one week down.....

so the dig is going smooth. i think the workers are pretty mad though. the department of antiquities is jipping them big on the paycheck. so we will see how that goes monday. we are going somewhere tomorrow. i am not sure where. i think we are going to look at some castles. we'll see. oh and during that dig... lets see. i think that coolest thing that i have found so far is a couple of roman nails. even though they were in a contaminated area it was such a nice find that they were documented and going to end up being mailed back to the US. that is kindof cool. oh and.... things are going decently well here. homework is kindof lagging... but that is to be expected. the only reason i am in iribid right now is to go to the hookah bar to watch some futball. should be fun. but actually i really dont know whatelse to say. we had our first class yesterday.. it was somewhat ridiculous. oh well. i will prolly write later this week after the castles. we will see. alright catch ya later.

the digging begins

i have now been digging for 3 days. this is a 5 to 1 work day. it is a little rough... but it is ok. i am what you could call almost black. if you see me when i get back i am sure i will be black by then. it should be funny. for those wanting more specifics on my actual job, i am a cleaning lady. well more than that. i am a cleaning lady with some cool tools. it is my job to take the dirt which in some cases can be about 6 in thick of the church floor. the floor is amazing. it has red limestone and black bysalt stone. it is beautiful. we are trying to finish the church by the end of next week. it will be hard. but we will see. it is interesting to have some jordanian workers under you. one of them is study english lit at the university. he is attempting to teach me arabic. it is pretty cool. oh and yesterday we went downtown to get some ice cream... and it was pretty funny... the stores for some reason were closed so we started walking back and then were called over by some kids. we ended up at this guys store. hospitality is amazing. he gave us coke, water, and coffee. and then a pear on our way out. his english was amazing. but he felt it his job to teach us all arabic. we must of learned all of a thousand words in 2 hours. its all a blur. i was late to pottery reading because you just cant ever seem to get out of a jordanians house. it was ok though. i really like working in the registery. seeing all the pottery and glass and metal and whatever else that was kept from the days dig. it is a lot of work, but it is so cool being able to look at the pottery and the technique from over a thousand years ago. but yeah that is all right about now. i have work tomorrow and it is already 4 pm here. i think that means it is like 8 am there. yay.... but yeah i was invited over to one of the workers house today... so we will see. that might be another entry later. but now i think that is time that i say goodbye. and please leave comments or email.. i would love to hear from you.

again

yeah so i am back because we got kicked out of the school today. this will be a shorter day though. we just have to stay away till around 12. it should be ok. they are taking these tests that are very important and so we have to disappear for a little bit. church didnt really happen... i think we are going to try to do something tonight. maybe. we will see. oh yesterday after i made my last entry. i tried the huka. my professor paid for it. he said it is all part of the cultural experience. it was cool. for those that dont know what a huka is.... it looks kindof like a bong... but it isnt. it is flavored tobacco. interesting. but... yeah... i hung out at the huka bar for a little bit. and then we left. our professor was there for way longer than us. he was letting his 11 year old kid do it too. basically harmless. but anyway. the dig starts tomorrow. all that is really going through my head is i hope i dont break whatever i find. but we will see. i have already found several peices of pottery... but that is no big deal... so we will see what happens tomorrow. alright talk to ya later

one week in

well i must say this is really interesting. we have gotten through our field training... which technically consisted of one day out on the dig and learning basic technique. we start on monday with our jordanian workers. it shoud prove to be somewhat intimidating. i got assigned to work in the area D church. the dig site is broken down into several areas. it is cool enough.... but i lucked out with having a spot where there is a breeze. i am happy. we drink water here out of these cisterns. they are basically big clay pots. we dont get the pleasure of sitting down to go to the bathroom either... can someone say turkish toilet. also our showers are just converted toilets. imagine bathing where you go to the bathroom. interesting. but today was interesting. we went to the place where Jesus cast Legion from the man into the pigs. very cool. and there were filming a movie there also at the time. which me and some others accidently stumbled upon. woops. the guys were really nice. we got pics and other such things. oh and i got to kindof see the sea of galilee. couldnt really see it though. it was too hazy. oh.... and today... we get the pleasure of finding our way back to camp. they are trying to teach us how to do that ourselves. we will see. it should be fine. oh and laundry. appreciate washing machines. i just did my laundry for the first time yesterday. crazy. all i had was a bucket and soap. i hope they are clean. if not. oh well. the dust here will just dirty them up again anyway. oh... i got to play soccer out front of the school we are staying at on the concrete with some guys in our group and also some arab men. that was cool. all i could really do was say hone hone. which means here here. and then say tabanah over and over again. meaning tired. it was a hard game. we won. me and the arabs. umm i fell into a thorn bush on one play that was great. i was all bloody... i went straight to the toilet to take a shower. nice ice cold shower. haha... well that is it for now. hope to here from ya. oh and that is a pic of all of us sitting in a tomb. nice huh.

I MADE IT

alright guys... i made it into jordan sunday night. there were some mixups. i had to pay 100 dollars for the airline to reissue me a ticket. oh well i made it. the teachers got stuck in chicago with a bunch of people. that was interesting. but we made it ok. they arrived last night and we hung out with some other abila people. its good to at least know some americans here. i have realized that women are really second class here. there are looks... but its ok. i mean i am picking up some arabic already and it is good. i can say hi. how do i get to so and so place. thank you. whats your name. howare you. many many things. i am picking it up better than i thought. but... anyway.... right now i am in iribid. it has been interesting. i need to prolly get food now. i am sorry for such a short post but i look forward to hearing from you.

Tomorrow

alright... i leave tomorrow. i am going to try to keep this up over the time in jordan. i dont know how the summer is going to go really. but i will try to keep this up. i finally finished packing tonight... talk about last minute. i havent gotten my homework done yet either. oh well we will see how it all goes. hope to hear from everyone.

one week

i have one more week at home. next saturday i will be on a plane going over to a country that i know nothing about. i am afraid i am not ready at all for this. i still havent finished my school work. i havent done anything as far as packing... or even getting the stuff i need. next week is going to be so stressful. i am afraid i am not going to get done what i need to get done. i havent summarized any of my books nor have i even finished them. i want to finish the book i am on tomorrow... maybe if it is possible finish reading this weekend. i need to leave the house to do that. the next couple of days i think i am going to have to spend at the park. i need to get something done. but ok.. i really need to get to sleep... have to wake up to read something.

work...

i was working the other day... i dont remember what day... but it got me thinking. everytime someone walks by they say something to the effect... "still working on the bin locations, God that must be boring. glad im not doing it." well... they arent doing it, i am. and for some reason it doesnt bother me that much. it gets me thinking though. this is something i can bare. those boring crap jobs that no one wants to do but that someone has to do. well... what is sad... i think i can see myself sitting in a cubicle punching numbers, doing data entry for the rest of my life. it wouldnt be something i would enjoy... but someone has to do it. i dont know whatelse i can really see myself doing. but ok... if you got any suggestions that will keep me out of that cubicle... please feel free