated the feeding of the five thousand. However, my favorite moment was at the Church of the Beatitudes. While touring the church a group of Japanese tourists came in and one man stood before the alter and sang in Japanese, "How Great Thou Art," while the rest of the group joined in. It was a very moving experiencing to witness. The rest of the sites were just fantastic to see. It is hard to believe that I was standing just outside of Peter's house or the place in which Jesus fed five thousand people. Everyday I am struck with what a beautiful country Israel is. Especially the Sea of Galilee area. Each morning as we hike our way up to the dig sight I get to watch the sun come up over the mountains and each night I am able to watch the sun set over the Sea of Galilee. Each site is breathtaking.

July 2nd was the first day of the dig. Most people can not claim to find anything of importance on the very first day of a dig. I, however, can. My first job, so wonderfully bestowed on me by Dr. Schuler, was to find the place for women to relieve themselves. It was my first find of the dig. Now that the critical job is completed, I am working with three other people to uncover the road leading to the church. Right now I am just doing a lot of digging, moving rocks, more digging, and more moving rocks. Through this process I am getting very good with a pickax. However, I am getting a little sick of the sight of rocks. July 3rd was more of the same except I was sore. I must admit there is some sort of satisfaction from finally prying out a huge rock that you have been working on digging up for some time. Being an archaeologist is very hard work. Well for most of us. There are some people who just sit around and doodle all day (Andrea). The day begins at 4:15am so I can get dressed in time to catch the bus at 4:35. After a short bus ride up part of the mountain we hike the rest of the way to the dig site. We work for about 3 hours and then eat breakfast. We then continue working until about 11:30. By the time I make my way down the trail back to the bus I am exhausted and there is still pottery washing, lectures, and registrar work to do. However, I am loving every sore and tired filled minute of my first week as an archaeologist. Especially after a day like today. Sometime after breakfast Dr. Schuler called us all over to the tomb sight and we watched a tractor pulled the sarcophagus out. It is exciting to see what we will find now that the massive stone coffin has been removed. Currently, we have found human bones in the area but have no specific data on them yet.

We have had some interesting events in the few days since we have arrived. We had an emergency surgical procedure to remove a tick from someones leg. I must say, Dr. Schuler was masterful with his scalpel. We have also had incidences with dates hitting people's heads (actually just Jessica). Someone stabbed theirself in the foot with a fork. How do you do that you may ask? I don't know, maybe this certain person's fingers were so tired from doodling all day they cramped up suddenly. But that has been the extent of any injury's thank goodness.

This Thursday we head to Jerusalem. But more on that later!