Look at this stuff, isn't it neat?

Only one day of digging left. ONE. How did this happen?? How did I miss eleven days of dig? Well, I didn't miss them. They just flew by in a haze of stress, awesome, tired, amped, workmen, newbies, and dirt. Oh, and shit in my square. Well, not in it. About a foot and a half west of my square, a dog pooped IN A CONCISE CIRCLE. I'm pretty sure it was a sign because today sucked. At least we got a locus done and we might hit the pit tomorrow. But I am exhausted and tired of trying to be everyone's support. I can't, man. I can't be your bff. I am already Melanie's bff and her farts keep me too busy.
Ha.
Anyway I am exhausted so I don't have much to say yet about this weekend. It was good. We went to the Citadel on Saturday which was pretty sweet and then we went to the Souk and Romero's, this great Italian restaurant. Sunday we went to Jerash, Ajlun Castle, Bethany, and the Dead Sea. Time in the pool. Loved it.
There's a mormon in the closet.
LoL.
Byeeeeeee.

The sun is shining, the tank is clean, and we're getting out of-- THE TANK IS CLEAN?!

Well hello. I have not seen very much dirt lately so I cannot tell you about it. I have been pretty sick though and I could tell you about that, except that it's sort of gross, so suffice it to say that it was a stomach bug that wouldn't quit. I am hoping that it is gone now, but we'll see.
I went into the field yesterday and started work but I only got so far before I had to come back home because I had such bad stomach pains that I couldn't breathe or stand up.
Despite that, we have some really cool stratigraphy and I am working on a surface drawing which I can come back to on Monday. Most of our team (five out of seven diggers and our field sup) have been sick this week, culminating with yesterday.
Despite it all I am looking forward to a good day. I hope to go to the Citadel today (the Roman part of town- this used to be Philadelphia!), the Citymall, maybe the Souk, and McDonalds for some American homesick indulgence. :) I am excited for today, hopefully I will stay well. Wish me luck!
From the hotel,
Rachel

What I wouldn't give for some smazny syr!

Today was another dirt day. Mmm, dirt! Before we get to that let me talk about Petra a little.
SOOOOOOOOO AMAZING.
I last updated on Friday. We left for Petra that afternoon and drove for ever. Finally, we got to the hotel and walked around for a little while, then they served us dinner. I slept like a stone every night we were there. Saturday we woke up balls early and went into Petra. It was AMAZING. Just absolutely stunning. I loved seeing everything... the Siq... the Treasury... the Urn Tomb... the Street of Facades... it was just awesome. We met a friendly couple from Wyoming, I left my camera on a rock and rode a donkey back to it and it was still there... and we took camels out because I got blisters the size of half dollars :) FROM MY NEW CHACOS!!! I was so mad.
Saturday night we went to the Turkish bath which was okay. Not anything to rave about, and some awkward stuff happened. Let's just say we didn't know what to expect.
Sunday was a slow chill day, and we went to a castle before returning home. It was cool to see a really far-along Jordanian excavation.
Monday I got back in the dirt, which was lovely. We started really hauling dirt because we realized that a week from today (wednesday) we close down the excavation!! I still have three weeks to be here after that but man, what perspective. Monday evening Melanie was sick, so I went to sleep early in deference to her illness. Which turned out to be good, if only to stave off the inevitable for a while, because now I am sick too. Buh. My belly hurts!! And I'm nauseous and tired.
But so far the dig has been awesome and I'm sure they'll go full steam ahead tomorrow. It's gonna be great. For them. I'm going to get some rest... finally. :)
From the dirt,
Rachel
PS If the loudmouth doesn't STUFF IT SOON I'm going to punch her in the MOUTH.

Tick and Swisted!

One week down!!
We have had such spotty internet for the last few days that I haven't been able to update, choosing to spend more time talking to people I miss! But there's a lot to update about.
First of all, my square is set!! I am so excited about it. We had so much work to do to just getting cleaned up and set up, but now I am officially a square supervisor. I've picked up so much just from thinking about things logically. We had to make a lot of concessions to the "system" because of the reality of the square; I'm inside the first room of the Nabulsi complex and we have two walls as our east and south boundaries, but the walls aren't contemporary! And usually they do 5 meter by 5 meter squares, but the room is practically 5x5 so we are doing more of a 3x2.5 hah. And we're only doing half at a time, so 1.5x2.5! I hope that by Monday we will be able to just dig all day every day. Well, every morning.
The thing about the dig is that we start around 6a or 6:30a and then break for "Second Breakfast" (yes, like hobbits) at nine. Hang out til 9:45a or so and then pack up at noon. We get only a certain amount done at a time and then have to reconvene each part of the day. Our workmen are sort of lazy and none of the sups or diggers really know the routine, but today Dr. Walker came and really sat down to explain things to me today. It was great. I feel really confident about "from here on out"... as long as our sifters don't get taken down again, hah! As my Jordanian field sup Ruba would say, Inshallah we will be able to continue on Monday uninterrupted.

Another thing about Jordan is the driving. Sometimes there are lanes, but no one uses them anyway. However, I haven't seen any accidents yet.
And everyone is so friendly. They want to help. But the culture is truly so very different from my own.

So, on Wednesday we went to the Souk (the open air market). It was pretty cool but I haven't bought any souvenirs yet. I want to get a scarf and maybe some other things, but I don't know quite what yet. I was thinking about getting a nargileh (hookah) but I won't smoke it, it'd just be for decoration. Tuesdays and Thursdays we have lectures at night... yes, we work all day and then listen to lecture at night. This weekend we are at PETRA!! I am so excited to go see it tomorrow and be there all day. Then tomorrow night we are going for a scrub down at a Turkish bath. Glorious.

Anyone have any questions? If you comment, I'll answer! :)
From the dirt,
Rachel <3

DIRT!!!

Today I got into the dirt. It felt GREAT. We left for the site at about 8:30. By nine we were there and took a tour of the whole project. We entered the site and I was immediately in awe! It was beautiful. First of all, I should mention that Tell Hesban is still occupied by the Ajarmeh tribe. Not the tell, where most of us are working, but there is a village that immediately surrounds it. I am working basically IN the village. It's crazy! All sorts of goats... and human visitors, too. Wondering what's going on, wondering where we're from. Our field director, Ruba, had to shoo away some very curious villagers. We had a LOT of work to do today... after our site tour we went to Nabulsi, in the village, which is away from the site, and began clearing away trash, plants and other debris. It was a mess of Mamluk baby diapers... Abbasid cigarette packs... I am of course kidding, the Mamluk and Abbasid periods were much earlier :) Anyway, I worked my hiney off today and can't wait to do it again tomorrow. I love being in the dirt.
Here are some photos!
Oystein (Sten) LaBianca at the site with a map

From the Rio Hotel in Jordan

OMG I'm here!!!! Here being the hotel in Jordan.
Our flight was a little hairy. Well, not the flight... just getting to it. Our bus ride was very long... we stopped in Kirkwood for gas and I considered calling my mom, hah! Then we got to the airport around 5:30pm. People were checked in starting at 6:30pm and the flight was supposed to board at 7:45 and leave at 9. Instead it boarded at 8:45 and left at 10. Then we found out that seat numbers don't seem to mean much on Royal Jordanian, but luckily I and my seat buddy (someone from our program) just went where we belonged and stayed there. The meals were pretty good. Strange schedule, though.
Now I am sitting in my hotel room wondering how I got here... and being thankful that we don't have to start at 5am tomorrow since it is already 11:30pm! That is all for today... just wanted to post a photo. Tomorrow is going to be great... as long as I can get ahold of my bank. :)
From the dirt,
Rachel :)

Thunder! Lightning! The way you love me is frightening.

It's raining. A lot. I find it so difficult to get motivated when there's rain. I just want to snuggle in and hibernate, but I can't because NEWSFLASH WE LEAVE IN LESS THAN 24 HOURSSSSSSSSSS OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG PANIC panic. Panic.
I am sitting amidst the same pile of stuff I was sitting amongst yesterday, only slightly smaller because Kourtney came and helped me pack the rest of my clothes, but also slightly larger because I have pulled everything out of my closet to vacuum it.
I just want to be gone and away and have all of this done. I am tired, man. I'm also trying to decide how icky I will feel if I just shower now and don't bother later... probably very. So I want to shower tonight but then my towels don't get washed and packed... harrumphhhhh.
Moving and traveling all at once was a bad plan. I won't do it again.
Who am I kidding... to dig in the dirt? I'd do anything :)

Goodbye Springfield, Hello Jordan

Okay! So I leave for Jordan in two days, I'm about to lose my mind, and I'm sitting on my bedroom floor surrounded by crap. Why the floor? Because all of my furniture (except for one lone bookshelf) is packed into storage!
For anyone who doesn't know, I'm going to Jordan for six weeks to do archaeology! I'll be reporting from the dirt each day (probably) to let you guys know what's going on and what, if anything, I'm finding!!
If you want to update me on what's going on stateside, feel free :)
For now...
not in the dirt, just on the floor
Rachel :)