I'm here!

Shalom! I've arrived! Happy Birthday to me! I am celebrating my 40th birthday in the Land of Israel . . . how cool is that!

The flight from Houston to New York wasn't too bad. I med another Tel Gezer digger on the way off the plane, a pastor from Copperas Cove. We hung out and had lunch at Chili's in the airport during out 6 hour lay-over. The bacon burger was a bit dry.

As we were sitting around at the gate area I was lamenting the fact that we would not be able to go into New York and see any sights while we were here. I was hoping to see one of the infamous rats of New York that they are supposedly infested with (according to Seinfeld and other reliable sources). My friend told me to look behind me . . . there on the floor just inside the return air vent (like one of those air condition units you see at some hotels) was a rat, dead on that sticky rat paper! I thought I smelled something special!

Flight from New York to Tel Aviv, non-stop for 10 hours . . . unless of course you don't count the 2 hours we were STOPPED on the tarmac at JFK. Our pilot let us know after about 30 minutes that there was a traffic jam (with planes?) and we were number 60 to depart! About 3 hours into the flight it seemed like time was standing still . . . I think I actually saw the minute hand on my watch going backwards!

Met another 10-12 Tel Gezer Diggers on the plane. I was stuck in the middle of the middle section! Not fun, not fun, not fun! Got off the plane in desperate need of a shower!

Arrived at Neve Shalom, about 20-30 minutes from Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv. This is an interesting place. It is a kibbutz where both Israelis and Palestinians have chosen to live together in peace and understanding. We will be learning more about their community tomorrow. They are throwing a big BBQ (I'm a bit afraid of what they might be BBQing!) for us tomorrow night!

Had dinner tonight. Chicken legs (had an interesting taste . . . I ate one), a cucumber and tomato salad with a olive oil dressing of some kind (pretty good, favorite part of the meal), a very distinctive flavored pickle (one bite was enough), a roasted pickle (got rid of that), a piece of pita bread, some rice and some hummas (humice? hummus, hummoss . . . I don't know how to spell it). Good news . . . I might be losing some weight! But don't worry . . . I brought two 2-lb. bags of peanut M&Ms and some beef jerky!

Had a brief orientation meeting. We leave for Jerusalem and the Temple Mount tomorrow morning at 8:00 am. We'll also go to the Mount of Olives as well as go to the Old City and eat Falafels at an Arab market! Notice how Falafel sounds a lot like 'AWFUL'!!!!! Hope that's not a harbinger (look it up Jonathan, Chris, Jeff, and Matt) of what's to come culinarily speaking!

Well, I better head to bed. I have only slept about 5 hours in the last 48 (4 hours Thursday night . . . getting everything read, you know how it is!) and about an hour sporadically (look it up guys) on the flight!

I'm sorry if my blog is not terribly exciting. I will be letting you know about my simulated dig at TWCA, my real dig here in Israel, and my personal travels, experiences, interspersed with my witty repartee! Maybe something in there somewhere will be interesting, entertaining, or both!

Shalom!

Trey