Continuing the last entry...

So after dinner on Friday night I went back to A.G.'s apartment. Unfortunately I couldn't get the door open even though I had a key. It's the most impossible door ever. But then she got home and let me in, and me her and N.S. chilled out until it got really late and N.S. went back to his place to sleep.

The next morning we slept in, and N.S. came around 12 and the 3 of us had a picnic in the park. Besides the ants it was awesome. And then we sang some songs, and I taught the two of them boroparkpyro's Kah Ribon. And they were like "you have to teach that at seudah shlisheet!!!"

Since we were in the park for such a long time, we only had around 40 minutes to nap.So I napped. And then we headed to seudah shlisheet. we got a bit lost because the person giving directions said it was "off of HaPalmach" but really it was off of a street off of HaPalmach and we walked dwn the entire street only to have to walk the other way. But we got there before mincha.

And I got to lead mincha! Yay! Someone thanked me for having us sing the 2nd paragraph of Alienu since he hadn't heard the tune in almost a year and was forgetting it. Little things like that give my life meaning. And there was this cute black cat who was hanging outside in the backyard, and then it came into the house and we had to keep on kicking it out. But it was begging for attention so I petted it and I fed it some challah.

And then we sang, and people could request songs, and N.S. requested that I teach "my" Kah Ribon, and I said "It's not mine, It's boroparkpyro's!" But they referred to it as mine anyways. After shabbat I sung it for N.S. to record, and at least there he labeled it as being by boroparkpyro. [Seriously, just wait a year and they'll be singing it all over Jerusalem and calling it "Rachel's Kah Ribon." And no, I'm not trying to steal it.]

We watched the Princess Bride on Staurday night since A.G. had never seen it before.

On Sunday I set out for Safi. I got to the bus station and asked for information in Hebrew. Unfortunately I didn't catch where the lady told me to get off, but I figured there would be a sign for Kibbutz Revadim. There is. Unfortunately it's only visible when driving from the opposite direction!! So I didn't get off the bus and stayed on until the end at Ashdod. Ok. Maybe I was supposed to take another bus from there. So I called Aren Maeir, the director of the dig, and he said to take a bus headed for Jerusalem and get off at Masmiyya junction. I had been dropped off outside a mall-like building called "קניון סיטי" ("City mall"). Maybe there was no central bus station in Ashdod. How was I to get to Jerusalem?

I headed inside with my 2 giant bags, and they let me in without checking them- they just needed to see my American passport. And I had tried calling a bunch of people before I went in. Dave Perkel had actually answered the phone, and had Beth call me back and use her internet skills. But no one knew where Masmiyya was, and I wasn't sure if I could afford a sheirut to Revadim with my current cash. So I went to the ATM. Other people had no problem withdrawing cash. And theoretically I shouldn't have, either. I do it in Jerusalem all the time. But the ATM wouldn't accept my card! At this point I started crying hysterically. When I asked for information here, the guy came out of the booth and got me on the bus and got an Israeli soldier to help me.

Unfortunately, where the soldier had told me to get off was not Masmiyya. And I had no clue where I was. And the sign on the bus stop was not the name of the place (as I found out afterwards). So I was standing on the side of the road waiting for the Safi people to find me. (I figured that Aren would think I was a failure at life and how could he have let someone like me on the dig and there would be no way I would get into archaeological grad school in Israel...keep in mind I had not eaten at all since I had woken up at 8 and it was 2pm now...) And eventually (almost an hour later) they found me. And I was still sane, thanks to the phoneness of awesome people who helped me find some humor in the situation. Now it's hilarious. But then it was like "why does this always happen to me?

I had some fruit at the kibbutz, but then it was time to tour the tel...Eventually there was dinner. And then we had an intro speech. The quote of that day: "Archaeology is the most fun you can have with your pants on."

And I'm here. I'm working in Area A, which is not Area T (the shiny cave where MicahGS works and where there's a burial). But I did get appointed the assistant recorder-person, so I'm writing most of the time now that we're opening up a lot of baskets, and I get to feel important. And I'm about as special as Micah is, because we figured out that the two of us are pretty much doing the same thing, except I'm not drawing top-plans yet, But I will be soon. I learned how to yesterday.

Yesterday's quote: "I dig ancient Philistine wireless."

And there are a few cats around the kibbutz, and one lets me pet him. He got stuck up in the grape vine when the dog chased him there, and I ended up rescuing him. So I named him Goliath (גלית) since this is Gath that we're digging up. And he's so tiny!

I think I may have left my digital camera at A.G.'s. Unfortunately my phone won't let me dial her. If I had the camera I'd take a picture of גלית and post it. If only I were living in Israel now that I could keep him.

And that's my life. I'm not digging tomorrow since it's a fast day and I'll try to fast. I'm not sure whether or not I have to, since apparently you have to ask each time and I have none of my rabbis' numbers available. And I didn't have to fast Ta'anit Esther, so better to fast when I may not have ot than the other way around, right?