Friday afternoon

I'm back...

So Thursday Mom and I checked out early from the hotel so that we could go by Caeserea. It was lovely, it's on the Sea and we were sad that we didn't get to spend much time there. We had an interesting journey back through Tel Aviv to the airport where we handed in our rental car and then waited together for four hours.

Then I had to check in and go through security for my flight, and Mom had to wait for four (ish) more hours before she was allowed to check in. Thank goodness on the way home I had absolutely no trouble with security, since I had so much trouble on the way in I guess it was well deserved to make it smooth on the way out.

I flew into Germany and was sad to discover everything closed and me with no way to get out. I have no proof that I've ever been to Germany, and really I wasn't there since I was only in the airport and didn't even get to have a lager. Sadness! I spent a very uncomfortable night in a dark corner on the floor trying to get sleep because I knew that in the morning I had another 9.5 hour flight. I slept on and off until 6am and then went to check in and find my flight.

On the long trip back I was smack dab in the middle of two couples, one on either side, and both with a complete lack of concern for staying out of my space. I was very cranky indeed about that and only managed to get out once. Sigh...then I came through customs very easily and saw Brett! It was so good to see his face after a month and we talked the whole way back to Fishers, where we are staying with my sister this weekend.

I've come home with no home and no job and no school and am feeling a bit lost. My school has been my world for as long as I can remember and now I'm done (oh not forever, just for this year).

I want to say what a blessing this trip was. I'm so glad you've walked along-side with me through it. We are truly blessed here in this country and we are truly rich. It's easy to take it for granted if you never see anything else.

I've been so glad for your company on my trip , even though it was vicarious. I love you all. If you would like to see my pictures you will need to email me at pishposh_1979@yahoo.com or shannonnewspangler@gmail.com because I can't put the link here.

Thanks for reading! Much love....

Wednesday Evening

Well fans, this will be my last report from Israel, but don't worry I'll blog a few more times from home to let you know how I got there and how to access my pictures.

Today we woke up late and had a slow morning. Then we took a drive around the Sea of Galilee. Our first stop was Tiberius where we took some pictures and walked in the Sea a little. We decided to keep going and went on past Migdal where Mary Magdalene was supposedly born.

On a few more miles was Nof Ginnosar where we stopped in the see the 2000 year old boat. It was found only a few decades ago and is kept preserved by temperature in a building right off the Sea. Certainly Jesus did not ride in this boat, but it is from his time. We bought some snacks and headed out again.

Our next sighting was the Mount of the Beautitudes and then on to Capernaum where we saw a beautiful synagogue and hung out where Jesus did at the Northern tip of the Sea of Galilee. We then continued on, rounding the North-East corner of the Sea in the Golan Heights and headed down to Ein Gev, where they have the largest restaraunt in Israel and boast about their fish caught in the Sea. We had a delightful lunch, Mom had the St. Peter's fish, and then continued our journey.

We rounded the southern tip at Kinneret and made a stop at the baptismal sight on the Jorden right where it flows from the Sea of Galilee...we didn't need to get baptized but we walked in the water there all the same. Apparently thousands of people every year get baptized there, it was a little strange, but a good stop.

After this we made our way back North just a few miles to Tiberius and headed back West to Nazareth. All in all it was a good trip and we decided we needed two more days in the North. We've had a lovely time together and seen many things.

I've seen so much since I've been here, but boy am I ready to come home and give my Bretty a big kiss. Tomorrow we fly out, you will hear from me probably Friday.

Much love!!!

Wednesday Morning

Hola my family and friends! Sorry it's been such a long break, we didn't have internet at Ein Gedi.

Monday we started out already feeling tired and our feet were not quite recovered but we went ahead and decide to make it a big day :) We started by walking down, down, down and then up, up to Mt. Zion. We saw the Zion gate of the Old City which is right up next to Mt. Zion, seems like they should have included it in the Old City...oh well. So we saw the upper room, which was pretty ornate, and pretty far from the Mt. of Olives, so maybe Mom was right about them walking off supper. We also saw the tomb of King David and a smaller Holocaust museum. There is a bigger one in town that unfortunately we didn't get to see.

We then checked out of the YMCA and went back to the Old City for one more walk through to see the Damascus gate and pick up a few more things. We then decided it was time to move on towards Ein Gedi. We both felt like we saw a lot of things but just didn't have enough time for everything on our lists. We hit the main things though and maybe one day we'll come back with Bob and Brett in tow!?

We started off towards Ein Gedi going through the West Bank, don't worry it's allowed on the roads we had to take, because of tourism I think. We were amazed at the change in scenery. It went very abruptly to mountainy-dessert. As are many things we've seen it is indescribable and beautiful. We finally started to descend and started catching glimpses of the Dead Sea past the mountains. We drove down and down and down and were finally there where we made the turn from going West to going South along the Sea. We stopped at Qumran, where the Dead Sea scrolls were discovered and took some pictures before moving on to the Ein Gedi kibbutz where we stayed in a lovely little room looking over the cliffs that come to the Dead Sea.

The Dead Sea is beautiful and sparkles with the sun as it sits in the valley between Israel and Jordan. It was lovely and we went straight down to see what it was like. Even though we'd been told we were startled at how easily we floated. It also stung a lot, I had a cut on my leg and Mom has trouble with her fingers and we both were a little surprised at how much it stung. I'm glad we took the advice not to shave within two days of going there! But we got there pretty close to the end of the day and had to leave before we were ready. We had dinner and then watched "North by Northwest" before going to bed.

In the morning on Tuesday we got up early and went back to the Sea to float some more and take pictures. The "beach" is just salt and I'm sure it would tear your feet up something awful but we had swim shoes, which took it pretty rough. The salt sparkles in the sun and the water is warm like a bath. I tried floating on my stomach and then we went back to check out.

We headed down to Masada, a plateau where King Herod had a palace and the home of the tragic story of resistance and mass suicide, to read more on the story: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/masada.html. It was lovely up there overlooking the Sea from above sea level. But it was also very hot and we explored for a couple hours and then had to be done. We saw most of it though.

Then we started roaming south to see if we could find some salt pillars. A few of our travel books showed pictures of salt pillars at the Dead Sea and we wanted to find them and get pictures, but the farther south we went the more industry there was mining the salt. We made a stop at the supposed site of Lot's wife and Mt. Sodom and then turned back to head up to Nazareth.

As we drove across East from the Dead Sea we saw camel crossing signs, as you might see deer crossing signs in Michigan and were sad to not see a camel crossing the road. We headed through what can certainly be described as the wilderness and then turned North at Be'er Sheva. For a trip that mile-wise should have taken three hours it took us almost 7 to get from Masada to Nazareth because of traffic and the limited roads because of the West Bank. We were both very tired and I was cranky by the time we got to Nazareth, a beautiful city on a hill. Imagine Charleston, West Virginia except times ten. It's very hilly. We got in and were going to stop for directions but randomly drove by the hotel!

We got in and went directly to eat and had a wonderful meal of lamb chops, a first for me but man were they good. Then we went to bed. Today we are headed out and about in the North and I will try to tell you about it later!!

Much love....

Sunday Evening Jerusalem

Wow, today was also very full...we've been literally walking our butts off...haha.

This morning we started out early because the Temple Mount is only open a very short amount of time for Non-Muslims. We walked across the temple court and saw the beauty of the Dome of the Rock...don't get confused kids, this is not a Christian Holy site, the Dome of the Rock contains a rock that claims to have the footprint of Mohammed on it by Muslims. Jews consider this rock as the foundation of the world. This is why there is the argument. The Muslims are in control of the entire Temple Mount though now, which seems pretty unfair to me for the Jews. The whole thing is pretty large and I was trying to picture Jesus throwing out the sellers, something Mom and I have discussed walking though the markets.

Next we headed down to pray at the Western Wall, something we were not allowed to do on Sabbath. We covered our heads to respect the Jewish tradition and went close to pray. I laid my hand on the wall and prayed with dozens of other women, some talking aloud, others reading the Torah. What an experience, this is the most important existing Jewish shrine. As we watched a woman brought a cell phone up and laid it against the wall, letting her friend pray there too through modern technology. In respect as well, we backed away from the wall so as not to turn our backs on it.

We then explored some of the markets and bought a few things, haggling the whole time (don't worry they expect us to). It's a little rough though, they're pretty pushy. But they always insist "I like you, even if you do not buy" which is fun, they're very friendly.

After lunch we went to the Skirball Museum, the museum where they have placed many of the important finds from Dan. I explained to her what can not be explained on plaques and then we ran into Greg, my area supervisor and David, the man in charge of the dig. They were very kind to let us go down into the store room where they are reconstructing things and Mom and I got to really see some more stuff, including some things that I dug up!

After that that we went back to the Old City and roamed some more and tried to find the Jewish quarter, which it seems they do not want tourists in because there is not easy way to get there and not much going on when you do. We gave up and went back to the Muslim and Christian quarters where they are delighted to have us around.

As we were strolling through the bazaar and heading in the general direction of the Jaffa gate we walked again by the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and much to our astonishment we saw none other than Katie Couric and no I'm not being crazy or whatever, it was really her. We took some pictures, although Mom wasn't willing to ask her to get a picture with her, but we were the only people who recognized her, not shocking in the Old City really. But no one else cared who she was and didn't give her a second glance. She is very pretty.

We quit a little early today because our feet are hurting pretty badly and we may go out for desserts later...what a lovely day. Much love!!

Saturday night

Note: Before I even get started today note that I will not use the term supposedly. Most, if not all of the things I mention here should say "This is the place where so-and-so supposedly did this or that."

Today we started out with a delightful breakfast on top of the Mount of Olives and started our tour from the top. We first walked by the Chapel of the Ascension, where Jesus ascended to Heaven (supposedly...ok just that once). We weren't allowed in though and so we kept going to view the Temple Mount from the overlook. We continued down from there to the Dominus Flevit church. Also known as the Church where Jesus wept. Following a winding path down some more we walked past the many tombs on the Mount of Olives and past the Church of Mary Magdalene. We continued down to the Garden of Gethsemane and sat under the shade of some of the oldest olive trees alive today. We also saw the rock where Jesus prayed while the disciples slept.

We looked into the Church of all Nations where a Catholic service was being held, it was lovely. Then we visited the Tom of the Virgin Mary, the first site on my trip thus far that was pretty commercialized, it was rough but visually brilliant. This is one of the many places where the Virgin Mary is said to have been entombed.

After that we took a rather hard walk straight up the hill back to our hotel where we rested for an hour before leaving to find our new hotel, the YMCA Three Arches. A very lovely building designed by Arthur Louis, the architect of the Empire State building!

We paused only briefly before heading out to the Old City, a 10 minute walk from our hotel. Entering the Jaffa gate we walked directly into the bazaar. From the very entrance it is beautiful and dizzying with the variety of smells, sounds, colors and peoples. We were called to every few feet by shop owners wanting us to look at their wares. Having decided to just look today and buy tomorrow we just took everything in.

We met a few friends from the dig for a mid afternoon snack and drinks in a hotel cafe that we reached by a tiny door in the bazaar, hardly recognizable as a hotel entrance. The cafe on top of the hotel overlooked the skyview of the Old City and the Dome of the Rock. It was beautiful up there in the shade with the breeze blowing to keep us cool.

We then went to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which was built around the place where Jesus was stripped, nailed to the cross, and where he hung. This last bit is surrounded by a brilliantly colored shrine where people continually passed to kneel and kiss the rock. In the church there are many important sites such as tombs and other important places and the big importance, the place that took us a twenty minute wait for 15 seconds inside is the Holy Sepulchre, the 14th station of the cross where Jesus was laid to rest and returned to life. We waited and then entered a low doorway and knelt by the slab of marble was Jesus was to have been laid. It was a moment for great reverence and I felt it there. This also is a truly indescribable moment of our trip and I will leave it at that.

We left there and explored the bazaar a little longer and then headed to the Western Wall for the closing of Sabath. We observed the rituals and watched people and it was a lovely time. We watched the sun move across the wall and finally disappear into shadows and then slowly headed back through the closing bazaar towards the Jaffa gate, ending our day with dinner at the YMCA restaurant.

What a day....what a day.

Sabath in Jerusalem

Internet access at the Mount of Olives, Jerusalem...what a city. Oh dear, the last 30 hours have been interesting, this will be a long one:

Ok, so first we had a 3ish hour bus trip to Tel Aviv, the bus filled up with lots of soldiers, all carrying big guns and then people lined the aisles to stand for most of the trip. What a unique experience. So we finally get to Tel Aviv and I say goodbye to my bus companions, Mari, Jamina and Tommy and get into a taxi headed for the hotel and my momma. Unfortunately I was so distressed about leaving my friends and going off on my own that I agreed to 120 shekels and the taxi ride was barely ten minutes long...well live and learn I guess, I got there safelty.

Mom and I caught up as we strolled down the road to a small but lovely sushi bar. We had tempora, a big bowl of fried shrimp, fish and veggies. It was pretty tasty and then we went back to our hotel and went to bed about 9:30pm...we'd both had long days.

This morning we drove to Jaffa (Joppa), which is really part of Tel Aviv. This is where Jonah got swallowed by the sea monster (or where the story is based at any rate). We had a lovely time walking around tiny art galleries at this important Biblical port. We also went into St. Peter's cathedral which was lovely. After lunch on a porch overlooking the Mediterranean Sea with the wind on our faces with walked down to the beach and put our toes in the sand. A big wave came and got us both a little wet but it was worth it.

We then "went up to Jerusalem" (Ah yes Bible dork I know) We got a little lost on our way into town and almost ended up somewhere we shouldn't be. Unfortunately we arrived in Jerusalem right at the time where Muslims are going to pray. We drove around the walls of the Old City but we were not able to get to the Mount of Olives, where our hotel is located, and were directed away and went through the City of David. Fortunately we found a tour guide (of sorts) that took us to see St. James's grave, Yad Avshalom (or the Tomb of Abshalom), Hezekiah's tunnel (which we did not go through yet), and the Pool of Siloam (where Jesus healed the blind man). I stepped into it (it was ok!) and it was so cold that my feet were numb. It was out of the way so there weren't any other tourists there! It was a fantastic way to spend our time while waiting to be able to go up to the hotel.

When that was done we headed up and up and up the Mount of Olives to the very top where our hotel overlooks the temple mount and the Eastern wall of the Old City. Wow wow wow...That's all there is to say. We are staying in the Mount of Olives hostel which is small but great and very clean and safe. We headed out for dinner pretty quickly and ate in a great little back alley palestinian place and I had lamb kabobs.

Then we went walking and went to the lookout which looks over the Mount of Olives cemetery AND the Temple Mount. (Pictured above) We watched as the sun went down over the Old City and heard the prayers from the temple on a loudspeaker so that the whole city could hear...it was an amazing feeling just watching the sky get darker and feeling that wonderful night air I keep talking about and listening to prayers. Wow...it just is almost indescribable, it was beautiful. And then the song "The Holy City" popped into my head and then I kept singing it under my breath. Wow...what a place, what an amazing place. I will leave you with the lyrics, much love my dear family and friends...

Last night I lay asleepingThere came a dream so fair,I stood in old JerusalemBeside the temple thereI heard the children singingAnd ever as they sang,Methought the voice of AngelsFrom Heaven in answer rang"Jerusalem, Jerusalem!Lift up you gates and sing,Hosanna in the highest.Hosanna to your King!"And then methought my dream was chang'dThe streets no longer rangHush'd were the glad HosannasThe little children sangThe sun grew dark with mystery,The morn was cold and chillAs the shadow of a cross aroseUpon a lonely hill"Jerusalem, Jerusalem!Hark! How the Angels sing,Hosanna in the highest,Hosanna to your King!"And once again the scene was chang'dNew earth there seem'd to be,I saw the Holy CityBeside the tideless seaThe light of god was on its streetsThe gates were open wide,And all who would might enterAnd no one was denied.No need of moon or stars by night,Or sun to shine by day,It was the new JerusalemThat would not pass away"Jerusalem! JerusalemSing for the night is o'erHosanna in the highestHosanna for evermore!"

Last Dig Day

I'm sad to be leaving but truly I'm done digging. It has been a long couple weeks here and especially the sickness, it makes work a lot harder and I have to take more breaks so I feel useless much of the time. We finished up today and cleaned a little, they will finish cleaning next week and cover things until next season which is 2010.

I'm off to my last lunch at the kibbutz, kind of a relief really, and then a bus ride to Tel Aviv to meet my Mom!

Wednesday Evening

Wow, what a day it has been!

Today has been very full, this afternoon after lunch (which sadly were left-overs from last night) Mari and Greg and I headed down to Banias, a river that flows from very near here into the Jordan. It was about a 15 minute hike from the kibbutz. http://www.jafi.org.il/education/noar/SITES/banias.htm for more information. It is the hottest day since we've gotten here, not my speculation, a true account, and down in the river valley it was so much cooler and the water was so cold that it numbed our legs. I body surfed a little in the not so rapid rapids. It was beautiful down there, like a different world. The trees shaded the area and all that we could hear was the roar of the water, it was beautiful. The trees are full with spiderwebs and cocoons that make everything seem a little dreamy. Wow...what a country.

After pottery washing this afternoon (my last!) we took our Wednesday day trip...this time to Tel Hazor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tel_Hazor if you want to check it out). It is to the south of the Hula Valley what Tel Dan is to the North, in antiquity if one was booming the other was small and vice versa. There is an enormous temple right in the center that faces East, they aren't sure why.

We got back just in time for dinner, our last supper together. I feel pretty distressed about leaving. You understand, we have been for three weeks spending all our time together. We eat together, play together, work together, sleep together (not that way!), and pretty much everything. It's very strange. We've become such a part of each other's every day life.

After dinner tonight we had a going away party. David bought us ice cream, cakes, baklava, Mt. Hermon wines (both red and white) and some other sweet treats. The twenty-five of us ate together under the stars over-looking the Golan Heights/Lebanon. What a beautiful place, and man, I'm going to miss the nights, it's beautiful out and the air...I know I've said it before but I can't get enough.

Well kids, I may write tomorrow, I may not be able to. Next stop, Tel Aviv to meet my delightful Mommy. I'll update ASAP. Much love!!

Wednesday afternoon

This morning I went to the work site and felt pretty good the whole time. After breakfast though I came back with Eva and Jason (the supervisor for the pottery) to label pottery.

Imagine trying to write with a felt tip pen on thousands of year old pottery that is dirty. It sucks...Eva and I are convinced that there is a portion of Hell dedicated directly to pottery labeling. Not only is it rather difficult but it also makes this terrible scratchy sound. Woah...what a crappy time.

Today there was an exchange of hostages, don't know if you heard about it in the news. It was between two Israeli soldiers and many Lebanese soldiers, both of the Israeli soldiers were deceased : http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/07/16/israel.swap/

It's a pretty big deal here and the woman that was watching the news with me kept saying to me "Ugly world...very ugly world we live in." Hmm...it is strange to be somewhere where these things are real and in your face. Jason said that while on the one hand it's a good thing that Israel will do anything to get their soldiers back, it can also create some pretty bad negotiations, like the one here. Check out the news story for details.

Actually looking back over my blog I feel convicted about my comment on pottery labeling when I've got things so good. It'll really put things in perspective I suppose to look around myself more often. Well I'm off for now...

Tuesday Evening

For dinner: Tuna stuffed pepper...never a shortage of tuna here in case you were wondering.

The days are a touch shorter now and the nights are a bit cooler...not cold by any means you understand, just cooler. I've only been here two weeks and I can tell the difference. Hoping for a full day of work tomorrow.

Much love..

Tuesday afternoon

Weird...I'm almost done here in Dan and I feel in some ways like I just got here. I also in some ways feel like I've been here forever. Woke up this morning feeling pretty good and went out to dig. I was fine, but moving slowly to take care of myself.

I found out, though everyone else did yesterday, that there was a fire at Dan over the weekend. It burned 15% of the Nature Reserve, though not in any of the sections that we were digging in. The fire took out the mill down by out water supply stream and quite a bit of forest. Eva even found a dead chameleon that she took to and brought it back to our site to keep it close (it's pretty gross at this point). It's pretty tragic to see, where it was so dark going to get our water for the day is now bright even early in the morning. It's a little heart-breaking. And there was some talk about the fact that the locks had been tampered with so that the fire trucks couldn't get in...I'm not sure exactly the case, but there it is. David did say that he could see a wall now that was hidden, the silver lining.

I made it pretty well until breakfast, and ate a lot since I was hungry, but then faded for an hour and had to quit at about 10ish. They brought me back to the kibbutz at about 11 am and I slept until lunch. Today for lunch we had tuna stuffed artichoke, not bad actually. I am trying to get back up to speed but it's taking awhile. I feel frustrated with my body for failing me.

Since I haven't yet given you these links, if you want to know more about what I'm doing here are some sites, the first is a wikipedia description and the second is the dig site. Much love!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tel_Dan

http://www.findadig.com/digs/tel_dan

Monday evening

Though there are some question as to the nature of my sickness I'm pretty convinced that it is sun poisening...7 hours in the sun while hiking is not great for the body...well my body at any rate.

I am feeling almost 100% now but do not have any energy. I feel fine and then I walk to the dinner hall and have no energy left to eat. I ate some potato's and rice and a few bites of meat...maybe hamburger, not sure. I was told to eat some sugar and that might help. Any other suggestions for energy would be helpful.

Not a lot has happened today, just rested and went to pottery washing and dinner. Listened to a lot of music and rested on my bed a lot. We have a new roommate, Aubri, who just finished her freshman year of college at San Diego State. It will be different than just Mari and I for sure.

Just wanted to check in. Much love...

Monday last week of dig

Oh my faithful fans...you may have noticed that I did not blog yesterday, trust me there is a good reason.

The last 36 hours have been...well at the very least rough. I left you as we were going to dinner Saturday, we got in the bus and I was feeling a little sick to my stomach. We landed on going to dinner at a coffee shop that also served sandwiches and pasta and I ordered some linguini and lemonade. I wasn't feeling well and Tommy (he's one of the area supervisor's) suggested that I go and put some cool water on my face which I did. That didn't really help much and I was feeling dizzy and sick to my stomach. We cut dinner short (everyone got to eat, well not me, but we didn't stick around) and they brought me back.

I will spare you the terrible details of my sickness but for the next twelve hours it was bad news and poor Mari had to take care of me. She's seen me like no one except my family has before, but she was lovely and caring. At 6 in the morning she went and found Tommy who brought me Immodium and cooked me up an electrolyte compound of boiled water, lemonade, strawberry banana juice and salt. It was so gross, but I tried to get some down.

To mix things up, Sunday is the day they clean and so we were kicked out of our place at 7:45 am and I sat on a bench waiting with Tommy while everyone else went out for coffee.

When Tommy and Greg's room was clean I went in to lay down and thankfully stopped getting sick about that time. I mostly slept for the next 5 hours while Tommy worked on his PhD proposal. As a second kicker, we were supposed to change rooms, because so many people left. So Mari, Eva and Nick moved all of our stuff and also brought me back some (almost) pedialite type stuff, which was gross but not quite as bad as the other. At 1pm Sunday I ate part of a peice of dry bread and then slept again until about 3:30pm.

Then Mari and Eva came to take me down to our new apartment. It wore me out just walking a few hundred feet and I slept on an off until about dinner time. Mari and Eva had gotten me some pretzals and taken some peanut butter from the office and I ate two peanut butter pretzals, about all I could handle. I didn't go to dinner but they brought me back some bread and white peaches. I ate one of the peaches and drank a little water and then fell back asleep for the night about 8:30 or 9pm. I slept through the girls getting up for work this morning and woke up at 9 am feeling mostly normal and very hungry.

I ate a peach and several peanut butter pretzals and then felt a distinct desire to get out of bed. So I came up to the office to blog about my crappy 36 hours (haha...no pun intended). At any rate...what a bad day. I'm hoping to take it easy today and be back to work tomorrow.

It is not fun being sick away from home...well loves, off I go...I need more rest for the time being.

saturday evening

Oh dear!!! What a day we've had. We drove for about an hour this morning to go to Gomla - it was Greg, Steve, Mari, Eva and I. We got there about 8:30ish this morning and started our descent to Gomla. The picture that is here is not mine but I do have some like it. This picture is taken from the lookout - a 15 minute walk. We then descended the mountain closest in the picture only to walk up and around the peak you see. It was a great location because of the treacerous descent on either side...hehe. At any rate, if you want more information on Gamla you can go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamla.

This place also has a vulture sanctuary. Those birds are ginormous with a wing span of somewhere near 8 feet full grown. They leave enormous shadows on the ground. It took us nearly 3 hours to go down, around and back up. On the way back up I was sure that I might die and there were many jokes of leaving me as an offering to the vultures (as well as anyone else when they fell behind). I made is as you can probably tell.

At the parking lot there was a small store where we got sandwiches and drinks. I ate a tuna and cucumber sandwich, something that I would not eat at home but alas, I needed sustinence.

After lunch we took the more family friendly path out to the waterfall. This took just a few hours to get there and back. On our way we saw many Dolmens - or large cist graves that are still in very good shape after many thousands of years. We also were lucky enough to see a vulture family on the cliffs - pretty close with Greg's binoculars. There was a Dad, Mom and baby. Those things are BIG!!

The waterfall looked so refreshing after our day but alas we were not able to get to it. It is the tallest perenial waterfall in Israel and was very pretty.

Needless to say after 5 hours of hard-core hiking I was exhausted and when we got back I passed out for two hours. We are now getting ready to go to dinner and I'm expecting another exciting experience of course.

It is already very obvious that the people who left are gone, it's a different place without them.

Love to you all...

Saturday morning

So we're heading up to Gomla for the day, it's close to the Syrian border and it will be a two hour hike to what we are going to see and there's an animal sanctuary and a waterfall...I'll certainly let you know how it goes.

I slept hard last night and had dreams about people I haven't talked to in years. I have weird dreams here.

Sorry this is short, headed out...much love.

P.S. Give yourself a hug for me...I miss you people.

Friday week two

Yikes, sorry fans, I didn't get a chance to blog yesterday.

Yesterday was a good day, as are most days here. We continued to work in the dirt and look for interesting things. We found some small things like beads and glass, nothing out of the norm. The exciting things were happening last week, but I'm sure we'll get around to more exciting things next week.

Yesterday was a normal day; dig, lunch, nap, pottery washing, pottery reading and dinner. After dinner we had a get together, it was a very unorganized talent show, which actually turned out to be fairly amusing. There was some singing and dancing and poetry. It's strange but I really enjoy the things I'm doing. After the "talent show" Mari and I went down to join the going away party for Brian and Andrew.

Today at the dig we mostly cleaned up for the weekend (which I'll actually get this weekend) and we toured each of the Area's to find out what they are doing. There are 4 areas we're working on: L, M, B and A, I'm working in B. There are some interesting things coming up everywhere but after 12 days of digging in a row I'm pretty beat and just want a break.

This afternoon Brian, Andrew and the Indiana Wesleyan group left. There were some pretty great people that left and even though I just met them I am already mourning their leaving. After they left the group of us remaining for the weekend (others are still digging but gone for the weekend) played water basketball. After that I went back to my room to write in my journal and ending up crying myself to nap (or to sleep whatever). I'm physically and emotionally exhausted. I woke up face down on my journal listening to Bright Eyes which certainly didn't help with the melancholy mood. Now don't get me wrong...I'm loving it here, I'm just willing to admit that it's hard as well.

Tonight we went out to eat, those of us that are around for the weekend, and Mari and I shared a pizza with mushrooms, black olives and CORN!!! Ha, it was actually pretty good and they don't offer meat toppings here of course because of Kosher rules. What a fantastic experience. :)

Well kids, I'm so tired I'm feeling a little crazy, tomorrow we are going to Gamla and I will get up at 6:30 - sleeping in!! Much love...

Wednesday week two

First of all I'm really sorry about the unoriginal titles of my blogs. At any rate...last night we were coerced into doing a youth group get-to-know-you activity by being told that it was a fun surprise. We did the circle game where the inner circle moves and we share things about ourselves. The problem was that it was already really late and also there was a major language barrier being that we do not speak Arabic and most of the boys do not speak English all that well.

After that we had a going away party for Allen (the 70 year old) because he was leaving today. It was a pretty good time but those boys are crazy.

Today was a full day at the site. I continued to help Greg with the reading levels, archiving and other duties of the like, I feel good that he trusts me to take those things over so that he can access what everyone else is doing. The other work I did today was emptying buckets for people. We found a great deal of exciting things today; some pounding stones, a piece of quartz, a sea shell (which connects Dan to the sea people at Tyre), and some bronze as well as another grave and a secondary burial. It was a full day and probably the hottest since I've been here.

This afternoon Mari got stung by a wasp but with benadryl and Advil and cortezone cream she is feeling much better now. We went up to some Romans ruins on a field trip this afternoon. It was a lot of uphill walking in a lot of heat but as always, the view was beautiful and it is always much cooler at the top. On the way down we found a fig tree and I took a picture sitting under it and then cursing it (hehe ok I know I'm a Bible dork). We also picked some figs and I had fresh fig for the first time ever. It was actually really good and does not taste much like a fig newton.

What a time I'm having! It's wonderful here and I am really enjoying this trip. I so wish that I could share it with you other than just in photo's, but that will have to suffice for the time being my family and friends. Much love!!!

Tuesday of 2nd week

Last night we took a walk twice around the kibbutz, I couldn't get enough of the beautiful lights in the mountains (small towns), the stars (very bright) and the wonderful air. Do you ever feel like the air is so good you can't get it in fast enough? That's how I felt last night and it was wonderful. I've never enjoyed just breathing so much.

The stink eye must have worked that we gave those young boys yesterday during work Owens because they were much better last night. A little guitar playing but nothing that couldn't be drowned out by ear plugs.

Still I woke up rather tired and cranky and ended up yelling at some of the guys in my section at the site. Of course they did deserve it because they were being really immature and not being careful at all. We were taking up some side slabs which are very heavy and they were trying to impress people by taking them alone but they couldn't do it and kept dropping them near people and tipping almost into the pit. Stupid boys (actually the two I'm talking about are 33 and 70 but still stupid boys).

We continued what we were doing yesterday today and Greg taught me how to read levels and keep numbers so that I can be his right hand woman for archiving. It's nice because then I get mini-breaks from the hard work. I am getting some nice muscles though, I'm rather impressed with myself.

Well I am going to go and take a 2 hour nap before pottery reading. Much love...

Monday week two

It's a little hard to keep track of the days here, they bleed into each other. Today we worked on looking for a street or a wall underneath the graves, we are moving on to the next level, always an archeaologist I suppose, no time to dwell on anything.

Last night the 14-17 year old Arab students came in, all boys, and kept Mari and I up until past two with their drumming, guitar playing and loud antics. Let me tell you how ticked off we are, it's a lot. We went over at 11 to ask them to quite down with virtually no result and 5 minutes later they were back to be just as loud. Needless to say we are a little tired and cranky today.

Not a long one today, just wanted to check in. Much love...

Sabat

This morning we went out to the graves and finished taking them up, I do have some amazing photos from today that you'll have to wait and see when I get home. We removed all the graves and tomorrow we will move on to I don't know what actually.

After lunch we (Mari, Eva, Nick, Allen and I) drove the the Sea of Galilee and swam for a little while. As we swam we were looking at mountains going high in every direction that we looked. We floated on our backs and just enjoyed the view for awhile. On our way home we also stopped by so that I could step in the Jordan River.

I feel God here in a real way. I am falling in love with the land of Israel. Today was the first day that I felt homesick. I wanted to be in a familiar place with familiar people. With people that I've known longer than a week. I miss you my family and friends.

Saturday July 5

Last night we went out to eat at a fish place. They serve fish from the Sea of Galilee. The restraunt was located in a sort of oasis, back in the trees and there was a creek that ran through the entire place. We sat outside in the cool night air (very comfortable) and ate many new things. For a beginning they serve pita and about 7 little bowls of different toppings. The fish was served whole which is not something that a few of the people were used to I think. We had a great time and sat and talked at the table for a few hours after dinner.

This morning we went back to the Tel and worked a little more on the graves. We did not get as far as we'd hoped and will have to go back tomorrow. The grave of the small child turned out ot have two other children (at least so far) in the grave. Greg thinks that perhaps they re-used the graves although this is not something that he's seen or heard of before.

We also worked on articulating an adult who seems to be in a very strange position. Tomorrow we hope to have pictures taken and then remove the bones and continue to work there.

Right now I appear to be locked in the office with no way out, I'm going to explore my possibilities and write more later. Having a great time! Much love...

Independence Day

This morning we went to the sight and got some pictures before we began again to dig. I worked with the baby's grave, which turns out to be a toddler we think. And it was fine until I got to the skull and started clearing it off. I was very aware of what a precious thing that I was involved in. Someone lost their child, I kept thinking about Natania (my neice if you don't know) and I started crying. You don't realize it until you get into it that this will be an issue. We are participating in very important work here.

Three of the four adult graves are fully showing, as in the group has cleared them so that they are still in place, but you can see most of the skeleton and none of them bothered me until the toddler's profile began to emerge. Greg said I could take a break from it and I went to work with Brian on what seems to be a young woman (or man sometimes it's hard to tell).

We had a short day so not much else got done today but we are working tomorrow so that we can get the graves finished before the Arabic students come on Monday. I think I heard Greg say that they couldn't work with the deceased.

We came back and Mari and I laid in the shade and napped before lunch and then after lunch we swam in the pool for 3 hours, and by swim I mean we played different types of Horse and basketball for 3 hours. I feel a little water logged but it has been a good day.

For celebrating the 4th of July we are going out to eat in town, plus they don't feed us on the weekends so we have to eat somewhere. I am sad to say that there are no fireworks here for our independence day. Much love to you all...

Thursday first week

Well...today was a special day. We finished clearing off the floor with the pottery and then swept...yea we are learning the meaning of sweeping dirt...what a good time :) After we finished with this David (the leader of the dig) took us on a tour of the front gate and walked us through the entrance to Dan.

We pretended like we were pilgrims and walked through past 4 gates and many market stores (which would sell olive oil for the deity's honor, etc.) I am learning a great deal.

After this small tour of part of our site we went back to work and Greg, the supervisor of my section of digging put me in charge of the baby's grave. We are working through some old burials mostly adults and one very small grave. I feel as though he trusts my work. I have not yet come to bones but certainly will tomorrow.

The food I am eating here is very interesting. They eat things for breakfast that I wouldn't think of, like plates of vegetable and tuna fish sandwiches. For lunch and dinner we eat good things, always with a fruit as dessert and rice. There is always some kind of meat and many vegetables. I've become very open in order to maintain health and strength.

I'm having a good time, though it's tiring. Mom - don't worry I'll come back to Nimrod, we didn't get to see all of it because we had to get back for pottery washing.

Much love....

Third Day

First note: When you leave a comment sign your name so that I know who you are.

Good news, the bead was found, a very good thing. They were all very excited about that, day two I found a bluish piece of glass...the leader of the dig said I must be good luck. I feel special. The rest of the day we worked on something that looks to be a floor, we found an almost intact lamp and have been leveling the ground to see what else might be on the floor there. It is long work but fun. I am enjoying myself and have made a few friends.

My roommate is from Norway and we get along very well. Today we went to Nimrod's castle and walked all the way through 9 towers and up so high that we could see for miles. We could see up to Mt. Hermon and all the way across to the Nephtali heights. It's lovely here, a little warm but not unbearable.

We keep very busy and I love the food. Things here are good. Also, if you have heard about Jerusalem in the nes do not be alarmed we are about 200 miles away.

Much love to you all...

First Day

First I need to say that our computer use is very limited. There is one computer for 40 persons. Needless to say I may not get to blog as much as I'd hoped to.

At any rate. After a very concerning start to the trip the flights and everything went well. I didn't sleep much on the plane and am still working things out with my body, which wants to be in bed right now at 4 in the afternoon. I got in safetly with a few minor bumps in planning, and I thought I had it all figured out.

Today I started at the dig after breakfast, since I got in at 2:45am. A normal day will have us digging from 5am-1pm with breakfast and fruit breaks. I love it already. Today was digging near some burial sites and found a bead...apparently a rare one from how excited the site leader was. He cleaned it off and had me looking for more (which I did not find). Then he put the bead in a labeled box which blew off the rock, we have not recovered the bead and proably will not.

It is time for me to go for now, we are going to clean and read pottery. Until later...

Flying Out

I'm flying out today from Chicago, the girls (Owens and Tamara Brooke and sans Miri moo moo) will drop me off at the airport and I will be on my own for the next 22 hours.

I will fly 10ish hours to London and then after a short layover I will fly 7 hours to Tel Aviv. I will arrive late Sunday night in Tel Aviv (and Israel is 7 hours ahead of Anderson, IN) and take a taxi three and a half hours to Kibbutz Snir (pictured here) near Tel Dan.

I hope to arrive and get some sleep before I start...well I don't know what actually. It has not quite been spelled out what will be happening for the next three weeks, but surely you know that I will write about it as soon as I can.

Since I don't know when I'll again be able to write...much love to you all!

Introduction

Hello my dear family and friends. I will be traveling in Israel for a month, from June 28 to July 25, and I wanted to be able to share with you all what is going on without having to write you each seperate emails everyday. I would believe me if I had the time, but I'm not sure I will so I hope that this will suffice. I will post as often as I can what is going on with me, what kind of things I am seeing and where I've been.

I want you all to know what a special experience this is, I am really thankful for this opportunity from the school. I haven't even been yet and I plan to return some day with my husband in tow.

I also would really appreciate your prayers as I go and also for Brett as I'm gone. You can email me with either of these accounts (pishposh_1979@yahoo.com or shannonnewspangler@gmail.com) and I will try to be responsive but recognize that I may not have a lot of free time.

I'll try to be more exciting in further posts. Please keep coming back :)