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I don’t have internet access at tel Dor, so I’ll post whatever updates I have whenever I can get online.
Today was our first day of work. Since there was a lot of rain this winter, the site was completely overgrown with weeds. Like covered. So we weeded. We used big hoes to get rid of most of the weeds, small “pateeshes” to get rid of stuff that was coming out of walls [the hoes could loosen stones] and clippers. I mostly used the pateesh and clippers, and I would walk on top of the walls giving people empty buckets or taking away the ones full of weeds. I ahd a lot of energy and could go pretty quickly. I’m glad I lost all the weight I did because I feel a loght lighter and quicker. I don’t know if I could have managed this last summer.
After 7 hours of work, we actually finished weeding. It actually looks like a dig now!
There are about 60 or so volunteers on the dig. Most of them are college students, and though they’re in various years, they all seem a lot younger than me. Dor is the “cushy dig” or perhaps the “party dig.” There aren’t that many Jews, and of the Jews, only me, [Bad username or unknown identity: “yadfothgildloc”], and one other girl are Shomer Shabbat as far as I know. So I guess I’m the resident frummie even though I’m obviously not a frummie. When people ask me what type of Jew I am, I try to explain, but it would probably be easier to tell them I’m Orthodox. For all intents and purposes here I am, since it’s not like I’m spending Shabbat on the kibbutz, so no one there cares whether or not I daven egalitarian.
The rooms are really nice. There’s air conditioning, housekeeping cleans every day, we have a bathtub/shower [some rooms just have a stand-up shower stall], sinks, a hot water thing and a refrigerator. It’s quite cushy. And we’re right near the site.
Of course, we work all morning and we have to wake up at 4am, but I don’t really mind it so much. By lunchtime I feel hot and sticky and disgusting, and I look awful. There are some girls who can look pretty now matter how dirty they get. Alas, I am not one of them.
In a way it feels like I’m back in high school youth group or summer camp. Everyone is nice, but there are many more girls than guys, and there are the girls that the guys all go after, and people party, and it feels like most of them would be what I would classify as “popular” kids. And I feel a little bit like I’m an outsider. I don’t think I’m especially mature for my age, but maybe being religious makes me different. I act more like an adult. I’m not part of that culture of drinking and partying and summer flings. And that isn’t a bad thing. I like hanging out with the professors and the graduate students who are on staff.
Of course, I’m only here for another week and then I go to tel es-safi, which is far less cushy, but much more religious. And I have Micah GS and N.B. there with me. Micah had said that his square is a new area, and the first part will just be topsoil and archaeologically meaningless. But I don’t mind. If they have to weed, I can be the resident expert weeder, and I’ll have a head start on everyone who is digging for the first time. I like the feeling of knowing what I’m doing. I’m looking forward to being there.
And this Shabbat I’ll be at Dave and Beth’s in Katamon.
Today was our first day of work. Since there was a lot of rain this winter, the site was completely overgrown with weeds. Like covered. So we weeded. We used big hoes to get rid of most of the weeds, small “pateeshes” to get rid of stuff that was coming out of walls [the hoes could loosen stones] and clippers. I mostly used the pateesh and clippers, and I would walk on top of the walls giving people empty buckets or taking away the ones full of weeds. I ahd a lot of energy and could go pretty quickly. I’m glad I lost all the weight I did because I feel a loght lighter and quicker. I don’t know if I could have managed this last summer.
After 7 hours of work, we actually finished weeding. It actually looks like a dig now!
There are about 60 or so volunteers on the dig. Most of them are college students, and though they’re in various years, they all seem a lot younger than me. Dor is the “cushy dig” or perhaps the “party dig.” There aren’t that many Jews, and of the Jews, only me, [Bad username or unknown identity: “yadfothgildloc”], and one other girl are Shomer Shabbat as far as I know. So I guess I’m the resident frummie even though I’m obviously not a frummie. When people ask me what type of Jew I am, I try to explain, but it would probably be easier to tell them I’m Orthodox. For all intents and purposes here I am, since it’s not like I’m spending Shabbat on the kibbutz, so no one there cares whether or not I daven egalitarian.
The rooms are really nice. There’s air conditioning, housekeeping cleans every day, we have a bathtub/shower [some rooms just have a stand-up shower stall], sinks, a hot water thing and a refrigerator. It’s quite cushy. And we’re right near the site.
Of course, we work all morning and we have to wake up at 4am, but I don’t really mind it so much. By lunchtime I feel hot and sticky and disgusting, and I look awful. There are some girls who can look pretty now matter how dirty they get. Alas, I am not one of them.
In a way it feels like I’m back in high school youth group or summer camp. Everyone is nice, but there are many more girls than guys, and there are the girls that the guys all go after, and people party, and it feels like most of them would be what I would classify as “popular” kids. And I feel a little bit like I’m an outsider. I don’t think I’m especially mature for my age, but maybe being religious makes me different. I act more like an adult. I’m not part of that culture of drinking and partying and summer flings. And that isn’t a bad thing. I like hanging out with the professors and the graduate students who are on staff.
Of course, I’m only here for another week and then I go to tel es-safi, which is far less cushy, but much more religious. And I have Micah GS and N.B. there with me. Micah had said that his square is a new area, and the first part will just be topsoil and archaeologically meaningless. But I don’t mind. If they have to weed, I can be the resident expert weeder, and I’ll have a head start on everyone who is digging for the first time. I like the feeling of knowing what I’m doing. I’m looking forward to being there.
And this Shabbat I’ll be at Dave and Beth’s in Katamon.
