Tues, Wed and Thursday of Diggin!!!

Tuesday
So once again we woke at 4:15 and headed to the Tel. Adam spent the first two hours pushing wheelbarrows up a hill to add to our big dump pile. His square is moving fast! I think he was a little dehydrated because he had a headache. Luckily, no one else has got sick on the Tel though...but some have stayed behind for the day knowing that they couldn't work. During pottery washing some really neat Greek decorations are found on a sherd and that encourages us to scrub harder and look closer. I make more top soil plans and start taking levels on my own. Dr. Ortiz says that when he was doing digs at my age he was not allowed to touch the equipment....however, this dig is a teaching one so students are encouraged to do as much as they want!!
Even though we have sworn off day time naps we fell asleep after taking a shower today....and NOPE we didn't regret it at all and YES we did sleep through the entire night!!!

Wednesday
Today we open up a new square- still looking for a section of the outer wall. At the end of the dig day Dr. Ortiz announces that we will have a Tel Tour today since our group has found sooo much in the last three days. Like I said I can't tell specifics at this point but I think its safe to say that we are finding what we think is a 4 room house---common of Israelities. On the way home we spot a huge brush fire across the highway from Neve Shalom...if you dont know Israel is going through a huge drought so we watch it for a while after we get home...eventually it goes out. We also stop at the grocery store today and Adam and I buy peanut butter ( I dont like how they prepare a lot of thier meat here so I am only eating meat like 3 times a week....so the peanut butter will fill in for protein). We also buy a cooler to keep our water bottles in and PEPSI :) Tonight instead of a lecture we will have pottery analysis where the professors will teach you how to date pottery by three different ways 1. Material made of ( inclusions in it- white inclusions in dark clay is a cooking vessel) 2. Color ( slip- a thin glaze that is burnished with stone or other pottery) and 3. Shape-the base, foot and handles (different people groups make handles thicker, thinner..same for foot and base.
We also chop off ALL of Adam's hair when we get back. Our friend Jared brought his clippers to our room and when we get done cutting off all of Adam's hair it looked like we had a small yorkie laying in the floor...he had soo much hair ( look for it in pictures). He wanted it buzzed b/c it get sooooo hot!! A lot of the professors can't stop talking about how different Adam looks and they keep asking me " who is the new guy, does your husband know you are with him". We have also started a laundry method that saves us time. When we get home from the dig we take off our shoes and then jump in the shower completely dressed. We just take the detergent in with us and wash our clothes as we clean up. Then we put them on the balcony and the HOT HOT Israeli summer air dries them by the time we get back from dinner!!!!
After dinner I create more top plans and teach Mariah how to do them as well!!!!

Thursday
Today was the HOTTEST day ever..no really. It was at least 105 degrees and everyone could tell. We drank tons of water and moved our shadecloths so that everyone was in shade 100% of the time. Adam's square spent the first part of the dig morning sweeping everything down really well for pictures. They are taking down walls of the Hellenistic time period in search of Iron Age surfaces underneath. Adam and I jumped in the pool when we got back to Neve Shalom and it was very refreshing. At pottery washing today a large (probably 3 inches) scorpion went running through our group and we had to get rid of him...scary!!! I found some pottery today that had both red and black slip----it will probably be analyzed at Monday's reading since we dont have pottery washing tomorrow!!!!
We are also briefed tonight on our weekend trip.
Here is the schedule.
Saturday- Head to the West Bank and go into Palestinian controlled area to see Herodium ( the fortress of King Herod, where his tomb was found in 2007- right where Josephus said it would be). Then we will go to Bethlehem ( where you have to have a passport since its considered to be outside of Israel as well) and see the Church of the Nativity. Then we will go see the Church of St. Peter-built on the site where he denied Christ three times and the rooster crowed and finally to Mt. Zion where we will go to the Upper Room quickly before our 4:30 reservation at the GARDEN TOMB!!!!!!! All of that in ONE DAY!! We have to dress very conservatively for all of the sites- girls can't show knees or shoulders.
Sunday we are going back to Jerusalem to the Woll (spelling??) Musuem which a huge mansion and then to the Israel Musuem where the shrine of the book is and the original Dead Sea Scrolls. After that we will go onto the Temple Mount to see the West Wall and the Wailing Wall...we cant' wear any religious symbols and can't bring our bibles. Its controlled by Muslims now and if they see it they will passionately ask you to leave. After lunch we get 3 FREE hours in Jerusalem to SHOP or do whatever you want to!!!!! YAY!!!!!! Jerusalem is wondeful and I want to explore the Armenian and Christian quarter more.
Each night we will come back to Neve Shalom for dinner so I think we will actually get to rest some. Next week we will only work til Thursday. Thursday night we will have a big 4th of July celebration and BBQ. We are also having a talent show and Adam has signed up...surprise, surprise :).

Friday- We did lots today so I will save it for a whole other blog...and then I will post pictures from this week...I am trying to take pictures at every part of our day so I can do a blog on the "Day in the Life of Gezer Archeaologists".