“I want to find pottery’s mother and shoot her in the face.”
Day 9/10: June 23/24, 2008
The last two days can pretty much be summed up with that quote from one my square-mates Daniela. During that period, we have found over 5 buckets of pottery shards, which are great fun to find at first, but then just get annoying. Not only do we have to stop using the pickaxes and hoes to collect them, but every day we have to take an hour to wash all the shards. Even whole pots (like Daniela found today) are less exciting, just because of the sheer hatred of washing pottery.
Enough complaining, as we actually managed to go down another 15 centimeters both days. In total that’s removing 2.4 cubic meters of dirt between the hours of 5 am and 1 pm. It’s a lot of work, but actually is a great way to relive stress. I have really enjoyed getting to know my new square-mates when I was traded back on Friday of last week. I feel as though this new team is a great fit, and hopefully they feel they picked up a good player before the trade deadline (sorry, I’m missing my SportsCenter and baseball games over here, so I needed some sports references).
Lectures have been pretty good the past couple of days, including one on the relationship between theology and archaeology. It sparked a couple of interesting debates, and given the Biblical importance of Megiddo, it’s an important topic of discussion. The food as also been decent, but when you’re starting, I think everything is good.
My upcoming plans for the weekend (remember they start on Thursday afternoon here) are to head to Jerusalem and sleep on the roof of a hostel on Friday night (after a day trip to two other archaeological excavations) and then spending Saturday at Masada and in the Dead Sea region. I’m really looking forward to the sunrise view from Masada, as I’m sure it will yield some beautiful pictures. I need to find out how to post them on this blog so everyone can seem them. If not, I’ll upload them to Flicker/Shutterfly when I get home to a faster and more reliable internet connection.
Well, I best be headed off to bed, as I’m losing energy (both physically and on my computer battery). More tomorrow, hopefully on my selection of a senior thesis topic.
Cheers all!
– Anthony
June 24, 2008 at 7:22 pm
Hey Tony,
Your Mom has been forwarding your emails. Enjoy!! Sounds so exciting! Its amazing to me to imagine you in Israel and Jerusalem! WOW! A little different than diggin in the field on Thornbrook with Scott! I should have known you were practicing for bigger and better things.
Shelly
June 24, 2008 at 7:58 pm
Heya Anthony,
Your days seem long, but hope you are having fun, longer than my days (I was a camp counselor sort of thing for a couple weeks), but I’ll save my LENGTHY stories for when you get back.
hope all is well
shiva
June 24, 2008 at 11:00 pm
Hi Tony,
I was so excited to read your blog and catch up on what has been happening.(a little late as Tim and I just got home from LA). I love hearing all about your adventures, although I am a little jealous. I am so glad you are exploring on your weekends off. This is a once in a lifetime experience and you seem to be taking advantage of all that is available. Take a swim for me in the Dead Sea. Enjoy the sunset!! Can’t wait to see the pictures. Be Careful and we love you!!!
God Bless,
MOM
June 24, 2008 at 11:33 pm
Hey Anthony,
Your mom forwarded your blog to me. I was great to read all you are doing. I can picture all these places in my mind as you write about them. Sounds like you are making good use of your down time to see the country. Can’t wait to see your pictures.
Blessings, Cheryl