Yesterday morning I got a lesson in pickaxing from Shua. In my square, we were starting to go through a cobble floor, so we had to break up the cobblestones. I took a few swings, and Shua stepped in to show me how to do it more effectively. It was magical. Waves of dirt flew away from her axe like the walls of the Red Sea, and rocks shattered at her touch - I could see them cringing each time Shua raised the pickaxe. (Of course, being cobblestones, they couldn't escape their fate.) Shua went absolutely nuts on that floor, and I stood meekly by. As Austin from UNC said at breakfast, "Shua, you know how when you fear God it's like being in awe and respecting Him? Well, I fear you." Truer words were never said. A pickaxing lesson from Shua Kisilevitz at 5:30am in Israel is one of the best experiences it is possible to have in this life.
I've never had this much fun, ever. The discovery that I can actually
enjoy digging in the ground, covered in dirt, plaster, sunscreen,
sweat, and potsherds, is one of the most surprising of my entire life
thus far. Fine, I don't like the sunscreen part. I could work in my
square all day. I want to carefully extract and brush off every piece of
pottery and glass, pull out every rock, brush off every surface,
pickaxe every floor, trim every balk. This is the greatest thing I've
ever done. I don't want to stop working - which actually turned into a
problem yesterday right before quitting time; I started getting dizzy and
had to leave the village area. Still, I would stay in my square all day if I could. I'm getting so attached it's kind of ridiculous; I'm starting to view it as my child, which is really adding to all the pottery pieces I consider my children as well. By the end of the season I'll be an obsessed wreck.
Every inch of me is covered in
bruises, and there are layers of dust on my hands that even the most
vigorous of washings will not penetrate. My nails are chipping and my
thumbs are blistering, and my face is a delicate shade of primrose, and
when I tried to unbraid my hair to shower before lunch, it was so caked
with dirt that it stayed in the braid. Still, I absolutely love it here. There's nothing like pulling ancient artifacts out of the ground as the sun is rising over the Galilean hills, and having miles of beautiful Israeli countryside spread at your feet, with Sea of Galilee nestled in front of the background mountains. The winds that sweep over our site from the sea, while they're bad for the shade cloths, feel gloriously refreshing.
Also, yesterday was great because the Trinity folks had a field trip in the afternoon and then went out to dinner. Chad took me, Josh, and Sara to Capernaum to see a Galilean-type synagogue from (allegedly) the fourth century. It was amazing. Then we went to Tabgha to see a monastery, then the Mount of Beatitudes, which was gorgeous. We ran into Shua and Mary at the last place, so we sat with them for a while, sitting at a table under the shade, with a garden full of flowers and trees in front of us, overlooking the Sea of Galilee. So lovely. Then Chad took us to Ein-Gev for dinner; we went to an empty fish restaurant and sat outdoors under an enormous boardwalk-type patio, right on the Sea of Galilee with the sun setting behind it. We gossiped about Trinity goings-on and caught up on each others' excavation stories. A super solid day - great digging in the morning, incredible sites in the afternoon and fun dinner with great people and gorgeous locations.
Today was a little harder. We're at a tricky point in excavating our square, and I've been exhausted since getting up this morning, and we went to Tiberias this afternoon and I'm sunburned for the first time since I've been here in Israel. My cold is just not going away, so I don't feel particularly well, and I'm really starting to feel all the physical labor I've been doing. Pain, pain everywhere. Also, moving costs me so much energy that it's easiest to just sit or lie in one spot and not. move. one. bit.
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