First Day!

I wish I could explain everything about the dig, what it looks like, who passes by, but in reality, I can’t. Everyone who went on the dig last year tried to describe to me, and pretty much failed. Jerusalem and the Old City are pretty indescribable.

We left mid-morning (which for us is like 7:15-ish) and we walked through Damascus Gate to get into the Old City. On the way to the dig, you are going through these tunnels and every one of them is filled to brim with shops and people selling trinkets. But at 7ish, everything was still fairly quiet. We passed the entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and King David’s Tower. And then, you go through Mt. Zion gate, and the dig is literally to the left of where you exit.

Walking there is a surreal experience. You can see the huge old stones from the Herodian era, and all of these holy monuments and historic locations, but people are just going about their normal days. It’s this strange juxtaposition of divine and ancient verus modern and mundane.

Today on the dig, we were preparing the site for excavation. So we weeded all of the areas. We pulled out all of what Dr. Gibson described as, “vegetal elements.” And then, since we didn’t have enough brushes to begin preparing the site for excavation, we came home early.

We walked back to our hotel, and then we ate a delicious lunch of upside-down chicken, which is delicious! They like put all of this chicken and rice and vegetables into a pot and then they cook it and they come out and turn the pot upside down to get it out. It was so good! Then I took a shower, which felt amazing after being so dirty.

Later, Caroline and I went out shopping in the old city. It’s so weird. They are just like, “You are so beautiful; come into my shop!” It’s so busy. There are so many people. And the strange thing is, a lot of them have the same stuff. Like I was offered a price of 10 shekels or 30 shekels for the same item at two different places. And I’m kind of terrible at bartering, but I did get a pair of pants! They have elephants on them, and they’re high waisted and flowy.

Then we came back, got some dinner, and I was able to spend time with people on our rooftop terrace/balcony/thing. All in all, it was a beautiful day. I’ve never been so fascinated with a city dynamic such as Jerusalem’s. My mind is still trying to wrap my head around what I think about it.