Day 2: On the dig site..

This is the morning of the second day I was there in area DS-1.  We often have pole trouble…in the sense that they fall down all of the time-which results in you working with the fear of of a bright orange PVC pipe falling on you.  In the early morning, work is the nicest since the humidity is noticeable but far from terrible.  On the site some things I learned were:

-what a bulk was (and how you need to trim it)

-how no one who speaks english will ever be able to pronounce Imbal’s name correctly.

-that sleep is really important.

-that you want to drink loads of water and wear some sunscreen.

and that you never ask what time it is until you’re certain it’s after 7:30 because breakfast is only an hour away (yes!)

Day 1: Waking Up Before the World

So, yes…I have been slacking off in the blog post department, but in my defense- being in Israel is just too amazing to make anyone want to spend any time on the computer.

Anyways, the first day before digging you go to bed at a seemingly ungodly hour like 10PM (but coming from my EST set-body it was more like 3PM), and then roll out of bed at about 4AM.  You mumble things in the general directions of your roommates since you are waking up before the sun rises, you throw things in your bag, pull your hair back with a sweat rag, grab your water, and pull on your hiking boots and start walking out of the bungalow area down a dirt road on the Kibbutz to meet the bus.

It’s incredibly surreal to, at the end of the dirt road, look around you and be able to look up and see the stars then turn to your left and see the lights of a nearby city in the distance on a hill, and then turn back to all of the people here with you that you’ve just met.

It’s such a great feeling and it finally hits you that you all are here to do something incredibly awesome….it takes that rolling out of bed at 4 (an hour of awakeness usually reserved for old people who wake up ridiculously early to take walks, those who are just getting home in a drunken stupor, and for those looking to not be seen as they take their walks of shame after some bad decision they made the night before) for it to really sink in.  You look up at the bright stars, the city lights, then at the people around you who are either just as crazy or just as excited to be here as you are and you get pumped for the day (although you still feel like a dementor has sucked all of the energy out of you).

You pile onto the bus after it rolls slowly down the road, go through Nahariya and turn down another series of dirt roads to get to Tel Kabri…the dig site.
We grabbed our pick-axes and hoes, and  so it began…

Finally in Kabri!

After a 10 and a half hour flight, a bunch of us flying from Newark finally arrived in Tel Aviv.

Okay, so, first off…Getting into the terminal was a little nerve-wracking. I walked around the wrong way, saw what I thought was a construction site, walked around the corner, and realized that it was the terminal for Israel. Why was it blocked off? Because you need to go through a second security check, and get your boarding pass stamped again at the desk once inside of the barriers…No big deal- haha. I was a little freaked out.

I happened to luck out and sit down next to these people who I heard mention Kabri, and actually ended up sitting next to one of the people from the dig on the flight- which was great.

The Airport at Tel Aviv was awesome:

where the only food option was a kosher McDonald’s…good stuff.

Slept on couches, Didn’t understand some Hebrew, and after 4 hours of hanging out in the airport…we met up with some other people, and headed off to the Kibbutz on a bus.

The people are nice, the food was great, and although I’m a little apprehensive about digging because I’ve never done it before, I’m wicked excited.

Also…highlight of the day: Rented a phone today for the three weeks. It’s my first camera phone ever (yay) …But I can’t send pictures from it (boo), and the menu is in Hebrew- so the joke’s on me…But being able to call/text and receive calls for a relatively cheap amount is great. I highly recommend it.

And now it’s late, (especially for having to get up at about 4AM to get ready to go to the dig site), so time to sleep!

x

If you’re interested in the dig at Kabri….

Read these:
http://digkabri.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/cline-and-yasur-landau-bar-kabri-20063.pdf

http://digkabri.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/cline-and-yasur-landau-epos-2007.pdf

http://digkabri.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/jfa-galley-proofs.pdf

and then, of course, the brief versions of the field season results are here:

http://digkabri.wordpress.com/previous-results/
(click on each of the links on this page)

Things to bring…

So worried. I’m a mess…

Things I need to remember to bring
-knee pads!
-hiking boots
-sunscreen
-toiletries
-hand sanitizer
-face wash
-wash cloth
-towel
-water bottle
-sun glasses
-shorts (too bad I own like one pair)
-shirts that are relatively crappy…and white/light
-convertor
-book
-ipod
-computer
-appropriate chargers ie…computer/ ipod/camera
-card reader
-many, many, many memory cards
-Emergen C
-food…
-epi pens
-maxair autoinhalers
-benadryl
-arm brace
-money
-ventalin and other inhaler
-soap + perfume?
-DVDs
-Sneakers
-Flip Flops
-Socks (always forget those darned things..)
-Jewelry (specifically the alex&ani grad present from a best friend, and some glass stuff I made)
-pen
-paper
-medical info. photocopied
-passport (haha)
-more sunscreen
-lots of workout clothes
-bathing. suit.
-a disposable camera
-copied phone numbers and address of the Kibbutz
-

We will meet the group at the airport in the Welcome area just after you come out of Customs. You will see a lot of seats there, plus some shops, including a place to rent phones. Once we’ve got everyone together there, then we’ll proceed out to where the bus is parked. That scenario will hold true for both first and second sessions.
-more money
-tote bag
-Other clothing (well, duh)

Sweden:
-heels
-that purple skirt thing
-dress from Devan
-various sun dresses
-pair 2 of flip flops..(I wish I owned flats! But no…)
-makeup
-American gifts for friends
-my “Can I kiss you with tongue?” pin <3.

haha, sorry for those of you who were expecting a real post…I'm just freaking out and need a good way of reminding myself there are things I need to bring.

Blogging From Kabri, Israel…[Almost]

It’s almost time for me to fly off to Israel to go on an archaeological dig at Kabri…

Right now it seems slightly daunting for I will be the youngest one on site (aside from the Professor’s children) and without any proper archaeological education-less my world and ancient history classes and mock-digs I did when I was younger through the Archaeological Perspective (thank you Geoff Purcell-read about that camp here), I will be the most inexperienced.  Furthermore, I am ridiculously concerned about finding edible food (You see, I have way too many allergies to still be alive thus far)…Hence, I shake with excitement and apprehension when I think forward to where I will be this Saturday (HOLY SH*T- THIS??  SATURDAY???)…exactly.

More to come when I’m on-site digging up some minoan stuff from the bronze age….

x

Welcome to my blog..

Now that I have a blog, I honestly don’t really know what to write in it… Blogging is supposedly the way of the future, so, I guess- I’ll just blog about ideas I have, things relating to sustainable measures, global issues, and innovation- all themes of the ‘future,’ if you will…Of course interspersed with entries about culture and my life..Hopefully some might find this interesting. If you have any questions about the media I post, let me know.

**Update July 8, 2009**

So I’m going to use this blog to talk about the excavation at Tel Kabri in Israel where I will be for the next three weeks (starting on this Saturday 7/11).

New Blog

Welcome to My blog.