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

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 :)