Second Week of Excavations and Unexpected Adventures

The second week of excavations flew by. In the square I worked on, we worked on bringing the level down to the Iron Age wall. I was in charge of the data log and the maps for the week. On Wednesday, we took an official picture of the square marking the Iron Age Wall. It was a race against the sun to brush the entire square for the picture so the sunlight would not affect it. Yet, we still had to hold up the photography tarp to block the sun from creeping in for one spot. We also stopped a little early to go rafting down the Jordan River. Rafting down the Jordan is not even close to white water rafting; there was only one drop about one meter high. While there was not a rush, it was a fun experience. For most of the pottery readings of the week, I recorded the finds on the data logs. On Thursday, I found a beautiful piece of blue and yellow Phoenician glass, probably part of a bottle. Finally, the physical anthropologist said that he wanted Phil's bones but would not be coming to the site, so one of the archaeologist began to start to carefully and respectfully remove Phil. On Friday, I had to say goodbye to the dig. While many others were ready to be done, I was not. I would have been more than willing to continue for the next session.

Friday night before I went to bed, I was informed that my mom's flight to Chicago was delayed and would likely miss her flight to Toronto, thus missing her flight to Tel Aviv. On Saturday morning, I confirmed that was the case. She was sent to Newark but would be a day late, having to stay the night. Since I no longer needed to go to the airport, I went with the group from Truman State again on their planned day trip. 

We started by returning to Nazareth to go to the museum that is part of the Basilica of the Annunciation area. We headed west to Megiddo, also known as Armageddon. Megiddo is an impressive tel, or hill, of twenty-five layers, meaning the city was destroyed and rebuilt twenty-five times! one of the most impressive aspects was the water shaft to the spring so the people could get water without living the walls of the city, which we used as an exit. We continued west to Caeserea, the remains of a former thriving port city on the Mediterranean. We saw the amphitheater, bathhouse, the chariot race track, and more.

Caeserea remains on the Mediterranean.

After we finished at Caeserea, we took a dip in the Mediterranean Sea near a Roman aqueduct. We ended our day by visiting Bet Shearim, a collection of burial tombs and caves.

While there were a few goodbyes the weekend before, a couple during the week, and were a few on Saturday, on Sunday morning, I had to say goodbye to Truman group.  I am so thankful for them welcoming me to join them during those two week. They were a great group to get to know, and I look forward to hearing about the rest of their trip. 

My Sunday adventure began in the afternoon. Carl took me, Jerome, and Lily to Tiberias to take the bus to the airport. However, when three o'clock, the meeting time, arrived and there was no one at the office yet, Lily and I decided to take the public buses, so I could get to the airport. First, we took a bus to the central bus station in Tiberias. There we changed buses, and boarded the one headed to Tel Aviv. We eventually reached the seven level central bus station there, where Lily and I said our goodbyes. She was headed to a hotel and I was headed to the airport. I was able to find a bus headed towards the airport area. Once I made it to the area, I changed buses again to get on the one that would take me into the terminal. I finally was able to meet up with my mom at the airport and we picked up the rental car and navigated back up to Ginosar.

Golan Heights and the Galilee

Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to travel with the group from Truman State Univeristy to the Golan Heights and around the Galilee. I was able to see eleven different sites in two days! It was a long weekend, but definitely worth it.

On Saturday, we started out the morning by trying to go to Katsrin, but unfortunately, it was closed, so we made our way to Gamla. The Aramaic word for camel, Gamla gets its name for being set on a rocky ridge shaped like a camel's back. The town attempted to defy the Romans during the Great Jewish Revolt (66-70 CE) and was sieged for seven months. I hiked down the rocky ancient road to the town to see the ruins of dwellings, a synagogue, baths, and a tower. Along the way there was a spectacular view of the valley.

View from Gamla.

Ruins of Gamla.

After we hiked back up, we headed north to Nimrod Fortress, built by Muslims in the thirteenth century to protect the road from Tyre to Damascus. The tower, situated on Mount Hermon, has a wonderful view of the surrounding valleys.

Remains of Nimrod Fortress.

Our next stop was Baniass, a nature reserve, to have lunch and visit the Temple of Pan built by Agrippa II, Herod's grandson. Our final stop of the day was Tel-Dan to see the Dan River which flows to the Jordan River and the ancient city of the Israelites during the First Temple period (12th century BCE). While we were driving during our trip, we saw the borders of Syria and Lebanon, as well as remains from the Six Day War in 1967. Empty buildings stand, tanks are left in fields, and one can see signs for shelters and signs between every fence post warning of mines left by the Syrians, even after all these years have passed.

We spent Sunday in the Galilee starting with a visit to Korazim, a town from the time of Jesus and the Talmud. There were dwellings, baths, and a synagogue.  Korazim was denounced by Jesus for its lack of faith, along with Capernaum and Bethsaida. On the way to Capernaum, we stopped at the Mount of  the Beatitudes where it is believe Jesus delivered his famous Sermon on the Mount. We also stopped at Peter's Primacy. At Capernaum, we saw the modern church suspended over the remains of the ancient city, as well as the "White Synagogue" which is believed to be built on the "Synagogue of Jesus," likely built in the 1st century CE despite its name. We had lunch in the gardens outside the Monastery of the Twelve Apostles.

After lunch, we headed west towards Nazareth. We visit Zippori, known as "the Ornament of the Galilee." In ancient times, Zippori was a prosperous city and the site today is known for its impressive mosaics. Then we went into Nazareth to visit the Basilica of the Annunciation to see the Grotto. Beautiful mosaics from Catholic communities around the world are on the walls of the courtyard surrounding the church and can be found inside as well. We ended our day at the Cana Catholic Wedding Church where we saw people renewing their wedding vows. Cana is known as Jesus' first miracle, where he turned water into wine at the wedding.

 

First Week of Excavations

Tuesday was first day of actually digging. At first, I had mixed feelings. There was almost no instruction on what to do. For me, that is challenging and frustrating because I prefer having direction and learning how to do something before getting thrown in to something.  I was afraid I would miss something, break something, or some how mess up. However, I was able to get over it.

I wake up at 4:45 am so I am ready to go for when the bus leaves at 5:30. We arrive to the site a little before 6. When we get to the site, people volunteer for breakfast duty and pottery washing. We go to the tool shed and collect the tools for the site, trowels, brushes, backhoes, small shovels, etc. When we get to the dig area, we set up the tarp for shade. We work until 9 when we break for breakfast near the tool shed. We go back to work at 9:45. At 11:00, we have a popsicle break. We start cleaning up around 12:15 pm so we can take the bus back to the kibbutz at 12:30. When we get back, we have lunch. At 4:30, we have pottery reading.  We go to dinner at 7 and lecture is 8 pm.

The area I am working in is known as A-west. Where I am working, there is a Hellenistic/Roman wall. We were trying to find out if the wall continues but we are still unsure. Today, we possibly noticed an Iron Age wall. However, Phil, a Beduin human skeleton that disturbed the area, is making excavating the square more difficult. The potential Iron Age wall goes under the end of his tomb.  However, we can joke about Phil. We make jokes about him being the laziest worker.  There is another square in A-west that is working with several different walls and looking for a pavement, which we believe we begun to find it. This square has the challenge of being near a former Syrian trench. Most of the finds are pottery shards and bones, however in our area we have found a glass bead, a piece of glass, part of a glass bracelet, an amber bead, and several shells. We also run into different items relating to the Syrians and the Six Day War.

In the afternoon, we are free to whatever we would like to in the afternoon. I have swam in the Sea of Galilee a few times or have just relaxed. At pottery readings, we go through the previous day's pottery finds. Most are just body shards, however there are rims, bases, legs, and handles. The rims can be used to determine the type and the date. Decorations can be used to date as well. Slowly, I am catching on but there is a lot to learn.

On site, I have learned a lot! Tuesday, I learned how to take elevations manually which requires two people. One person as the special measuring stick, and the other looks through the sight for the measurement. Wednesday, I learned how to take elevations with the laser, which only requires one person. The laser stands at a specific point and the special measuring stick has a piece that when the laser gets close to the right height it beeps and when it is at the right height it is a continuous tone. I also learned how to keep the daily log which I applied the next day. The daily log has records the date, the area, the loci, the level (elevation), the strata, the squares, and the baskets. There is also a place for describing what is being done in the locus and a place for finds. On Thursday, Dr. Carl Savage, the actual site supervisor, had me be the site supervisor. I had to keep the daily log, prepare the tags for the find buckets, and mark the bone bags. I also recorded the special finds, because they are marked as a separate basket. Today, I was the site supervisor again. I learned how to make the maps of the squares.

Others excavating come from Holland, Australia, Poland, Canada, and of course the United States. Some of the students are undergraduates, some are in seminary, and others are on a gap year. Some are here for the more archaeological aspect while others are here for the more biblical aspect. With people coming from diverse backgrounds, we have wonderful conversations.

Safe at the Sea

I have safely made to the Sea of Galilee! My journey here was not too bad. My layovers in Chicago and Toronto were not very long so I did not have to do much waiting. Oddly enough, I had to go through customs in Canada for my connecting flight. The flight from Toronto to Tel Aviv was the longest flight I have been on. I slept most of the way. Air Canada made my day because I was able to watch the Princess and the Frog in French! I arrived in Tel Aviv a little before noon local time (8 hours ahead of Central). Unfortunately, the bus was not due to leave until 6 pm so I had to do a lot of waiting.  I finally met up with some of the other people and we began to get to know each other. From the airport it was a two and a half hour bus ride to the place where we are staying. The view along the way was beautiful though! Until I met up with the others, It was quite lonely. I said little more than thank you or telling the flight attendant what I wanted to drink. No one to talk to, no one to watch your stuff for you. There is a small group of people from Truman State, a couple from the University of San Diego, and the rest of us are all here as individuals. A few returners, but mostly first timers.

Today was just orientation at the site. We went over what our schedule will be and learned about the site and what we would be doing. It was quite interesting, a lot of information all at once though. One of the few rules is to drink lots of water. I am bad at doing that at home but I am doing better here so far.  I caused a little panic among the adults in the group when I got a small nose bleed, but honestly I was fine.  In the afternoon, there was no pottery reading, so we were free until dinner. A group of us went swimming in the Sea of Galilee and just relaxed. Despite it only being 9 pm, I about to go get ready for bed. Our mornings start with the bus leaving at 5:30 am to head to the site. It will be interesting to see how that goes for me.

Flights and Planning

It is official! My dad helped me book tickets earlier! We also got tickets for my mom who will be meeting me over there after my dig gets done.  I am so excited to share this adventure with my mom!

I a successfully made a list of places that I would like to see while we are there.  I took this list and put it in a spread sheet. The information included the area the place was located, hours of operation, fee, what page in my guidebook it was on, special notes, and website if available.  With this, my next goal is to decided what I am doing when.  Although I know I need to be flexible too.

Just over month!

Summary of my Service Trip

During Winter Break (the first week of March), I led a service trip to James River State Park in Virginia.  This was quite the experience for me.  First off, starting in January, we had weekly meetings as a group to prepare.  Myself and my co-leader planned ice-breakers and shared information on where we were going and what it would be like and what we would be doing.  Our trip was an environment on so we also had small assignments for them each week, like keeping track of the amount of water they use, the amount of trash waste they produce, and being vegetarian for a day.  During the trip, I had to keep track of expenses, keep track of everyone, and just try to make things run smoothly.  It was a lot of work. Despite having a co-leader, I often felt alone because she was so busy.

The trip was a success and gave me and opportunity to really think about all those details.  We helped set up an archery range by setting up the targets and clearing the paths.  Yes, we got to test it too!  We also got to work with a rescue dog in training by having one of us hide and having her go find the person.  While the weather was not as warm as we were hoping, and we did have a snow day, we had a good time doing of service.

Here is one of our group pictures.

So much reading!

I have been meaning to post for a while now but things have been pretty crazy for me the last few weeks.  I am leading a service trip to James River State Park on Saturday so I have been hard a work with planning the trip and pre-trip meetings with the group.  My two history courses are reading heavy, along with my readings for my arranged study.

So far, for my arranged study I have read Our Shared Witness: A Voice for Justice and Reconciliation by Munib Younan. I am currently working on Near Eastern Archaeology: A Reader, which will be coming with on my service trip because I am super behind. For Tuesday, I am finishing Witness in Palestine: A Jewish American Woman in the Occupied Territories.  I watched a film on the dig in Bethsaida with Dr. Bouzard.  I watched Schindler's List on my own to discuss.

It has been interesting learning different perspectives of the situation.  I feel like reading the different perspectives really gives you the full story of what is truly going on.

As it gets closer, I get more nervous and more excited.

Official Announcement

While I have told some of my friends, now that I finally told my last advisor (I have three) I can make the official announcement.

I am going to Israel in June!

Shortly before Christmas I filled out an application to participate in the Bethsaida Excavation in Israel. Right after New Year's I found out I was accepted!  I was supposed to go for May Term, but the class got cancelled because there were not enough people signed up.  However, I put that the classes that were cancelled were required for my major.  I worked with advisor (who was supposed to teach the class) to see what I could do.  He connected me with the application and here we are. So this semester, I am working with him on the preparation course as an arranged study.  While I am there I will have a couple of courses.  With it being just me, it is nice because I can put more focus on the archaeology aspect.  This prep course will be a lot more work than a regular half credit course. However, it balances out when I am there getting one and a half credits but it will not feel like it.  Like doing my individualized major, doing arranged studies for the courses is more work for me, but it could not be more worth it!

Direction

A couple of weeks ago, one of my closest friends shared that she was starting a personal blog. With her sharing that, I remembered that I had blog. Not that I forgot, I just had not used it since traveling to Tanzania in May. (Hence the last week's post when I realized I had not finished my posts of that trip).  So I am going to revive my blog, with a broader direction.

Directions. Life is full of them. The direction I am going to talk about in this post is career direction.  Before going to France for May for my minor, I was a biochemistry preference major.  However, when I was coming home I was not so sure that was what I wanted to do any more. While at the Gallo-Roman Museum in Lyon, my professor could see how interested I was in the artifacts and asked what my major was and I told him.  He responses with "You know they need people to do the scientific research behind this stuff?" I did know that, the thought just had not ever occurred to me, so my response was "oh...yea."  That one question was all I needed to start a new journey.

While my advisor was on sabbatical in the fall when classes resumed, I began to plan and research.  I decided to attempt to create my own major...in archaeology studies.  When he was back in January, I met with him.  He was supportive of my decision and we began the official process.  In March, I turned in a packet to the Dean of Faculty's office with a concept map and list of classes I would take as my individual major, a rationale with sources, a sheet showing how I would fulfill the essential education requirements, and my advisor's signature, along with two other signatures of professors that I asked to be additional advisor.  The decision would be made by the Education Polices Committee.

During finals week, one of the professors going to Tanzania, who sits on the committee, told me that the committee had approved my individualized major.  When school started this year, I was officially an individualized major in archaeology studies.  While it has been and will continue to be a lot of work, it will be worth it because I feel I am headed in the right direction for what I want to do.

Mungu awe nanyi daima

My sincerest apologies for how late this final post on Tanzania is.  I intended to write about the last week all together. However when I returned to the United States, there was a lot going on in my life.  I actually thought I had posted about the last week already.  I did not realize I had not, until yesterday when one of closest friends messaged me about starting blog, that I remembered I had a blog, a blog I am sad to say has been quite neglected. That is going to change (a separate post will explain).  But here it is, six months ago reflection on my final week in Tanzania for May Term 2012:

Mungu awe nanyi. God Be With You 'Til We Meet Again.  This hymn is one of my favorites. Whether it is in English or Swahili, I associate it with my trips to Tanzania. For me, it is a blessing to people, memories, and a country that I love.

The day after our return to the seminary was our last.  We donated a bunch of school supplies to the school and worked on building the chicken coup.  We had a class kickball and followed by a couple pineapples.  (I could really go for some fresh pineapple right now.)  For supper we went to the Dragonaires again.  We split thirteen garlic cheese and one chicken pizza between the fourteen of us.  The next morning we had to say goodbye to the friends we had made at the seminary.  On our way Dar es Salaam, we went to a village to sing durung the church service.  At this church there was a talented girls choir that sang several songs. It was amazing to see how captivated the congregation was when Pastor Herb was speaking. At the auction after the service we bought a couple of chickens to be donated to a family.  We were served lunch before getting back on the bus to make our way to Dar.

In the morning, we went to a national museum just a few blocks from the hostel.  I loved the museum.  There was an exhibit about the ethnographics in Tanzania and a variety of objects from different tribes. I also like the exhibit on human evolution that had a focus on the findings from Olduvai Gorge, a place I went during my first trip to Tanzania.  There was one the history of Tanzania as well.

After visiting the museum, it was time to be ready to get on the ferry. It was a gorgeous day so we sat on the upper level.  Despite putting on sunscreen, I got a little burnt.  After settling into the hotel, we walked to some markets at the old fort near the Sultan's Palace.  In the evening, we watched the sunset and bought seafood for supper from the vendors.

The next morning, we visited the Anglican church built where the slave market used to take place.  We even had the opportunity to go down into the slave holding chambers, which was an eye opening experience.  It was cramped and dark. The ceiling was so low I could barely stand up straight.  In the sanctuary, there was a series of paintings showing Jesus bearing the cross.  One of the amazing things about the church was being able to see the steeple of the church, next to the tower of a mosque.  After the church, we took a tour of a spice farm.  We saw nutmeg, lemongrass, cardamon, ginger, vanilla, cinnamon, red pepper, hot peppers, cocoa, and coffee.  After the tour, we had the opportunity to try different teas and fruits.  In the afternoon, we visited Sultan's Palace.

Our last full day, we went to the other side the island to relax at the beach.  We went snorkeling.  There was a low tide, so we had to go out pretty far.  Despite not getting to wear my glasses.  I did not have too many problems getting to see the coral and fish.  Unfortunately, when I was first getting into the water I got stung by something. (It took a hile to heal; I can still see where I was stung.)  I also had difficulties walking back to the beach when we where coming back in because my flip-flops kept getting stuck in the sand, and the side of my foot slid into a sea urchin.  The sting actually hurt more than the sea urchin pins.  The pins were such a pain to get out though.  In the afternoon, we just relaxed on the beach.  That night, we had a bonfire and roasted chocolate marshmallows.  Some of the hotel works played some music using a drum and a coke bottle and clapping.  Even though we put sunscreen on, most of us got a little burnt.  The next morning we went out snorkeling again before heading back to Stone Town to the ferry.  The sea was not as smooth on the way back so I took some Dramamine and slept most of the ride.  At supper, we presented Kadeghe with the money fot his and his sister's schooling as a thank you for everything he had done.  We were all sad to say goodbye because he had become such a good friend.  On the way to the airport, Kadeghe said "Goodbyes are crazy."  When we got to the airport we had the difficulties of saying our final goodbyes.  Goodbye to Pastor Herb, to Kadeghe, to Tanzania, and it was the beginning of the goodbye to the trip.

At the airport, we had a good laugh when, after going through security, one girl found a forgotten, giant  bottle of sunscreen in her purse.  She pulled it out wondering how it went unnoticed. An employee walking by saw her and took it from her saying that it was not allowed.  I slept on the way to Amsterdam.  In Amsterdam, when we were going through security to get on our next plane, most of us had a partial pat-down.  Of course, I was the one who got a full pat-down.  When we arrived in Minneapolis, our professor who had left early to go to his son's graduation was waiting to pick us up.  After spending so much time with everyone, it was odd to have to say goodbye.

In a way, it was kind of nice to go so long without posting this because I was able to read my previous posts and my journal, bring back wonderful memories.  I also keep pictures and souvenirs out.  I am so blessed to have had the opportunity to return to Tanzania.
Mungu awe nanyi daima