That was definitely a Roman column! (Also: Mr. Artichoke Thunderbolt Taterpants, commonly known as Mr. Tots)

It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fiiiiiiine.
Today was our first day of survey!!! We are doing work again!! It feels pretty good, actually. I was concerned for a few reasons, primarily that we are on the team that doesn't have a faculty supervisor and is working within the bounds of the Syrian border (Jordan makes a little corner shape that is surrounded by Syria, and that is where we're surveying) so there was a little concern about getting shot and/or bothered by soldiers. But our fears were allayed when we saw that, rather than the expected enormous guard towers and many guards with guns, all we can see is a gravel road. There are some Jordanian guard towers, and a Jordanian soldier came over at one point to see what we were doing there, but luckily we had a professor from Yarmouk with us to explain things.
We found some things, like a cistern and an Ottoman(?) pipe bowl, but mostly just pottery sherds and metal bits. Oh, and a Roman column (a metal pole lying on the ground). And when Melanie and I wandered a bit for some shade, two men in a car drove past, turned around, and drove up to us.
"Hello," the driver said.
I gave him the thousand-yard stare. "Um, hi?"
"Do you need any help--?" he asks, smiling hopefully.
I cock my head, gesture to the rest of our group- SIX humans, twenty feet away- and say, "NO." ... "THANKS."
"Okay," he says sadly, and they drive off.
I hate that I have to be so distrustful of men here, but seriously... leave us alone, dudes. Wanna be helpful? Then GTFO and let me do my job, even if at the moment my job was sitting in the shade of a building, eating Pringles.

Anyway, aside from that the surveying went really well today and then tomorrow is the last day of our work week. Friday is free and Saturday we travel to Umm Qais, Umm Jamal?, and Hartha?.

Last time I blogged, we had just gotten here and I was cranky as all hell. I am still sort of uncomfortable, but it's much better than it was. The hotel is err... under extreme construction. Which is okay, I guess, but not ideal OR what we were promised. It's fine though. Irbid is weird, too. It's a college town, so we see some americans and some unveiled women, but the men are even more strange about women it seems. That might just be because of the one adolescent who chased us around a few days ago, but I don't think so. No one else has actually touched us (the boy in question pushed himself in between Melanie and I while we were walking and then grabbed Alex) but they look, and they do it in an unsavory way.

I really don't get or particularly like the dichotomies in Jordanian culture. They are all about helping people and giving directions and doing whatever they can to make you comfortable-- but only if there are men with you... American women are like aliens.

I am really ready to come back and wear shorts and go places alone and drive my car and eat whatever I want to cook that night.

Anyway, we've been trying to acquaint ourselves with Irbid for the last few days and there is one good thing about it being a college town: it seems much smaller and more condensed, so it's easier to find what we are looking for. One guy is getting his hair cut at a barber right now, since it's just a few doors down from our hotel. I've gotten my pants dry cleaned and I'm going to take in some shirts tomorrow or Friday. We've communally enjoyed pasta, mac and cheese, and breakfast for dinner. Things have thus been okay.

End note: I saw this and thought it was entirely prescient. I asked my roommates if one of them posted it!
From the dirt again, finally,
Rachel :)

Irbid.

Fuck this noise, I'm ready to go home like two weeks ago.

Paradise

We're in Aqaba! On the southern tip of Jordan there is a little port with lots of beaches and resorts... and we are staying in the nicest resort they have here :) It's glorious. Beautiful. Immensely relaxing. I feel better, despite realizing I have 3 weeks left, not 2 weeks. Yes... it's only been three weeks. ACK. I really hope the survey goes well. I'm not sure what exactly it will be like... especially since there are 4 teams: 2 are your average archaeological survey, 1 is architectural, and 1 is ethnographic. So... who knows?

But Irbid hopefully will be pretty sweet, because I'm over Amman and the Abraham Path sucked pretty hard. Amman was okay, it had some really rad moments, but I think I've seen enough of it. The Abraham Path walking tour thing... ugh. All last week (Monday to Thursday) we were in Ajlun. On Monday we left the hotel in Amman at like 7 am, drove to a hotel, and started hiking. But it wasn't normal hiking, where you see animals and nature and there are trees and sometimes a cool breeze... no, it was more like the Ajlun Death March. I felt as if we were being led to the roughest patches of ground just to scramble over them. Also, there were about 50 of us so several people rushed ahead while others were way at the back. No bueno. The second and third days were awesome, however. We went to Our Lady of the Mount school/orphanage/church and painted murals on the walls for the schoolkids, some of whom live in the orphanage there. We got to hang out and play with the kids, which was awesome. It was so very hard to leave on Wednesday! Then Thursday was another hiking day (Most people hiked on Tues and Weds as well, the painting was an alternate activity) but I wasn't interested in killing myself so I went with a few other people to the Pella guesthouse where everyone else was hiking to and waited there. It was boring... and silly. But I don't feel like I missed out by not "hiking" even though that day was more like traditional hiking.

But let's focus on the positive. Survey starts Monday, and until Sunday morning at 7 am I am in a gorgeous resort with a really beautiful beach (from which we can see Egypt and Israel), I can go swimming in a pool or the Red Sea, and I'm going to go snorkeling today! :)

From the sand,
Rachel <3>

QED

The dig is DONE. I had to go into the field to help Square 2 finish up some drawings and taking some levels, and then we were done by like nine so being stuck there, I decided to help catalog bones. We got that finished-- barely-- even though the system is not so good, it will do. Then I came back here and napped for hours. It was glorious. (And I got to talk to my mom, Aron AND Tessa! Sidenote, my skype username is rachelaubuchon742 if you ever want to chat or talk to me!)
Tonight the hotel threw a party for us. It was pretty awesome. Actually, it wasn't, but the effort was amazing!! We really appreciated how hard they have worked for us even if thing have been difficult and not at all what we expected. There was ice cream!! And they gave us each a Jordanian (red and white) keffiyeh as a souvenir :3
Then some of us went out to Books@Cafe, a really cool bookstore/ cafe. I had a cheeseburger!! It was amazing!! And I tried argileh (hookah) for the first time... different. Very different from what I expected... but pretty good. I liked it. I'll probably come home with an argileh.
Tonight w as interesting because I feel like there are one or two people who are really unpopular, and I disliked one more than the other until today. Now all of a sudden I find myself identifying with a person I really didn't like, and realizing that someone I thought simply tried too hard is actually a pretty rude, self-centered human being. It's interesting, but I feel afraid. It's stupid, but I'm afraid to be outwardly friendly with this first person because they are SO unpopular (and for good reason, just not with me... sometimes people are inconsiderate, and this person has been, but I think they meant it well) and it will be hard to disassociate with the other because he's everywhere, all the time and one of those pushy people who has to be involved.
But whatever, heavy thoughts are not what I need now. It's 1:30am, tomorrow I get to sleep in, and that's all that matters right now!
Goodnight!
From the hotel,
Rachel <3

Ya habibi!

What a stressful day. It was our last day of digging... YAY. But there was a lot of yelling... BOO. However, tonight is the end-of-season banquet which will hopefully be a YAY. And I have to go into the field on time tomorrow which is a BOO, but dinner tomorrow will be hamburgers and ice cream, so YAY.
*sigh*
I got down to the "pit" which was not a pit today, and closed up my square. I got my drawings done after a lot of stress and needless discussion. And even though I got all my work done-- digging, drawing, paperwork-- I have to go back tomorrow to help finish up the other square because the field sup relies on me. This is frustrating. I DID my work already. I want to be able to RELAX. But I don't get to because I am reliable. Story of my life, man.
I need to go get ready for the banquet. Tomorrow is our last field day. Friday we are free, Saturday we go to Madaba and Mount Nebo, Sunday is free, and then Monday-Thursday we are hiking the Abraham Path. We'll see how the next few days gooooooo.
From the dirt for the last time,
Rachel <3

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