Homeward bound

The pilgrims are in Toronto after eleven hours of flying from Tel Aviv. Good to be able to post in English, not Hebrew. Thanks to Jim for blogging our emails.  Own beds tonight!

May 23

Sorting Pottery

Monday May 21 - More Dig

We get up at 4:45 for the dig. Today we moved a lot of rocks and dusty soil. We work until 12:30. It is hard work.

Grotto of Pan at Caesarea Phillipi

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The pictures of the dig don't tell the whole story. We are dusty. We are dirty. We are constantly told to drink water. Breakfast isn't until 9 so either you have an early snack or you are some hungry. Then the high point of the day, a Popsicle at 11 oh joy!!! Off to lunch at 12. Some of us went on a 9 km hike after the dig on Monday, we who went are tired. Then an hour lecture in the evening. Tuesday sounds like a day of rest. All in all it is going well and we are having fun. And in truth, an army marches on it's stomach and the food is excellent, especially that produced by our vounteer te in the field. Very well done. Now off for a shower and a snooze

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Wednesday we were shut down at 10am. The wind picked up and we couldn't shift. So we just dumped the dirt over the side but finally they sent us home. We are digging where the Syrians built a trench in 1967 war so they is alot of junk. Still hope to at least see the 10th century BCE wall before we leave on

Sunday May 20 - The Dig.

Today is Sunday, May 20. We are at the dig part of our trip in Bethsaida and have had our orientation with Dr. Rami Arav and we met Kate, who will be our site supervisor and this is going to be exciting. The weather cooled off a bit today. We are living at a Kibbutz this week and on the dig we will be the dust people. Since the last post we dipped our feet in the Jordan and were blessed with Holy water. We sailed on the Sea of Galilee and visited Sepphoris,believed to be Mary's home and Nazareth. A highlight was a visit to Nazareth village which was a recreation of what it would have been like in Jesus day. A visit to Mt Tabor gave new meaning to mountain top experience and the start of Jesus' ministry.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it's off to work we go

May 19(?) The Sea of Galilee

.....Peter, Peter, Peter on the sea sea sea....

May 16 Where The People Beat Their Feet Upon......

Today we visited Qumran, King Herod's fortress in Masada and floated in the Dead Sea. We also got to do what our mother's never let us do, get messy and play in the mud, at The Ein Gedi Dead Sea spa!  Diana R.

The Mud People

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Qumran-why would you ever want to live here? The middle of a desert, no local food and no water. They came here to escape what they considered the corrupt temple system in Jerusalem. They built large cisterns to store the floods that came down the dry wadis a few times a year. In the end they were wiped out by the Romans who considered them part of the revolt in Jerusalem. Peaceable people who wanted to share quiet community, the right way, by themselves

Dead Sea - what can you say other than fun , fun. The biggest danger was falling asleep whe floating on your back. Oh and mud , the oh so ooey, gooey black mud. Your skin felt like silk afterwards

Masada-proof positive that Herod was powerful and quite mad. Even if the suicide pact story is but a story, the fact of the zealots holding out for years is an awe inspiring story.  Russ P.