First day at a dig

There are 12 volunteers and 4 staff at our worksite which is sponsored by Hebrew University. We begin the day at 5 a.m. in the restaurant with cake and coffee and then walk to the site. Watching the sun rise over the Sea of Galilee was a beautiful experience. As a novice, it took me a bit of time to fit in. I ended up mostly sifting - which means that as a floor is dug up and the fill put in buckets, Matt and I sift 1 bucket out of 4, looking for pieces of pottery, glass, bone and shells. (Matt is my 7th Day Adventist friend.) Then we wheelbarrow the remains away. The staff measure and photograph every level; another volunteer makes drawings, another washes, counts and sorts the found pieces. There are 3 "rooms" of a mosque from the Byzantine period; I handled pottery from Roman times - I started out energetically - but was very grateful for the breakfast break at 9 a.m. and the fruit break at 11:30 and the ending at 1 p.m. by which time I was mostly observing..though I did help pick up tools. It's very warm, windy and sunny. I do remember walking back to the hotel and can say that having a cool shower waiting was my incentive. I'm beat!!!
My room has beds for three, a kitchenette, a balcony and Television - so come and visit me! Finally caught up on some news from the U.S. (exposives in Time Square, oil slick in the Gulf). Nothing bad from Ohio or Indiana... sending my love and prayers to you.