Day 11

The day has gone on in just about a routine fashion. I need to reiterate how weird it is to eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for 1st breakfast at 4:30 am . . . it's weird. And then, 2nd breakfast . . . it's still just weird to be eating a turkey and cheese sandwich for breakfast along with a whole tomato (eaten like an apple, straight out of the hand).

I am glad I bought the spicy mustard last week at the store . . . that reminds me, tomorrow is "store day!" We get to stop for 15 minutes at a little grocery store on the way home from the dig site tomorrow! It is mad chaos as 35 adults rush about the store looking for their favorite goodies or needed supplies. I'm still good on my supply of spicy mustard and tabasco sauce. The Peanut M&Ms I brought from home are still good (I haven't even finished the first 2 lb. bag yet) and I still have my beef jerky. But, I need some coke or Dr. Pepper and a bucket for doing laundry. It will make doing laundry much more effective and easier. I've been using shampoo to wash the clothes, so I'll look for laundry detergent, too.

We took down most of our balk yesterday (please read yesterday's blog for explanation). We are right on top of Iron Age destruction. We'll see if anything gets revealed tomorrow. We are proceeding at a much slower pace now, being careful in our picking and meticulous in our searching. We have busted out the screens for sifting . . . talk about dusty! By the way, the dust/dirt is a fine powdery gray color, but it looks almost white. If you look at my boots, they are no longer brown, but ashen white. Untying my shoes sends a blizzard of dust into the air.

I have finally posted some new pics from this weekend. One from En Gedi (waterfall), 3 from Masada, and a couple more. Check them out. I also posted a pic of a McDonald's sign, as well as a pic of a Camel Spider. This is the kind of spider that I watched the lady at Arad chase outside when I was attempting to sleep outside b/c of the incredibly hot temperature inside my room. My spider was about the size of your fist and moving quite fast.

Also, killed my first scorpion on Friday. He was in our wheelbarrow, which means one of us had just dumped him in there. Eagle eyes from now on! One of the girls said they found one in their room yesterday! I thought we were safe in there!

Lecture tonight was on the Bronze Age, specifically the Late Bronze Age (time of the Exodus). Pretty interesting.

Same food for dinner, except had roast beef as the main course. It was pretty good. Did you know the ice cream is better over here. I had a Nestle ice cream bar with chocolate ice cream inside and inside of that was a strip of hard chocolate . . . I've never seen anything like this back in the states . . . and boy was it good! Yum!

Oh, in case anybody (mom) was planning on sending a care package of some kind . . . don't! Our square leader had her husband send her some of her clothing (not sure why) and she had to pay 300 shekels (about $100) for customs! He had already paid for the shipping, this was extra! So, if you were planning to send me cookies or something sweet like that, I appreciate the thought, but I can't afford them!

Well, that's about it for tonight. Heading to bed.

Shalom!

Trey