ok....

well.... for some reason i dont think my last post is showing up on my blog. im sorry about that... i will try to get it up.... but just in case you should read it.... i am still sick.... i am getting a little better. but my stomach is still messing with me. it has not been fun. right now... i am wanting to be back in hartha in my bed. but that is ok... thus is life. my stomach is doing ok... i am feeling and looking much better. i took a couple days off of work last week. i went in monday... but that was the day that i got sick... stayed home on tuesday. and then my old area needed some help because it was going to be closed up thursday morning... so i got my butt out of bed to help out. and then thursday i wanted to be there to see it finished and to watch the final photos. but then on friday i decided it was best not to wake up at 4 and finally get some rest. it was a good decision. a lot of people said i looked a lot better. which is very good. for almost a week now... one guy has been saying i look like hell.... almost everyday... at one point i think i graduated to purgatory... that was exciting... but ok... i think that is enough of that. i have 2 days of work left. then 2 days of cleaning camp. then i am off to amman to spend 2 days there and then leave. it should be exciting. we are coming to an end. i have stories to tell from last night... but i dont think that i can give them justice. i can just say it involves the jordanian army and the syrian border. :) oh well... ok i am off.

sick again

well this week hasnt been fun... we got home from petra and aqaba on sunday night.. and i was dead on the bus the entire way home... the next morning i get up go to work and i basically collapse on the tel. i felt nauseous. and weak. and it was no fun. i get home that afternoon. skip both dinner and lunch and go to bed. i got up for 2 hours that night and slept through work the next day... something about fellow classmates telling me i look like hell makes me feel like i made the right decision. i needed to go into work today though. my stomach still hurt and i was really weak feeling still but i did not feel like i was going to throw up anymore... always a good sign... but i did a light day of work to try to finish up the church for final pictures... it is not completely great.... but it is all the time we have... oh well... it is ok... we only have one week of work left. everyone is kindof closing down their areas and then counting down the days... it is great. we are enjoying our last days rushing through homework... and planning our free weekend we have coming up... i will be staying in town... i just want to rest and these trips every weekend are wearing me down... but it is going to be nice. irbid and hartha are my favorite parts of jordan... and believe me i have been all over. i have seen way more of this country than i ever thought possible... it has been good though... but ok.... thanks for everything everyone... i am guessing there will be two more entries before i get home... or maybe 3. one this weekend. one next week. and then one when i am in amman waiting to get on the plane... oh happy day oh and here is one of the more recent pics of me that i have access to right now... this was before the camera broke... so...umm... i think i am probably darker and blonder... now... oh and i think this is where john the baptist got beheaded

PETRA

ok well i am now sitting in petra... well... not petra but the city outside of petra. same difference. we got the option here to get a hotel room or find a place on a roof or something somewhere. well naturally the cheaper the better. i went for the roof. we didnt get a roof... we got a greenhouse. i know strange. it is a big greenhouse with several foam mattresses and it is right by the pool. 3 jd a night. nice.... but yeah... we had to fend for ourselves tonight and find food. we found it... but yeah... i really dont know whatelse to say... i am really tired... and kindof just want to go to bed. that will happen soon enough i am sure. but yeah... oh i went to a workers house yesterday... his name is emad. he has a little crush on me. his family dislikes me. that was an interesting dinner. i am sure that will be a better story in person.. but also.. today at the site. it was so sad. we have really hard workers. they are truly great. but they were so discouraged. i guess someone said that they only mess around when they are out there busting their butt all day. me and the other guy at the area dont give them easy work. but yeah... me and him will try to figure something out. but ok.. i must go. till next time

early

i know this post is earlier in the week than normal... but i guess the director and the rest of the senior staff thought it good to change up the routine we had gotten ourselves in of going into town on wednesdays... i guess it makes sense... i mean there is a war happening next door. but what ya gonna do... it isnt in this country. and no one thinks it will get here. oh good news... i finished my probe today. this is a one by one meter square. the soul purpose of this was to go all the way to virgin soil... and to date the church... it was quite interesting... i hit bedrock... for those of you who dont know what that is... that is basically where there is no more dirt. the bottom level of rock on the earth's crust. kindof cool. but i dont know if we got enough information out of that probe or not. i sure hope so. it was getting really hard to get out of there today because it was getting so deep. imagine a really tired me in a deep hole starting to get frustrated. it can be a funny picture. oh... yeah so now that i am done with that probe i have no idea where i am going to end up. the place i thought i was going apparently got vetoed by the director. but i really dont know... and everyone i have asked doesnt know either. see my area shut down last week. and me and one other guy stayed to finish up some stuff. i finished and he has not. so now i dont know what is to become of me. we will see i guess.

oh and if anyone was interested about the jordanian guy front... i was told by the guy that gave me the shirt and bear.... muhammad that he does not like me... he likes another girl in the group that used to be on the same tel. that made me laugh a bit. but at that same time... another guy confessed to the american guy in our area that he does like me. and i have been invited for coffee tomorrow at his home. this should be interesting.. hopefully... nothing too bad will happen.... no i am kidding... i dont expect anything. i will keep my eye open though... and stay on my toes....

ok and now the war... no i am not going to talk about all the specifics that are going on. you guys prolly know more than i do. i just know that it has been a lot cooler out these days... the skys are gray from smoke. apparently there was some oil barracks or something blown up and that made the day much more cool. oh and if you got down low this afternoon... made it so the wind didnt blow in your ears.... you could hear the explosions.... it was quite interesting....

when it rains it pours

well... believe it or not.... it rained in the desert. the locals couldnt even believe it.... not once since the beginning of the abila excavation has it rained.... well i am not so sure you can call it rain... it was a couple oh drops... but it was cause for rejoicing.... it was cool. the mornings on the tell are usually really cold... and when you see what looks like rain clouds... you just dismiss them usually. they are prolly just left over clouds from syria... it rains more there than it does here. but yeah it was interesting.... it lasted a couple seconds but it was cool. never thought i'd see the day. but there it was. i talked to one of the workers and was like it is rain. they call it shita.. :) but he just point blank said it is summer.... there is no rain... it was weird... but anyway... that day came to an end. i doubt we will see anymore... but it was nice.

but that was friday... this weekend... we went on a cool enough trip. we went to jarash. this one of the largest most conserved roman cities in existance today. it was large.... we spent 4 hours there... didnt really want to spend that much time there. i would of much rather slept. but oh well. thats ok. then we went to this ajlun thing.. it was a muslim crusader caslte. that was actually kindof cool... my camera broke... so i wont be able to give you any pics of that right now... but i will steal from others... so at the end of the trip you can see... but i am sorry for the delay right now... i will try to get you some kindof picture right now... but let me think... that was saturday.... this is sunday... we are basically spending the day in irbid... relaxing... it is nice... i like it in irbid. the night life is a blast... and it is a college town... it is nice.... hartha where we are staying is an awesome town too.... basically... i like the days off... oh i got to sleep in till almost 9 today. that was incredible. i woke up at 5 ready for whatever like usual but it was nice to be able to go back to bed.

ok and now the war. a lot of you may be wandering about the war and if we are going to be coming home earlier.... or if it is safe... well first let me say it is a war.... lebanon and israel are at war.... the papers over in america are not saying that i dont think... i think someone told me that they are calling it a "non-war" that isnt true. we are holding out right now... jordan is not involved right now... but it is close. we are not far from israel... but everything is ok as of now... the director and all the senior staff are keeping there eyes on the news and will bring us home early if something should arise. we dont expect it to get bad here. jordan usually stays out of these types of things.... but if anything should happen... i will be sure to post... but for now that is all. oh and this is just a picture at a military checkpoint... dont freak out... i kindof got it without permission. but ok... you know what... nevermind... the picture is not uploading properly. so i am not going to deal with it...

hump week

so this is the middle. we are almost on the downward slope.... it should be fun.... actually it will be. we have a pretty light weekend approaching us. and we are almost done in our area. after this week i will be relocated. it should be pretty good. oh so yeah... you remember the guy who gave me the shirt..... yeah today i got a teddy bear. i dont know what to think... i definitely know he likes me... but i know i should be ok.... i am trying not to lead him on or anything. and i tell him he doesnt have to get me anything. but i dont know whatelse to do... maybe we will be put in different areas at the end of this week.. i dont know.... oh and then this last weekend.... went to the dead see..... that is the pic.... man any cuts.... anything burns.... ouch... it was cool.... hard to not float... but it was cool... alright... i really dont know whatelse to say.... i have been really tried... it is kindof like just trying to get through the week right now... get some rest... oh something else that is pretty cool.... i totally have gotten to sort the pottery from the dig. it was cool. of course they check it afterwards... but it is so cool. like early and late byzantine.... ummyad, abbassid, iron age, middle bronze. fun. but ok that is all.... until next time.

one more week gone...

ok well we had to say goodbye to some of our workers yesterday... it was very sad... i will miss them, but it was time for them to go to the university. but oh well... some things going on at camp. everyone has been getting sick. i thought i was going to be able to escape it... and i escaped the harsh parts, but i am starting to feel the hurt. it is not comfortable... my stomach is going crazy... oh well. it will be fine. today we had to climb this really tall mountain to get to the remains of king herods castle. this is the same place where john the baptist got beheaded. that was interesting. it has a great veiw.. but it definitely was a long walk. not that fun... but ok.. this is going to have to be a short entry... i will try to make up for it later. ok and this is a picture of me at work... and yes i really am that dirty at the end of each day

wow

this has been quite a week that is for sure. i think i get married.... well no i didnt but there is a story. i was at work... and see one of the workers under me bought me this really nice shirt and came to the school to give it to me. he was dressed super nice had his hair done.... and it was just really nice. i felt kindof bad. there is talk that he might be fired for getting to close to the americans. and also his hair is longer... and that is frowned apon here. i feel kindof bad about that. but now some of the people in camp are giving me a hard time. one is calling me habibee... meaning beloved. and then one is making cat noises... it has been interesting. i like the shirt a lot though. but then... also more stories. i guess a man got apprehended on the tell yesterday. he was walking around somewhere near the area i was working at... we dont know who he is but he was picked up within 5 minutes. oh and... one of the workers today had a boulder fall on him. it has really been interesting. oh and this was cool... today after work. i was getting up about to get in the bus when a truck of workers came by and was like sarah.... and waved me in.... one of the area supervisors was like go. it is cool. this is the only place that i can just hop on the back of a truck and make it back. i like it. i ride in the back of a truck usually 2 times a day. on the way and on the way back from work.

ok... i think i am going to tell you exactly what happens in a typical work day.... ok i wake up at 4 am in the morning.... yeah i know early. we eat breakfast which consists of pita and something we call shimingy.... it is like a cream of wheat. my pita usually has jam on it at this meal... then i jump on the back of a truck and get to work by 5. we stand around and socialize with the workers till around 530-545. then we work. i have been uncovering a church floor. it has been kindof interesting and cool at times... but also boring. then there is at 930 a break for 2nd breakfast. this is usually cucumber... tomato.... hard boiled egg. and pita... if luck we get an orange. this time i put cheese on the pita. then we work again till 1245. jump in the truck at 1 and head back to camp. then lunch. big meal... can be anything. nice. then there is showers. nice time of the day... very very very cold. but oh well. nice still the same. we ran out of water on monday i believe. not fun. dirty. but then we can take a nap. and at 4 there is pottery reading and registry work to be done. once a week for everyone. my day is tuesday. then dinner at 6. registry can take 2-3 or even 4 hours depending. not fun. one night i was in there till 10. ouch. but then... we also have lectures. and other such stuff... and then if we are smart bed at 9-930. but that is my day. hope that was a good post

the weekend is over

well i just got back from all over the place looking at different castles. some of them arent very castley. but what ya gonna do. i got some good pictures. it was pretty cool. i saw some cool instrument playing. i dont even really know what the thing was called though. so we will see. i am definitely bringing some kindof instrument home. and i think i have a song in the works. we will see. it will be hard without the guitar at hand. but we will see. it was nice. last night we stayed at a hotel. and this place had a pool and hot water. needless to say it was heaven. i was forgetting what hot showers were. :) but ok... i really dont know whatelse to say. Germany won the game against argentina. we ended up watching it in a tent on the side of the road. that was definitely an experience and the traffic that was going on after the game was insane. jordan night life is something else. they are definitely night people it is actually kindof funny. but ok that is all. talk to you later.