Today was our first day to do actual surveying with our teams. It went very smoothly and I think we will accomplish a lot over the next three weeks. The first field we walked was a grape vineyard and it had very easy visibility. We didn't find too much pottery, honestly only one piece. The next field had weeds and thorns up to my head. We all had either big sticks or machetes. I obviously was not trusted with a machete so I found a big stick to a)help break apart spider webs and b) to beat the tar out of anything that might get in my way. We had a local caution us about the vipers here in Israel and how if you get bit , stay put, because getting overwhelmed will allow the poison to get into your bloodstream faster. I had already played out the scenario in my mind of how I was going to handle snakes and that was to be as loud as I could to make sure they knew I was coming. I had heard one professor say they can hear you so right when we entered the first field I started making cattle herding sounds like "hah, yee haw" and then when I got a litle further down I settled for Xena Warrior Princess gutteral sounds of "iyie yie yie" in very shrill tones. Everyone was laughing, but I didn't care, i was not about to get snake bit. Then our director who was about 15 meters away said " Kinzie, what is that all about". I explained to him that I was keeping away snakes and he politely told me that they can really feel the vibrations when I walk, more then hear my voice. I felt ridiculous for my sounds but immediately started stomping and beating the ground with my stick. NO SNAKES :)!! I think wearing gaiters makes me braver too...for some reason?
Anyways, Adam is turning out to be a very good team leader, not that I thought he wouldn't be but he is organized and on top of things. He is keeping everyone entertained in the field and back at Neve Shalom. He is in charge of keeping our line moving, keeping up with found pottery and a majority of the paperwork for our team.
Today after lunch we once again crashed until dinner....a habit we broke last year but have not been able to shake yet this year. The group that is digging the water system is all old familiar faces and its great to have them at the Tel and sharing meals with us this year.
This weekend we are going to the Galilee, hopefully revisiting the Cliffs of Arbell, Baniass, Tel Dan and Capernaum. We have more freedom this year and more a say in what we do so I am super excited.
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