Welcome to Picobal's World

Israel Journal
Rough, unedited, and unabridged...well, mostly

June 1: Dad drove mom and me to the airport early on June 1. We flew to
Chicago and rented a car to drive out to Wheaton. It took awhile to find
where on campus we were supposed to go, but eventually we found it and
were able to meet with the archaeology professor there, Dr. Monson. I liked
the campus and the professor, but I didn't love it. My thought was, "maybe."

We drove back to Chicago O'Hare airport and met up with the group we
would be touring with. Dr. Browning introduced us to the group. Mom and I
set down next to a guy and girl that introduced themselves as David and
Christi. Then a girl came up and introduced herself as Jenny and then went
back and sat down. I couldn't remember everyone's names. On the plane, I
sat between Dr. Browning and a women from Albania who couldn't speak
any English. I told Dr. Browning the whole story about dad and this trip being
the test for what I would study in grad school. Then I noticed the woman
beside me rubbing her ears, so I gave her a stick of gum to help pop her ears.

June 2: In Frankfurt we had a layover for a few hours. We basically just
crashed on some benches and tried to sleep. The boys played Uno. Mom and I
talked mostly to Hanon, who told us about the "golden hand." The golden hand
had been mysteriously appearing at different places on the William Carey
campus. Hanon brought it along to place it in weird spots for photos.

During the flight to Cairo I sat besides mom. We were so tired when we
landed. The airport was dirty and crowded and where the airport ended, there
was only desert. Everyone was smoking in the airport, that was a first. We
passed through customs without any problem, got on a bus, and drove to the
Santana hotel. I took a shower and napped and then went down for supper.
There were stores inside the hotel and the boys from the stores kept telling us
girls how beautiful we were. Around 7:00 p.m. we all got in the bus and drove
to the lightshow at the Giza pyramids. We all fell asleep during the lightshow.

June 3: The next morning, June 3, we got up and had breakfast and then
drove to the Egyptian museum. Our tour guide couldn't speak English very
well and it was really hard and boring to listen to him and he talked on and on
at the museum. It was a wonderful museum though, with lots of artifacts. King
Tut's treasures were there, along with different items from each dynasty,
including jewelry and cuneiform tablets. The Merneptah stone was also there,
which is the first known non-biblical source which mentions Israel. From there
we went to Saqqura step pyramid, which is supposed to be the oldest pyramid.
Mom and Aschelo rode a camel. On the way back, the bus broke down for a
little while. It broke down by a river where kids were tending some sheep.
They laughed at us. We went to lunch....and expensive place....$10 a plate.
Then we went to the Giza pyramids, which includes the great pyramid. We
weren't allowed to go inside because they only allow the first 150 people to
go. But we were able to climb a little ways up and to take pictures. All the
Egyptians we met wanted money. Don't take a picture without expecting to be
asked to pay some money. We learned this lesson fast. From the pyramids we
quickly drove down to see the Sphinx because everything was about to close.
After this, we went shopping. Our tour guide took us to a Lotus shop (pure
perfumes), then to a papyrus museum, where I got my Cartush, and then to a
jewelry shop. It was so hot. I bought a bottle of water and dumped it over my
head. Shannon's carry-on had gotten lost, but it was at the hotel by the time
we got back. Unfortunately, someone had stolen her camera out of it.

We drove to the train station where we waited about an hour for our train.
Hanon had brought his guitar and began playing it. Kyle opened the case and
dropped money into it as a joke. A train went by that was really trashy, many
people were crowded into it. We hoped ours looked a little better. Our train
was really nice. We were all in one car, but were divided up as normal. Mom
and I had a room. Joel and Matt had a joining room to ours. Jenny and Jo,
Christi and Courtney, Hannon and Will, Adam and Kyle and David, Aschalew
and Gary, Shannon and Dee Dee, and Dr. Browning and our guide. The rooms
had two beds that popped out, a little closet and a sink. Bathrooms were down
the hall. We ate supper in our rooms. We opened the joining door between our
room and Joel and Matt's and talked to them over dinner. Then I got ready for
bed.

June 4: We were supposed to arrive in Luxor early the next morning (June 4),
but the train was a couple hours behind schedule. It had stopped for some
reason during the night. But we were up and watched the sunrise. There we
were, all of us, with faces pressed against the window panes, and headphones
on with music blaring from our discmans. First stop was at the funeral temple
of Amenhotep III - two statues were all that remained. Then we went to the
Valley of the Kings. We went into the tombs of Tutmosis III and Ramses III.
Some people paid to go into King Tut's tomb, but a lot of us climbed a hill that
overlooked the valley. All along the way we were approached by merchants.
One guy followed Hanon all the way up the hill trying to sale him a statue of, I
think, a cat. On the way back down, a guy kept talking to me and trying to help
me down. He asked me if I had a boyfriend and I think I told him I did. He
told me he wanted to marry me, and I told him I couldn't because my
boyfriend would be mad and would come get me. He tried to jokingly buy me
from mom for 2 million camels. Then of course, at the base of the mountain,
he wanted money for helping me down. If I had some in easy reach I might
have given him some just because he was so funny, but I told him I had none
and that he should pay me for being allowed to hold my arm all the way down.

From there we went to the Valley of the Queens and stood outside the temple
of Hatshepsut and took pictures. Joel had gotten side tracked with shopping
and we almost left him. Joel was funny, he was always shopping or eating as
slow as anyone I've ever seen. We then drove to Medinet Habu, temple of
Rameses III. This is where mom accidentally walked into a wall and hurt her
head. After this, our bus driver took us to another expensive place to eat
outside Karnak. Some of us were tired of paying so much money for dinner.
Kristi, Hannon, and Dave took a carriage down the rode and bought falafels,
they had been warned. We weren't supposed to drink any water or eat
anything fresh. Those three got sick and Hannon and Kristi got black tongues.
Jenny, Matt, mom, and I walked all the way to the Karnak temple looking for a
McDonalds. We never found it, so we ate my jerky and bought drinks. When
we got back to the restaurant, we met up with Kyle who was sitting outside
because he didn't want to eat. We talked about Dawson's Creek and other
trash TV. There was a cardboard piece that Kyle was sitting on. It had arabic
writing on it. Kyle said it probably said "will work for food." We saw the
Karnak temple, which had the names of cities that had been conquered.
Among those names was Rehov, where we would be digging. Then we went
to Luxor temple, which was a smaller version of Karnak. At Luxor was a
headless statue of Venus and then about 50 lion statues arranged in two rows
to form a hall.

After this, we had to take a very long bus convoy to the Red Sea. We were
escorted by the police and were not allowed to stop along the way. But Kyle
felt sick and he had to use the bathroom. Dr. Browning and the bus driver and
tour guide didn't want to stop, but Kyle was "dead serious." So, we stopped the
bus and Kyle made a run for the sand. It was terrible, but we were all
laughing. Then the police stopped to hurry Kyle while he did his business. Poor
kid.

The bus rides were actually a really fun part of the trip. We all compared
music. Will, country and Ray Boltz lover that he is, has terrible taste in music.
Adam is awesome, he had Les Miserables and Matchbox 20's Bent cd. Very
good taste. I guess Will was trying to convert me because he kept making me
listen to these hideous country songs, including Big Balls in Cow Town. I told
him he would have to listen to my Les Mis cds. Our bus rides also consisted of
numerous UNO games with strange rules usually made up by Will, Hearts,
and Spades. Those boys loved to sing even more than me and would always
be bursting out into one song or another. Every single one had a good voice.
Wow, I loved listening to them.

June 5: We stayed at a hotel by the Red Sea that night, but it was too dark to
see anything. Mom got mad at the bell boy because he brought her a wet
towel. We got up really early to take a ferry across the Red Sea. The ferry
ride lasted about 3 hours, I think. I got a little bit of motion sickness, but mostly
from watching the boys. Jenny and I were sitting across from Kyle and Adam
talking. Bit by bit the boys started turning green and really looking sick. Will,
who felt perfectly fine but bored, came over and asked if we wanted to play
Uno. Kyle and Adam thought it was a great idea, anything to get their minds
off being sick. Well, they thought Will was taking to long to deal and started
yelling at him to hurry up. Jenny and I were rolling laughing. Will left, so Kyle
and Adam then took their barf bags and drew faces on them and made them
into puppets. Then they had a puppet show and started singing. Kyle managed
to pull through, but Adam lost his breakfast out both ends. He ran for the
bathroom with his barfbag and his bag didn't return with him.

We got to our cabins at the base of Sinai the afternoon of June 5 and slept all
afternoon because we had to get up at midnight to start hiking Sinai.

June 6: Sinai was a hard climb and took around 3 hours to get to the top. Along
the way we met a girl from Europe who had been working for about 5 months
at a Kibbutz in Israel. We had to stop every 15 to 30 minutes to take a break.
Shannon didn't end up going, she was already feeling worn out with the stuff
we had already done. Jo felt sick and so rode a camel to the top. We survived
on water and Gary's nasty power bars. Will said he would rather eat paint
than another power bar.

The last leg of the climb, Will, Hannon, Adam, Kyle, Matt and I got in front of
the others (except for David, Kristi, and Courtney who were way ahead). It
was fun being with the guys and Matt said I was now an honorary guy...I
asked if that was supposed to be a good thing. Mom had the water, so Will let
me drink after him. We got to the top, but there were already lots of people up
there....so we searched for a uncrowded place and finally decided to climb
onto this cliff that nestled up against the roof of the monastery. David climbed
up first by standing on Will's shoulders. Then Dave helped me, Kyle, Adam,
Hannon, and Matt up as we climbed on Will's shoulders. Somehow Will got up
on his own. Later Kristi wanted up so we helped her up and then later Dr.
Browning. We watched the sunrise. It was so cold up there. Adam and I
compared how much we could chatter our teeth. Kyle let me wear his shirt.
After sunrise, there were these two old guys that wanted up on the roof. One
was named George and other we named Moses. These guys looked like left
over hippies who's brains had been permanently fried. They thought they were
on Mt. Nebo and then had big long discussion on where they actually were
and then what had happened here. We were cracking up. Anyway, the guys
were able to help them onto our little ledge by forming a human chain. We
found an easier way to get down via one side of the monastery. Will got down
first and then helped each of us down...He even helped Moses and George
down, though he said later he would be suprised if he didn't get leprosy. We
made it down Sinai in a little over an hour. The boys, and sometimes me, tried
to make it down quicker by going off the trails. At the bottom, while we waited
for everyone, the boys were congratulating themselves on their climb. They
called themselves the NRA (National Rifle Association)...why? Because of
their biceps. Ha ha. So, we went back the hotel, got breakfast and showers,
and then went to St. Catherine's monastery. St. Catherine's has a really cool
story about a girl who was disembodied because of her beliefs. Anyway, the
monastery supposedly housed the actual burning bush. It also had a room filled
with the bones of monks who had died. At St. Catherine's, we had to dress
modestly, so I put on my wrap around and decided I hated it....I had been
complaining about it earlier and the boy's teasing was enough for me to decide
to trash it at the first opportunity.

We did some shopping, then rode to the Israeli border. We said good-bye to
our Egyptian tour guide. It took a couple hours to get through customs. The girl
checking my bags took out my Aloe Vera and looked at it like she had never
seen such a thing. I guess it kind of does look like nuclear goo. On the other
side of customs was a computer. I rushed over, swiped my credit card, and
got my e-mail. Yeah! We entered Israel at Eliat. We first went to the mall and
ate. Aschalew, Joel, Jo, Jenny, mom, and I ate Schwamas, lamb meat in pitas.
Then, Jenny, Jo, and I went outside and waded in the Red Sea. We drove to
our hotel, which were little cabins. It also had a pool with a huge slide. After
dinner, Jenny, Jo, mom, Kyle, Matt, Will, and Adam went swimming. They
took about an hour to turn on the slide, so while we waited the boys
entertained us. First they were going to attack Jenny and me, but then Kyle,
Adam, and Matt decided instead to do water ballet. They came up with a little
routine, which Dr. Browning caught on tape. Will just watched on and shook
his head. Jenny and I decided that war must be declared on the boys and we
started plotting. Finally, they turned the slide on. After getting bored with
regular sliding techniques the boys began experimenting, they tried everything
from leap frog to sliding down all piled on top of each other.

June 7: The next day, June 7, we visited Timna. Timna included Solomon's
pillars, natural rock formations; copper mines, that we crawled around in; a
mushroom rock formation; and a smelting area where you could still see
hardened ore. Next we went and hiked Avad, a canyon with a little waterfall.
We climbed the steps carved into the side of the cliff. Jenny and I sang
Rebecca St. James. Somewhere close was supposed to be the grave of David
Ben-Gurion. Next was Ein Avdat, a first century city with a church and
underground cave houses. That night we stayed at probably the nicest of the
hotels. It had two pools and a hot tub. Unfortunately, we had to have bathing
caps to swim, so we didn't. Then, we tried to get into the hot tub but got yelled
at by a rude old man because we had to take a shower first. My first
impression of the Israeli people was not a really good one. That night all of us kids
were going hang out and play cards or something. But then Will decided to go
to the mall and get ice cream and he wouldn't bring us back any. He said we
had to go if we wanted ice cream. So, Jenny and I went to the mall and got ice
cream with Will. I guess we forgot to tell the other boys because when we got
back we found out they had been looking for us. We were going to stay up
and play even though we were tired, but one of them made a remark that they
didn't want us. So, Jenny and I got up and walked out. The boys yelled behind
us to come back but we didn't. They next morning they were a little ticked off,
but they got over it.

June 8: On June 8 we visited Tel Ber-Sheva, the sight of Abraham's well.
Then because it was Gary's birthday, we went to Shivta. At Shivta, Jenny and
I found a hidden house that was almost buried. We were going to dig in it but
thought it might collapse. We went back to the mall for lunch and Jenny, mom,
and I ate at KFC. The woman who took our order was from the U.S. The Tel
at Mimshit was closed and since Dr. Browning was out-voted on climbing the
barb-wire fence we went on to Arad. Arad was a big tel and we walked on
the wall and saw a lizard, which Hannon took lots of pictures of. We stayed at
a hostel in Arad. This was one night when mom and I shared a cabin with
Jenny and Jo. Kyle, Adam, Jenny, mom, and I walked into town in search of
an internet cafe but we couldn't find it. Everything was closed for holiday.
That night all of us played Mafia. It was a blast. The last game I won as a
mafia, I was able to convince Jenny, a town person to side with me against
Matt, a cop.

June 9: We went to Masada. I love the story of Masada, but it was so hot up
there that day. That day it got around 102. After Masada, we went to Ein
Gedi. There was a church at the base with mosaics. Then we climbed up
backwards, i.e. we hiked up the hill and walked down the steps instead of vice
versa. It was hot and hard the way up, but the rest of the way was easy. On
the way up, Matt and I came up with a song: "The idiots go marching two by
two. Hurrah hurrah. The idiots go marching two by two. Hurrah. The idiots go
marching two by two, cause Dr. Browning told them to. And they all go
marching up the hill, in the heat, man its hot, oh my gosh." There was spring on
the top of the hill and we all got in to cool off. DeeDee wouldn't get in and
Will kept trying to get her wet. Finally, DeeDee threw up her arms and said
"what the heck." She walked into the spring, shoes and all and plopped down in
the water. There was a waterfall that was really pretty on the way down.
Next we went to the Dead Sea. Yuck. It was nasty and every cut on your
body stung. Then these guys putting mud on people felt me up. I asked God to
cut of their hands. They made me really mad. That night we stayed at a hostel
on the Dead Sea. Since we weren't ready to go to bed, we walked over a cliff
overlooking the Dead Sea, sat down, and talked. The kids talked about William
Carey college and then Dr. Browning came over and joined the discussion.
Dr. Browning is lots of fun but he is totally whacked in his theistic evolutionist
ideas.

June 10: We went to Qumran and the Essenes'settlement. The caves were
really neat. We went into Cave 11 and decided we had to come back and dig
someday because we were sure there was still more scrolls to find. On to
Jericho, where there was hardly hide or hair of any walls, upright or fallen. We
ate another expensive lunch and did some shopping. I bought a sheep for
Brian. We saw St. George's monastery from the cliff, which was very pretty.
Then we went to Herodian, Herod's winter palace. A very cool place with an
underground tunnel. There was supposedly a hidden passage, but the way to
get there was blocked off. And of course, there was another cistern. The
focus of our trip was Herodian stones, casement walls, and cisterns.

From there, we went to Bethlehem to the Church of the Nativity and then into
Jerusalem. We saw the model city at the Jerusalem hotel and then went to our
hotel. Our hotel was only a couple blocks from Ben Yehuda street, so we
headed there for an internet place and dinner. It was the end of Sabbath and
things were beginning to open. Kyle was desperately wanting Mexican food
and so we (mom, me, Jo, Jenny, Adam, and Kyle) found Tako Tako on Ben
Yehuda street. We ate Mexican and I tasted everyone's drinks...alcohol is still
gross. Matt and Will found us and after complaining about us leaving them
walked with us on Ben Yehuda. Kyle, Adam, mom, and I wanted to go check
out the dance clubs. The others went to bed....we peeked into a few places
but it was only 9:30 and nothing would really get going until 11 or 12 so we
went to bed.

June 11: The next morning, June 11, we got up early and met in Matt and Joel's
room to have church. Will gave a little talk and DeeDee and I led
"Sanctuary." It was good to just do something. This day started out with a
walk along the Old City wall of Jerusalem. We started at the Jaffa Gate. Then
we toured the Burnt house, where we watched a film with another tour group
led by a very rude Cruella Devile look-alike. We then went through Warren's
shaft and Hezekiah's tunnel, which was very dark and very cold and very
awesome. There was a great echo, so we all sung at the top of our voices.
The guys were doing to awesome chant thing, they sounded like a monk choir.
Next stop was the Holocaust museum. Mom and I split from the group
because they were eating first and we wanted to make sure we saw as
much as we wanted before it closed. The Holocaust is always so sobering. It
was an excellent museum. We all met up together again and saw the Prime
Minister's capital and a huge Menorah with Biblical characters carved in it.
That night, more shopping on Ben Yehuda.

June 12: June 12 was a busy day. We hit the Mosque of Ascension, where
Jesus "supposedly" ascended into heaven. Pater Noster, with "Our Father who
art in heaven" tiled over the walls in every conceivable language. Very cool.
The Tomb of the Prophets, I don't remember which two...maybe Micah and
Hosea? Dominus Flaveit, which was a little chapel on top of the Mt. of Olives
that overlooked the city. Gethsemine. The Church of all Nations, with a little
Garden of Gethsemine. Mary's Tomb and the Garden Grotto, where, I think,
Jesus sweated blood. At the Church of St. Anne's, Mary's mother, a mass
was going on and everyone sang this gorgeous catholic hymn, which somehow
I knew. Pigeons were flying around and it was awesome. Next to St. Anne's
was the Pools of Betsada, where the angel stirred the healing waters. We
walked the Via Dolorosa, but didn't really pay much attention to the stations of
the cross, though we did see the second station, the Church of Flagellation.
We saw the Church of the Holy Seplecur, the catholic and orthodox's place
where Christ was crucified and buried. The Abby of Dormintion, which
portrayed scenes of Mary's life. The Upper Room of the Last Supper and
David's tomb. St. Peter's Gallicanta, a possible place where Jesus was held to
wait for trial. There were ancient steps where Jesus might have walked. The
Tomb of the King's, or rather St. Helena's tomb. I sang Lamb of God because
it sounded so cool and Jenny loved the song and was forever after that
begging me to sing that song. Last stop was the Baptist's version of the place
of crucifixion - Gordon's calvery, which kind of looked like a skull, and the
Garden Tomb...a little more natural than the Holy Seplecur. That night,
DeeDee, Will, Jenny, and I ate at McDonalds.

June 13: We visited the Temple Mount because it had been closed the day
before. This was supposed to be our free day, but oh well. We went inside the
Dome of the Rock where Mohammed supposedly ascended into heaven. We
went around inside looking at the cut marble blocks trying to find the face of
satan. Then we visited the Western wall, which was divided with one side for
men and another for women. We were able to touch the wall on the women's
side. From this point we separated because everyone wanted to go shopping.
Jenny, mom, Gary, and I headed with Dr. Browning to go visit the Rockefeller
museum to see Shishak's stele and some other cool stuff. Then, Jenny, mom,
and I went shopping throughout the old city. Jenny and I came up with this
technique to haggle. She would want something and so the saleperson would
quote her a price. She would act like she is deliberating on it and I would ask if
she was sure if she wanted this because I was sure I had seen it for $X
somewhere else....so the guy would go down on the price until it was
something that seemed reasonable. The three of us got lost in the Muslim
quarters, which was kind of scary. We hit it around the time there was a call
to prayer, but we didn't know for sure what was happening. All the shops just
began closing real fast. Pretty freeky. We found a little boy that led us back
into the Jewish quarter where we got lunch. Mom had to end up paying him 10
shekels before he would leave. He wanted a slice of pizza too, but he finally
got tired and left. We were walking through, I guess, a more orthodox section
of the Jewish quarter and I had a tank top on (I had taken mom's shawl off).
A man, he looked around 50, on a bike stopped me. He said something like
"Do you know what would make you even more beautiful?" He reprimanded
me for my top, but he was so so sweet about it. He talked about how their
young men only saw one women's shoulders, that of their wives. We talked
some about the difference's in American and Jewish culture.

We got back to the hotel in time to take a little nap and then went to the Israeli
museum. First we visited the Shrine of the Book. Yeah! I got to see the Isaiah
scroll and other writings. But it wasn't the real real scroll, which was kind
of disappointing. Then we went to the archaeology exhibit of the museum. The
place was huge but a really good museum. They had a temporary exhibit on
the birth of Christianity. That night, Jenny and I hit the internet cafe and
McDonald's again. We were roaming around Ben Yehuda street by ourselves,
which was fun. At the entrance of our hotel, we ran into Will, Matt, DeeDee,
and Shannon. The two girls went to bed, but the boys were going to walk
around some more. Instead, we decided to go up to Will's room and play Uno.
Will made up some wacky rules that if you played a certain card, you could
change the rules. But then, when he played that card he made a rule that said
you couldn't change the rules anymore. After a couple games, Will threw us
out because he wanted to go to bed. So, Matt, Jenny, and I headed up to my
room for a couple more rounds. Mom still wasn't back. She usually stayed out
later than me while we were in Jerusalem.

June 14: We got back in the bus and drove to Shemesh, a Philistine tel in the
Shefela valley. Then we went to the Saraq cave and saw the Eliat valley
where David fought Goliath. Then we went to Moresheth-Gath, the birthplace
of Micah. This place didn't look like anything. We poked around but had no
idea what Dr. Browning was looking for. Some army helicopters flew down
low and waved at us. While the rest of the group was still looking around,
Dave, Jenny, and I found this opening. We took Dave's flashlight and started
crawling through this small tunnel with Dave leading the way. It was so cool.
Then the place opened into a huge room. All we had was one light so it was
kind of freaky. The room had about four columns which went from floor to
ceilings. In the columns and the walls were triangle shaped niches. In the very
middle was a hole, but it was filled in. Instead of going out the way we had
come, Dave saw a shelf up above that looked like it went back. He climbed up
the wall, using the triangle niches. Then he left Jenny and I to search the cave
and find a way out. He came back and said we could get through this way. I
helped Jenny up and then climbed. I didn't think I would make it because there
wasn't anything to hold onto once you got to the top. Dave had to pull me up.
We squeezed through this tiny tiny opening, past many bugs, and were back on
top. We did some high fives and found Joel and Kyle and told them they had to
check this out. Kyle told us everyone was in another cave. We went into that
one which was much much bigger. Our success was a little dampened
because this cave had even more tunnels. We joined up with Adam and
climbed around, checking out different tunnels and such. Kristi found us and
said that there was one tunnel that had a snake in it, so watch out for that.
(weeks later, when we were at the dig and after Joel had left, Adam told us
that he and Joel had been in a tunnel above Kristi and had been making those
snake noises).

Next stop was Bet Guvrin, a series of decorated tombs and graves. We
always liked laying in tombs and acting like we were dead. Well, I guess we
heard the directions wrong, because Jo, Mom, Jenny, Kristi, I think Kyle, and I
set out to walk to our next stop, the Bell Caves. We were supposed to get
back on the bus. So we hiked about half a mile across a military firing area
until the bus found us. Dr. Browning shook his head and we got back on the
bus, a little embarrassed. But we did get to see this really neat tower thing on
our hike. Inside the Bell Cave we had to wear hard hats, so of course we had
to take group pictures. It was just this huge cave, with some really cool
repelling possibilities. Next we went to Lachish and then to Ashkelon.
Ashkelon was a little tel by the Mediteranian sea. It was surrounded by a
barb-wire fence. So, Will and Hannon, I think, stepped on the fence and
helped everyone over it. Our group never was one for obeying keep out signs.
Dr. Browning usually led the group. Then we got to swim in the Mediteranian,
but because of the under-tow we had to stay within boundaries marked by
black flags. On the bus, Jenny said that me and her had been named the Cave
Girls by Adam. Jenny was Gator-Cave and I was Baby-Cave. We then made
up a song about the Cave Girls to the tune of the Spice Girl's "If You Want to
be My Lover." The boys said we were stupid....they were ones to talk.

June 15: We went to Caesarea Maritima. This was the other place I had
thought about digging. It was gorgeous, being right on the coast. But it had
become so touristy. Visitors were allowed to watch the volunteers dig and
they had set up the theater in preparation for some play. We drove up Mt.
Carmel. The little chapel on top was closed, so we just took some pictures of
the overlook. We saw the extending aqueducts of Caesarea by the coast and
took pictures. Then we went to Beth Shearim, huge underground catacombs
with lots of Sarcophagi. One was called the Sarcophagus of the Nikes, so
Jenny had to lie in it with her Nike shoes showing. The highlight of Meggido
was a huge cistern that we went in. The boys sang "I will sail my Vessel" by
Garth Brooks. We got to our little cabins right on the Sea of Galilee. Most of
the kids went swimming. That night, Kyle, Adam, Jo, Matt, and I sat on the
rocks by the sea and sang Praise and Worship and other stuff. Mom and
Jenny went swimming. Then Jenny and I decided we were going to sleep out
by the sea that night. We lasted about 45 minutes and then this huge tour
group came and sat down right next to us and yacked really loud. Jenny didn't
want to go in, but there was no way I was going to stay. While we were out
there, Matt came by and talked to us for awhile. Then, Kyle, Dave, and Adam
came and said they were going skiny-dipping and that we had to promise we
wouldn't look. We told them that is the last thing we wanted to see. Instead,
Jenny and I read some scripture verses and talked.....though we told the boys
later that we took pictures of them. From that day forth, they were
known as the "white dolphins."

June 16: We visited Bashan. We hiked up to Nimrud's Fortress, a crusader
castle. Jenny got lost. From there we went to Caesarea Philippi/Banyas. Here
there was a Temple to Pan and a huge sand scripting device which wrote a
Bible verse in the sand in three different languages. The boys took fig leaves
and hung them from the button of their pants. Then DeeDee and Hanon took
more leaves and posed as Adam and Eve. We took a nature trail through
Nahal Hermon and saw a huge waterfall. There was a sign that said we
couldn't get off the bridge, but we all climbed over to feel the water. Before
we began hiking through the nature trail at Tel Dan, Nasser fed us cherries
from his orchards, grapes, and cake. At Tel Dan, there was a tree called the
Winnie the Pooh Tree because it was hollow. We girls posed for pictures. The
boys never took pictures of us with their cameras and so mom asked them
why. They said they couldn't take pictures of us because their girlfriends
would get jealous. That night we stayed at the same place by the Sea of
Galilee. Jenny, Jo, Mom, Kyle, Dave, Will, Matt, Adam, and I played Nerts.
Dave already knew how to play, but we had to teach everyone else.

June 17: We visited Kursi, where Jesus drove the demons into the swine.
There was a mosaic about that. There was a beautiful orange tree there, so I
took a picture of mom sitting on a bench beneath it. We went to
Zippori/Sepphoris, a huge multi-cultural tel where I think that huge mosaic of
Dionysies was. We went to Nazareth and saw two churches where Gabriel
was supposed to appear to Mary. One was the church of Gabrial. The other
was the Basillica of Annunciation, which had many diverse pictures of Mary
contributed from many nations. Very weird stuff. From there we went to the
Kibbutz where I would be living for the next three weeks. There were lots of
problems with room arrangments. I was to live with Kristi, Courtney, Shannon,
and DeeDee, but for the first night I stayed with mom, Jenny, and Jo. Jenny
and I were going to get up and go with mom to the airport, but we were so
sleepy we didn't make it.

June 18: Our free day, the first one we had had. We watched TV and Jenny
and I checked out the swimming pool.

June 19: Our first day at the dig. Short summary of every day is that I woke
up at 3:30 a.m., took a shower, then went back to sleep until everyone else
started getting up around 4:15. We got dressed, ate, put on bug spray, grabbed
our water bottles and trowels and headed out to the bus at 5:00. Drove to the
dig, played in the dirt until 8:30. Then we ate breakfast, mine consisting of
bread and butter, fruit, and chocolate pudding. Back to work around 9:00, more
digging in the dirt until 10:45. Then a fifteen minute break until 12:00 were we
swept our area, gathered our tools, and loaded the buses to leave. Friday's
schedule was slightly different because we would tour the dig site from 11:00
to 12:00 and get a popcicle as we left the site. We lived for Fridays. When we
got back to the Kibbutz, I did one of three things: take a shower (usually),
jumped in the river with Jenny, or ate at the cafeteria. Since I usually took a
shower, I would then make myself lunch (peanut butter sandwiches) and then
take a nap if I could beat Shannon before she turned on the TV (I slept on the
couch trundle...Shannon and DeeDee had the bedroom, Courtney and Kristi
had the loft). Since we missed having a church service on Sunday, Jenny, Jo,
and I read our Bibles by the river.

June 20: Kyle found a horse's head while picking through one of the balks.
Dalite is our area supervisor. She is around 26 and was a Captain and tank
commander in the Israeli army. She has a little boy who is 2 years old. After
digging that day, Jenny, Jo, and I went to the Springs up the river. Oh, and I
got cookies in the mail from mom. Jen (from OBU), Jenny, and I also bought
Tel Rehov T-shirts.

June 21: More of the same. There was a girl named Kim who lived across
from us. Boy, I have never heard such trash come out of any one
mouth. Dalite told us she wanted Jenny and I to stay all 6 weeks (I could
already tell that wasn't going to happen). Digging would have driven me
insane with boredom had it not been for Jenny and the others. But I did get a
tan and some muscles.

June 22: On Thursday, June 22, Dr. Browning treated us to Chinese food in
Tiberias. Before dinner, we went up to the Cliffs of Arbel and watched the
sunset. It was one of the most gorgeous places we had been. Finally a place
where we had enough time to just sit and soak it all in. Kira went with us to
Arbel and then to go eat. Dave and her quickly formed an interest in each
other. It was so cute to watch. Though I usually hate Chinese, this was really
really good, especially the duck.

June 24: On June 24 (I think), our group went to Hazor and then to Kadest, a
Roman Temple. There was one tall wall still remaining, so the boys, Jenny, and
DeeDee climbed it. You could see it wobble as they stood on it. We then went
to Bar'am, a pretty little synagogue ruins. Last we visited Monsfort a crusader
fort which was really cool. It was in a really green valley (it looked like
Scotland) and we could hear our echoes. From the fort, we could see then
huge dead tree just standing there against all the greenery. Kyle tried to climb
up the tower, but he couldn't make it. But the boys did pose like Tom Cruise in
Mission Impossible and if you held the camera right, it looked like they were
hanging from a cliff. That night we had pizza in Bet'Shean.
Getting pizza was a lot of fun. Two of the staff members came with us and
one, Paul, had an Australian accent. When we got there, Jenny and I went to
go sit at a table and Kyle and Adam followed. So, we got to hear them sing
along to the radio and be their typical selves, which usually drove Jenny crazy
but always made me laugh.

June 25: We went to Gamla, which was a synagogue built on the side of this
really pretty mountain. We climbed to the top, of course. Dr. Browning was
hungry, so I gave Matt my bag of jerky, who got a piece and handed it to Jo,
who got a piece, who handed it to Dr. Browning. Then off to Bethsaida. At
the Jordan River, we got in, though it was really murky looking. From there,
our group split. Some went to the Hexagonal pools and some (including me)
went back to the cabins. Jenny, Jo, and I went back to the Springs. Kira had
talked to us Thursday about wanting to have praise and worship Sunday night.
Sunday afternoon, Jenny and I dropped off slips of paper at each cabin telling
about the worship service. We met the two other girls who had originally
wanted to do it. Around ten came to that first gathering and it was really neat.
We sang a few songs, read the scriptures, and then took turns praying.
Everyone really enjoyed it.

June 27: A highlight of the second week of the dig was on Tuesday, June 27,
we were all singing Psalty songs and Dalite wanted to know the words. Then
she wanted to hear more songs and Jenny told me to sing Lamb of God. So I
sang the first verse and then repeated the words. Dalite asked about the part
where it says "to walk upon this guilty sod." This started a big conversation
that lasted until the end of breakfast. Dalite had lots of questions about some
basic concepts of Christianity, so Jenny, I, and sometimes Jo and Kyle told her
what we knew. One thing I had always been scared of when it came to
witnessing was not being able to present the message as well as it should be
presented. But, in talking to Dalite, I realized I didn't have to be scared. Yeah,
I'm sure we didn't sound to elegant and we all differed a bit on how we
viewed things, but the point in witnessing is to share your love and excitement
for Christ. We did that and there wasn't anything poorly done in it.
Whatever we said, Christ can use it if He chooses. One thing I didn't
appreciate was later hearing Dr. Browning talking to Dalite about our
"emotional witnessing" while he then told her the "academic side" to
Christianity. Mr. Jim was another great character at the dig. He was a
Louisiana boy around 50 who called everyone babe and always smiled. He
was a fun guy. Later on that week he also let me into his cabin to check my
e-mail on Bob's computer. That night Matt, Jenny, Jo, and I played Gin
Rummy and took turns singing because we all wanted to sing at once different
songs.

June 29: Thursday, June 29, Adam hit Jenny with a Taboone (oven clay piece)
and so talk about the war on the boys was reborn. Like the Thursday before,
the water went off just around the time everyone wanted to take a shower, so
we all jumped into the river instead. I went to the store with Jenny and we met
up with Adaline, from Ireland, and walked back via the "chicken route way"
because Jenny wanted different scenery. We went to the store in Bet'Shean
that night and bought water balloons and food stuff. We were going to picnic
the next day and so Adam, Kyle, Jenny, and I pooled our money and got
sandwich stuff and grapes.

June 30: An English (ITV) filming crew came to the site and filmed us. During
breakfast, the camera guy got right in my face while I was drinking my water.
That afternoon, Jenny and I made up a story about our room that we had
discovered. Each of us took a line, trading back and forth. Short summary: A
boy lived in the room and he had an evil cat who one night in a secret garden
he saw turn into a princess. He fell in love, and was sent on a quest by a witch
to find a potion to turn the cat into the princess permanently. He goes through
many trials, include Dante's Divine Comedy and Homer's Odyssey and in the
end finds out that the princess had never really been the cat. So, that night, we
went to some ruins in Tiberias and ate our picnic. The boys wasted most of
the grapes, though, trying to throw them in each other's mouths. The ruins
were at the bottom of a very large hill. We had two mini vans. Dr. Browning,
driving the first, made it up the hill fine. Then Gary tried (I was riding in this
van). We went up a ways and then started sliding back downhill. The slide
shocked me and so I screamed. We tried about 8 times to go up the hill before
we finally made it (they said I screamed every time we went backwards).

We went to McDonald's and Will gave me money to buy an ice cream cone.
Sometime that day, I had done something for Will...maybe given him a back
massage or scratched his back or something because he had promised to buy
me ice cream. There was the cutest little girl with her mother at McDonald's.
She had dark brown hair and light blue eyes. She was always bouncing around
and trying to get Jo and my attention. Her mother translated when the little girl
wanted to know my name. Jenny bought ice cream, but they didn't give her
the kind she wanted, so she let everyone else have a bite. She acted like a
mom and told Will to open wide and then acted like the spoon was an airplane
or something as she gave him a bite.

July 1: We went to the Grotto Caves (aka Ladder to Tyre). These are
limestone cliffs on the Mediteranian coast. The water had formed caves within
the cliffs that we could walk through. The Jewish Haganah had also hewn out
tunnels for a railroad (cool). Next, we went to the town of Akko. There there was a
crusader fortress. We went into a Turkish Bath, which had great echoes. The
boys sang. In the middle of one room was a little basin. Hannon went and
stood in the middle of the basin to take a picture and discovered that it had this
perfect echo. No one could hear it but the person standing in the middle. It
was so cool. We all took turns. Then a man came in and gave us a look
because we were singing so loudly. Next, we drove to Tiberias to see the
Banhais Gardens, but most of it was closed off for the day. Last, we went to
Tel Dor on the coast. None of us stopped to look at the tel, instead we headed
to the ocean. Jenny, Matt, DeeDee, Kurt (a guy from the Kibbutz who Jenny
said liked me), and I got in the water. There was a shelf, so we were only up
to our shins. We took pictures. Will and Hannan had swam out onto a little
island. When they swam back, Hannon wanted to show DeeDee a hole in the
water shelf. He jumped in the "bath." Will was right next to him, standing on
the shelf. DeeDee and I told Will to stretch out his hand and act like he was
helping Hannon up so it looked like Jesus stretching out his hand to Peter.

July 2: Sunday. The rest of the group went to Belvra, which they said was
awesome. I decided to stay home and do laundry. Gary and I were going to
take the van to Tiberia later and do some shopping. I saw the group off (they
were crowded, another reason I didn't go), then headed back to the cabin. I
saw Jim and he said that if I wanted to check my e-mail, I could since Bob
was gone. So, I got to check my mail. Then I did laundry and watched tv and
took it easy. That night, we all had praise and worship. Dave played the guitar.

July 4: On July 4, Tuesday, Dalite took Jo and I to the store in Bet Shean. Jo
was going to grill chicken by the river for our group so we could have a little
Forth of July party. Everyone started to gather. The boys took turns trying to
catch a freezbie as they jumped into the river. Adam and I acted like we were going
to box, and then he grabbed me and started running for the river. He was going to
throw me in but I grabbed his waist and wouldn't let go, so he had to give up.
We skipped the lecture and just
hung out. Jenny and I had bought water balloons earlier that week and so we
went to fill them up. Armed, we went back to the river and Jenny tried to pelt
Adam, but hit Shannon instead. Adam ran and grabbed the bag of balloons. It
broke and a lot of the balloons broke. I got Adam in the back. Kyle had gone inside
and Will was reading so we couldn't get him. So our war didn't really work,
though we got Adam, but we hurt Shannon. After the lecture, the other kids
with the dig came out and there was a big party with ice cream, chips, and
beer. Kyle had his first beer and Jenny wasn't happy with everyone drinking.

July 5: Wednesday, Dalite moved half of us to B1 because there was nothing
left to do in B2. We had found nothing but the floor in our little room. Jenny
and I helped Susan and Tiffany take down a layer of their area in B1. The
British TV crew flew by in a helicopter and filmed the digsite. Matt, a guy
from B1, went out from under the shades and mooned the helicopter and
camera crew. After work that day, Kira, Jenny, and I were swimming in the
river and Kira wanted to jump off the bridge. We swam upstream to the
bridge and then we all jumped off. Matt, the guy from B1, ran to the bridge
first and just jumped over. I jumped over and popped my ear. It hurt the rest of
the day. That night, I played Freezbie with Matt, Tim (a guy at the Kibbutz),
Adaline, and Jenny. I spent the night at Jenny's.

July 6: Tiffany was sick, but Susan, Jenny, and I found a room in the area we
had worked in the day before. After work, Adaline, Jenny, and I swam in the
river. The afternoon, all the volunteers could go on a field trip to Bet Shean.
Since our group had left us out when they went the first week, Jenny and I
went. After Bet Shean, Jenny, Jen (from OBU), Adaline, and I walked around
Bet Shean and then went to the mall and ate at McDonalds. Then we took the
public bus back to the Kibbutz. At the Kibbutz we passed the basketball court
and Kyle, Adam, and Hannon were playing. Jenny and Jen stayed and played
with the boys; Adaline and I walked back. That night, Jenny showed up at my
cabin. Her feet were hurting because she had scraped the skin off playing
basketball in bare feet. I fixed her up and send her to bed.

July 7: Our last day at the dig. We got a little further down in our room. Susan
would be there for three more weeks. That evening we hiked up Hippus.
There wasn't much to see but old bunkers from the war filled with bats. We
then split up. One group went to Arbel again to watch the sunset. Gary, Adam,
Kristi, Kyle, Jenny, and I stopped at a Burger Barn to eat before going back to
the cabins. At the food place, this group of guys wanted me to try on all their
sunglasses. While we ate, I talked to Gary about his family. Jenny and I got
coke icees.

July 8: We drove to Tel Aviv. Dr. Browning, Will, Gary, Shannon, DeeDee,
and Matt went and looked at Philistine sites. Jo, Tiffany (who came with us
because her plane also left the next morning) and Kyle stayed at the hotel and
napped. Aschelow, Courtney, Adam, Dave, Kira (who's plane left the next
day), Jenny, and I took a bus to Jerusalem to shop. We all got seperated but
said we would meet up again at 3 and then at 6 to take the bus back. Jenny
and I just shopped around. At 3 we met Aschelow, Courtney, and Adam and
decided we were ready to leave. We figured Dave and Kira could make it
back on their own and so we got a van ride back to Tel Aviv. The bus driver
was a whacked. He wouldn't turn on the AC and drove crazy and one rider
smoked. There was a women also riding who was from South Africa. Jenny
scared her by teasing her that Aschelow was dangerous. The women was
really sweet after we got her straight that Jenny was just joking.

When we got back to Tel Aviv, Jenny and I checked on Tiffany, who had still
been feeling bad. Then we went to Subway and brought back Tiffany some
food. We all went down to the beach to eat and watch the sunset. We went
back to the hotel and just chatted. Then Kyle came in, he had been sleeping all
day. He wanted to go eat and wanted some company. Tiffany wanted to take
a shower so Jenny and I went to go sit with Kyle as he ate at Subway. Then
we decided not to sleep and instead watch a movie. We walked around Tel
Aviv and finally found the movie theater. We saw Gone in 60 Seconds at a
really cool theater. The theater had assigned seating so Jenny and I sat
together but Kyle had to sit two chairs down from us. After the movie, we
went and sat on the beach for awhile. I saw this old couple totally making out,
which cracked me up. Then we went back to the hotel to sleep for about 30
minutes. 1:30 a.m.

July 9: I got up, took a shower, and was down by 2:30 to load up and head to
the airport. At the airport we said goodbye to Tiffany and Aschelow, who was
headed home to Ethiopia to see his family. The flight to Frankfurt, I sat next to
Courtney and we just slept. In Frankfurt we had a four hour layover. Jo,
Jenny, Adam, Kyle, and I got something to eat then shopped around. On the
flight to D.C., Jenny and I conived a way to sit together. We also got the best
seats in the plane. The very back row, window and isle seats. Didn't have to
smell the food and got to visit with people who came back to use the restroom.
DeeDee sat across the isle from us. She was mad at Will because she had
wanted to sit with him and he was sitting with Kristi and Hannan. Jo, Dave,
and Will came back and visited because there was more space back there.
We played MASH. Jenny, Jo, DeeDee, and I all married Will. At D.C., I said
goodbye to everyone but Courtney and Gary. We all took pictures and boys
did their last "snake show" showing their muscles. I hugged everyone bye. On
the flight to Dallas, I sat next to a nice guy who had been checking out a
excavation taking place next to Mt. Vernon. I said bye to Gary in Dallas, but I
didn't see Courtney who had to go recheck her bags and make a quick flight.
We took what Heather calls the "Vomit Comet" to OKC, where mom and dad
picked me up. That is my trip to Israel.
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