yes we are alive!!!

Hello to All:

I know it has been a couple of weeks since the last entry. Getting an internet connection here in Ashkelon is very dicey. I finally decided to pay a pretty high rate so I could communicate.

We are in our second week of the archaeological dig at Ashkelon, Israel.  The weather reminds me very much of Arizona during monsoon season (late summer). Hot with some humidity. Our day starts at 4 am when we get out of bed to brush our teeth, do our business and throw on clothes that have already been laid out the night before. We have two other roommates so trying to get 4 women in the bathroom in just a few minutes is a trick but we are getting good at it. After our absolutions, we head down to the lobby for tiny cups of coffee and bread and jam for those who need to eat that early in the morning. We are then herded onto a bus and we are at the dig site by 5am.

Yes, it is still dark then but we clammer off the bus half asleep and load up with various tools: pickaxes, large spades called "tureas", large rubber buckets called "goufas", wheelbarrows and other odds and ends. We then lug all this stuff to our assigned site. There are 3 sites right now that are being excavated and both Mel and I are at site 47, which is the largest.

So, what do we do with these things? Well, the first week we did nothing but move dirt......a whole lot of dirt. You see, the pickaxes and tureas are used to break up and scoop the dirt into the goufas that are then carried up a whole bunch of sandbags that comprise stairs (we are about 8 to 10 feet down in the earth) and then the dirt is thrown into wheelbarrows that are then lugged to a dump site. It is very heavy, hard work. By the time breakfast break comes (at 9:30) we are already beat. But, although it is probably some of the most physically hard work I have ever done (and I have done a lot) it has actually been pretty fun. It is amazing what the body will do when pushed. Mel is finding strength she never thought she had. Most of the volunteers are undergraduate and graduate students, but there are a few of us "oldies"...in fact we have one gentleman who is about 65 with a bionic hip. He is our wheelbarrow guy because he can stand up straight and go at his own pace. But remember, we are doing all this in heat over 100 degrees with humidity so everyone is working extrememly hard.

We have one week left here before we embark on our third part of our adventure. We will be in Tel Aviv for a week to prepare for school in the Galilee which looks to be an absolute fantastic adventure. Because that hotel actually has real internet connection I will be able to be in touch a little more.........we miss you all and please keep us in your prayers as we keep you in ours.
Shalom