Pictures from the dig

These are some of the things that were found lately at the dig site where Don is working; 

#1 This pot, as it was found at the bottom of the wall. It's in amazingly good shape. 

#2 This is after The Pot Shard Washer (Don) cleaned it up. 

#3 Ammunition from one of the sieges of the city 

#4 An elephant tooth 

#5 The bottom of the wall where these things were found.

Don loves working here. When he gets home in the afternoon, he is hot and tired, but has interesting stories to tell and interesting pictures to show me. I'm the one who gets to put them into the computer, crop, and enhance them. Shalom..............Bernice

Bus trip

Rich Bennett, our tour guide when we came to Jerusalem 6 years ago, is coming on July 1st with an other group. I'm looking forward so much to seeing him and talking to people from home. Then on July 7th Ron, (Don's identical twin) and Ron's son in-law, Randy, are coming. While they both are here, we will go to Cairo, Egypt. This promises to be a very hot trip, I'm sure it will be hotter than Eilat....er. (Sorry, but I couldn't resist). After a week, Randy will return to The States but Ron will stay longer and go to Tel Dor with us to dig. His stay will be 5 weeks. Don and I both are looking forward to all this company. By the way..........Rich arranges tours to Israel every year and if you are interested in coming, I would highly recommend going with him. For information on his tours, his email is rbennett@spsu.edu . 

It was time to fill my cupboards and the refrigerator, I couldn't figure out how to fix another meal with the odds and ends which were left. I dragged my little shopping cart (I've become a bag lady) behind me and went to the bus stop. There were lots of women on the bus, each stop more women got on. The bus stopped in front of the grocery store and most of the women got off, must be a big day for groceries. As we stopped traffic by crossing the street in a group, I noticed that these women were not heading for the grocery store, but to an alley next to it! I'll just follow this group and see what's going on. Flea market!! Swap meet!! In the alley and in a parking garage next to it were tables, stuff, and people. Fun!! I'll just look around. Venders, mostly men, were calling out, I assume they were trying to get people into their section. It was crowded and difficult to drag my cart through the isles, my cart kept hanging up on the many baby strollers, but I was determined. I saw a large women, trying on a red lace bra over a white T shirt. Her friend was checking the sides and back for fit. A couple venders, a little distance from each other, were yelling in angry tones at each other. I got a few things that I "needed" at a great price. I found a vender who could understand English, asked if this was here all the time, and he said only on Mondays. I made a mental note to make Mondays shopping day from now on. After the flea market, the grocery store wasn't fun at all. 

More later...........Shalom............Bernice

Eilat

I thought that Eilat was hot a lot and a lot hot. 

So we took a cot, found a spot, and read a lot.

This is my rhyme about Eilat,

......... by Me

The temperature in Eilat was around 40 to 45c, which is about 104 to 114 degrees f. Even late at night it's hot. Think of Palm Springs, with a beach, and you have Eilat. Our hotel was across the street from the beach and a mall. Along the beach is a board walk with good restaurants and little stands that sell all the usual tourist stuff. Our hotel, Club Hotel Eilat, was big and decorated like a cruse ship, very nice, a good place to stay. 

We took a taxi tour to Timna Park...............From the book.............. "Timna Park is a unique natural reserve, featuring fascinating geological and archaeological sites: Solomon's Pillars and the Temple of the Goddess Hathor (known in Egyptian mythology as the Goddess of the Mines, the Goddess of love, The Eye of Re and the Goddess of Turquoise); the Mushroom and the smelting camps; the Arches and the ancient mines plus the Chariots - rock drawings of people and animals that date back to the Egyptian mining in Timna." These copper mines are clamed to be the first in the world and were being mined 4000 and 6000 years ago. Production was started again at the Timna mines in 1958 after Eilat was captured by the Golani and Negev Brigades, mining ended here in 1984. There is still a lot of copper here, copper ore is laying on the ground every ware. I picked up some pieces and plan to take them home, grind them to sand, and then heat them with my torch. I will smelt my own piece of copper!

# 1 Don and I under the Mushroom, it is a natural formation formed by erosion. 

#2 Ancient writing on the walls 

#3 Me climbing out of a mine shaft. In my hand is a piece of copper ore (this picture dose not show how green it is). The shafts go straight down and then branch out horizontally, no, I didn't go all the way down, actually this one was filled with sand and I could stand in it. 

#4 Solomon's Pillars formed by erosion. 

One of the places we visited was a diamond factory. I didn't bring home any souvenir diamonds, too bad. 

Don did not feel well the last couple of days we were there, so between that and the heat, we didn't get out and explore as much as we usually do. Fortunately our hotel was wonderful and we spent a lot of time laying around the pool reading. More later.............. Shalom...............Bernice

Pictures

Don took pictures at the dig yesterday, here they are:

#1 The dig 

#2 Part of a wall that's being uncovered 

#3 A carved piece of bone that was probably used as a tool 

#4 Artist working to record the dig, she measures and draws to scale

Don could give better approximate dates for the things seen in the pictures, but my understanding is that what they are finding is around 3700 years old. 

Shalom...........Bernice

Don started working at the dig yesterday, he had a good time, but was real tired. In the evening, after a short rest, he went over to the Hebrew class, busy day. 

Sunday morning we walked to The Old City for breakfast, then down to the dig. They were working. The archaeologist in charge asked me if I would be joining Don, the job was to wash pottery shards. My answer "Probably not", I was thinking that maybe I would stop by a few times and work for a while in the morning before it got too hot. We started home, Don wasn't sure of the way, "We go up that street.........no, maybe the other street, I think I came this way before........ no, it doesn't look familiar". All I knew was that any way we went was up hill ( the dig is at the bottom of the Kidron Valley and we live up on the water shed over the Hinnom Valley) and the morning coolness had left. At one point we stopped at a small Arab shop for a cold drink and after a period of wandering, we were high enough to see where we were. The good news is.........we were close to home.........the bad news is............the rest of the way was up hill and in the sun. After this experience, I decided that working at the dig wasn't so bad, but walking home was the pits, I won't be digging. 

I just realized that our trip to Eilat is next week, I had been thinking that it was a few weeks away. Sunday we will leave for a week in Eilat. Eilat is a beach resort town at the southern most tip of Israel, to the East is Jordan, to the West is Egypt, and to the South is the Red Sea. Eilat sits on the Gulf of Aqaba and is a stones throw from Aqaba, Jordan. We may not come home at the end of the week. Don wants to stay around the area a few days, there are places he wants to see, maybe we'll go into Egypt. 

If it's not too hot before the laundry is finished, I'll go over to the school and get some books to read on our trip. I buy books at a used book store, and sell them back at half of what I paid for them. There are a lot of used book stores here and one near by has a good selection of fiction in English. JUC has a fair fiction section, I check books out there too. More later..........after our trip..............

Shalom.................Bernice

Now, with the discovery of a grocery that has frozen waffles, pancake mix, and maple syrup, combined with the discovery of a meat market that sells pork, we can have waffles with eggs and bacon. What a luxury! It has been 5 months since our taste buds have been treated to such a pleasure. Yesterday, I saw a restraint called Argentina. This is worth looking in to, maybe, just maybe, we will find some South of the border (US border) food. So far I haven't even found a can of refried beans let alone a tortilla, and really miss Mexican food.

Don spent the last two days at the Jerusalem Museum. There was a seminar and archeologists from around the world, including some of the professors from JUC, were talking about Jerusalem history and what has been found. Fortunately these lectures were in English, although some times very broken English (the last lecture he went to was in Hebrew). He really enjoyed the seminar. Today he went over to the school library to check out some of the information from the seminar. 

Young people are very polite, on the crowded busses, they offer their seats to the "mature" passengers. Someone always offers a seat to me, it's nice when I'm tired, but does this mean that I am old? 

I had another "adventure". Tuesday my neighbor, Darla, and I went into town to meet a student friend of hers who makes and sells jewelry. He does this to supplement his income. We met in a sandwich shop, he spread his wares out on the table and we pawed through them while sipping on cold drinks. Darla placed some orders for special pieces, and I bought some loose beads. It was fun. 

When I got home, my keys weren't in my bag! Don was at the seminar! Some one came out the main door of our building and I slipped in before it closed again. Maybe I left the keys in the door of our apartment, but no, the keys weren't in the door. What to do. I didn't know what time Don would be back and so my choices were to either sit on the hard marble steps of the building and wait, or ring Darla's bell. I rang the bell at Darla's building, she took me in, gave me a cold drink, and called the restraint. They had found my keys. We were having such a wonderful time sorting through beads and jewelry, I didn't notice that my keys had fallen out of my bag. Back to the bus, back to town, back to the restraint, I was glad to have the keys, but tired. Good thing that I had leftovers to warm up for dinner. 

To those of you who are concerned about our safety. Jerusalem is safe, we aren't near any of the fighting. People here wonder of it is safe in the States because they hear about all the shootings. More later..................

Shalom.............Bernice

Yes, I dropped the Hebrew class at the YMCA, but Don is still going. The class moved too fast for me, I couldn't keep up with the memorizing and it became stressful. I will continue to learn, but at my own pace. I find the letters and the way words are put together fascinating, and I need to learn the numbers (important when shopping). Yesterday my neighbor, Darla, took me to a grocery store that was every bit as big as the ones in the States and this store has a lot of American products in it. I was like a kid in a candy store. I tried to keep the number of groceries down because we had to bring them home in our carts on the bus. The bus home was crowded and as I dragged my cart down the aisle, a wheel came off. There, scattered on the floor of the bus, was a wheel, some washers, and a plastic thing with a wire in it, the spring was rolling around somewhere under the seats. After struggling off the bus with my heavy broken cart, Darla called our husbands. Don was on the computer, we couldn't get him, but her husband came to the rescue. This cart had done this to me before, and now it was obvious that my cart was not up to the job. Darla said that she would take me to were she got her much stronger, better cart. After we put our groceries away, off we went to the Sheruke. The Sheruke is a big open air produce market in town and near by is the shop with the good carts. I, with my new cart, bought the most beautiful oranges and some other produce, the prices there are about a third the price in the grocery store, well worth the trip. We got all the way home on the bus, with a heavy load of produce, and my new cart's wheels stayed on. It's been beautiful here, in the 70s and low 80s. Some times we get an East wind, the wind from the East comes off the Arabian Desert bringing dust with it and dumps the dust on us. Wind from the West is nice (in the summer) and brings cool air from the Mediterranean. In winter the West wind brings rain and storms. 

More later....... 

Shalom..........Bernice

The semester is over and Don has been restless. He found an archeological dig near by and volunteered. He will start in a week or so. I found out about a school for the arts up on Mount Scopes that teaches silver smiting, but haven't checked it out yet. I need to figure out which bus goes there. The Hebrew class at the YMCA is both fun and difficult. The way words are constructed is logical, much more logical than the English language, and I enjoy figuring out the word from the Hebrew letters. The part I have trouble with is memorizing words. I can read the symbols and figure out what the sounds are, but have no idea what the word means. Memory work has always been hard for me, I do better with logic. Don is working much harder at this than I am and does better at memorizing too. Some times I think, "Why am I doing this? After two years I will have no need for it.), but to see how another language works, is interesting. It's been nice here. Weather is a big issue for us here because, with out a car, we are out walking in it a lot. The temperature has been mostly in the 70s, but some times warmer. During winter, ants would only come into our apartment when we left food out. Now they come in all the time, I think they are looking for water. They aren't very big (they look like flecks of pepper walking around), but, get into everything, and I don't like them. Don sprays, but that doesn't last long.

I wasn't sure if I would tell you this, but decided to, this is an interesting discovery, and also a warning........................If, you are in the shower, happily minding your own business..............and a smart-aleck comes into the room.....................and you get even by directing the shower head over the shower curtain at the smart-aleck....................and the water hits the light bulb, which of course is on........................... there will be a big explosion, and both you and the smart-aleck will be showered with glass. In case you ever encounter this situation, you will know what to expect. More later.............. 

Shalom...................Bernice

The Green Blizzard

Tuesday was Independence Day. In the evening we walked into town to see the celebration, it was 8pm and people were still setting up. At the top and bottom of Ben Yehuda Street were musical groups, in between tables were being set along the street to sell stuff. Groups of kids were squirting each other and, anyone who got close, with Silly String and snow in a can, they had oversized inflated hammers and were bonking each other on the head. The young boys were mostly after the pretty girls, and the girls were concentrating on the boys. It was fun to watch, we only got hit a few times. We went into a sweet shop and had a pastry and coffee and watched out the window as the crowd grew. More and more people came by with greater and greater amounts of Silly string and snow on them, it began to look like a blizzard out there. We left the sweet shop and headed straight for one of the tables selling the white ammunition. We needed a can for self defense, besides we might see some of the kids from school and needed to be prepared. Also florescent tubes (like the ones they sell on the Fourth of July) were being sold, some of them were about an inch long, and fit nicely in the mouth, we each got a green one. I found that if you kept your mouth shut until some one was right in front of you, and then made a big green florescent smile, you could get all kinds of reactions, some times a laugh, and some times a spray with snow. Sure enough, there was the group from the school, we got up close to them and then smiled our big green smiles. It's hard to explained what happened next, but soon we all looked like snow men, and were slipping and sliding on the white goo all over the ground. Soon anyone on the street was either spraying and bonking, or being sprayed and bonked. It didn't matter if you knew them or not, if you were there, you were fair game. After wandering around and talking, and spraying, and bonking, we started home. About half way home, BANG! BOOM! FLASH! Fire works! There was a wall to sit on and we watched the show, then continued to make our way home. It was after 11pm and I was tired and sticky, the snow on us had "melted" and all that was left was sticky goo in our hair, and on our face and clothes. Shower time! About midnight I was in bed and heard more fire works going off but was too tired to get up and go to the roof to watch. Music could be heard coming from all directions around the city. I was so tired the sound didn't even bother me...........Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z ........

Shalom..........Bernice

Athens

Here are some of the pictures we took in Athens:

#1 The city from our 14th floor balcony. 

#2 There are magazine stands on every block. They are for buying magazines, candy, bus tickets, ect. The person inside the stand has only a little hole to look through, about all you can see is half his face and his hands when he gives you change. In this picture the woman is talking to the man in the hole. 

#3 The Parthenon, at The Acropolis, the crowning achievement of Greek architecture, was built between 447 and 432 B.C. 

#4 The theatre of Herodes Atticus, at The Acropolis, is again being used for performances of drama. The stage of the theatre was decorated with statues and niches and colored marble during the time of it's first use.

We started a class in Hebrew at the YMCA last night, it will be two evenings a week for three months. The teacher said that if after 3 months, if we don't feel confident to go on to the next level, we could take this class again at no cost. I'm afraid that I may be her first student to take Beginning Hebrew for two years straight. We have been asked to join the police!!! Well not actually the police, more like Civil Patrol, would you believe Neighborhood Watch? This is called Civil Patrol but works like Neighborhood Watch and we will get to ride around the neighborhood in a police car sometimes. This is one of the nicer neighborhoods and car thieves like to come here for the good pickens. Car theft is a big problem in this city. Today is Independence day, there are mobs of people in the park across the street and it looks like a ceremony of some kind is going on. There has been Israeli flags all over the city for the last week, cars and even bussed have flags on them. Tonight some of the streets in town will be closed off to cars and busses and people will be out celebrating, there will also be fire works. The fire works could be seen from our balcony, but we may walk into town and check out the celebration. Well, I guess I had better do some laundry before we run out of underwear, laundry.........how boring !! More later.................Shalom..................Bernice

 

I attached the wrong picture of the magazine stand, this one has a guy in it.

Rhoads pictures

These are some of the pictures we took in Rhoads:


#1 The view from our balcony


#2 Me at one of the antiquity sites that is on a cliff overlooking
the Mediterranean.


#3 Don, in a wind mill from the Roman period


#4 I took this at an antiquity suite in the hills of Rhoads, I'm
going to do a painting from it.


Shalom..................Bernice

Shopping

Yesterday was Shabot, the stores were closed, but since we were out of fresh fruit and vegetables and the Christian Quarter in the Old City would be open with fruit and vegetables, I decided to go there. I figured that I could get along in the old city with out an escort and Don agreed, "Just stay with the crowds, don't go on any streets alone." he said. I could do that. 

As I got close to the Old City Jaffa Gate, I heard drums, inside was a parade and mobs of people. I watched a band of young people march by. More drums coming, another band, it looked like I would be there for a while. I bought a sesame bread ring from a vender, sat down on the wall around King David's Tower to watch and see what was going on. (The bread ring is an oval loop about 12 inches long, with it comes a couple packets of spices, about the size of a packet of Sweet & Low, wrapped in little torn pieces of newspaper, to sprinkle on to the bread as you eat it.) The bands were turning and going down into the narrow street full of shops. There were soldiers at the entrance to the street, they let the bands and a group of people following the bands in to the shopping area but closed the street off to everyone else. More parade coming, this time it was a group of men, they were wearing black robes and hoods that were pointed at the top, (it made me think if the KKK in black sheets) and as they walked, they tapped their walking sticks on the ground in unison. Step, click, step, click, step, click, down into the shopping area too. I found a soldier who could understand English and asked him about getting into the shops. He said they would be letting people in in about an hour, but I could go around to the Jewish Quarter and get in that way. Off I went, there were enough people swarming about that I didn't have to worry about being alone on one of the back streets. 

There were so many people, in the narrow shop streets that you could look at the things for sale and not even be bothered by the shop owner trying to sell anything and everything to you, he was so busy that he didn't have time to get around to everyone. 

Now I will confess..........my main reason for going to the Old City with out Don was so I could look for beads, with out the "Reluctant Shopper" with me, I could do some serious shopping. Several of the shops have big trays of beads, all kinds of sizes shapes and colors of silver and semi precious stone. What fun !! Jan, you would have loved it !! I bargained and haggled for a price, and got some real great stuff. Then I went down the stinky, yucky, street, where the meat markets are to get the fruit and vegetables I had clamed we needed. I bought the produce (not a lot, produce is heavy and it's a bit of a walk home) and headed for home.

What was all the commotion about? Some people celebrate Easter the same day as we do in The States, others celebrate it the following Sunday, this was either end of Easter or beginning of Easter celebration, most likely beginning of Easter.

That terrible picture of me that Don sent, was me sorting my new beads. More jewelry coming. I've made several pieces and maybe I'll take a picture of them and send them to you. 

Don read this letter and said that I didn't tell about the shop keeper who invited me to the back of his shop, so I will. While I was in one of the shops, the shop keeper said that if I came to the back of the shop with him, he would have a great deal for me. I said "No !". He then said "Don't be afraid, come back with me, I have a great deal to show you." I told him that I would only look at great deals in the front of the shop and if he had something to show me, he could bring it here. He kept talking while I walked out of his shop and into the crowds of people.

That's all for now........................................................

Shalom.............Bernice

Beads

Here is a picture of Bernice that I took this afternoon. She just went to the "Old City" and negotiated with a bead seller. Here she is sorting the beads. I am trying a different way of sending this message. So if you don't receive it let me know. At the suggestion of Anne Marlette I am putting the family and friends as a bcc, which Anne says will remove the power for you to reply to all, or someone to create a SPAM list. Hope this finds you all well.

Don Tuttle

Greece

I like Rhoads and I like Athens too. But first let me tell you why I didn't write before this. Don has several papers due (papers he should have been doing while we were in Greece) and since we have been home has had the computer tied up. This morning he is at school so I have the computer all to myself.

Thursday evening we were at the Tel Aviv Airport, but found that luggage couldn't be checked in until morning, so, since there were no good candy or cigar cases to sleep in, off to a hotel for the night. While waiting for our flight Friday morning, we began to realize that "Yes! Of coarse, this is spring break!", a group of college kids was swelling ( the group, not the kids) and swelling, and swelling. The flight consisted of mostly college kids, only about a dozen of us weren't, (actually I should say 11 weren't, Don is a student on spring break too). After the stewarded gave her instructions about oxygen masks and life jackets, the group on the plane applauded and whistled as if it was the best performance they had ever seen. When the plane lifted off, another applause, and then again when the plane touched down. These kids were ready for a big time. It seems the students from the main land go to the islands for spring break and the kids from the islands go to the main land.

In Rhoads we were in a fourth floor condo with a balcony that looks out over the beach and the Mediterranean. The weather was mild, some times overcast, and one day it rained. In a little blue rented Fiat with a sun roof and big red and yellow letters on the side that told everyone that this is a rental, we explored the island. Don was interested in all the antiquity sites, and there were many. We went through museums and even a silver factory. The man at the silver factory showed me all his machines and tools, and I was wishing I could live in Rhoads and have access to his shop. I missed my studio.

Rhoads has an Old City. Don was disappointed, he likes the shops which have been out of business for 2000 years, I like the relatively modern ones that are still in business. The Old City was full of tourist shops, I had a great time, Don got bored and went to the car and took a nap.

What I liked best on the Island of Rhoads was the villages we drove through, they are nestled here and there and are both beautiful and charming. The people there seemed very anxious to please the alien, unlike Israel.

Athens is a very big city, our hotel was right in the middle of town, and our room was on the 14th floor. Looking over our very small balcony, the traffic below reminded me of New York, lots of traffic and many yellow cabs. We were able to get around town by walking or taking a city bus.

Greek is much easier to figure out than Hebrew, I guess that's because the alphabet is closer to the English alphabet. Currency was a different matter, there are about 350 dinaro (I know this is spelled wrong) to a dollar. It was confusing to think about lunch costing one or two thousand.

The Acropolis, and antiquate suites were all interesting. As I looked at all the marble statues in the museum, I thought about my life drawing group, "Hi! I miss you!", these models were holding nice and still, but some didn't have arms or had there noses knocked off. Oh well........you can't have every thing.

Each evening Don and I wandered the streets of Athens and found a place to eat dinner. Ha, ha, the stores are open in the evening! Much to Don's dismay, I had to go into stores and shops and see what I could see. There was no car to go sleep in so he endured. I needed Faith, Jan, and Sarah, my shopping buddies, Don's attitude takes some of the fun out of shopping. I wish I could fly over from time to time, even for groceries, Greece has better selection and prices than I find in Israel.

The airport in Athens looks out over the runway, then to buildings, and then to some mountains, Burbank! This reminded me of the Burbank airport. It seemed as though I could walk out of that airport and drive the short distance to Granada Hills and see my kids and grand kids. But alas, I'm on the other side of the world and it would take a lot more than a short drive to see them. 

We got home about midnight on Sunday. I had let my cupboards get empty because of the trip and didn't think about it being Passover when we got back. No food, no markets open, no busses. I felt silly wandering around the city dragging my little basket looking for an open anything that might have food. The only people on the street were dressed in there Shabbat best and looked like they had important places to go. I was in jeans and a T shirt and obviously on a futile mission. I finely found a small shop with meager supplies (over priced) and bought enough to last until Passover passed over. I had begun to think our only choices for food was to hike to the school cafeteria, or the Christian Quarter of the Old City for meals. Meager meals at home are better than either of those choices.

I really enjoy hearing from you even if it is to say " Hi, I'm still here." A friend reminded me that I haven't been very good about writing individual letters, I plan to do better and answer all mail.

Shalom..............Bernice

On to Greece

Tomorrow we leave for Greece. Our flight leaves early in the morning on Friday from Tel Aviv. Because it might be hard to get a sharoot (taxi) at 2:00am Friday morning, we decided to go to Tel Aviv Thursday night, check our luggage, and then wait for our flight in the airport. Jan, maybe we will find a candy or cigar case to sleep in (if you haven't heard that story, ask Jan). Six days will be spent in Rhoads and then on the way back we will stop in Athens for three days. I've never been to Greece and am very excited about this trip.  

Oh, by the way, my hair has been growing out and was looking awful. The part I like to be short was getting long and the part I like to be longer was still too short. I needed a shaping. I was told about a shop near The King David Hotel but couldn't find it.

There are a couple of shops around there and I kept walking past them trying to decide if I was ready to risk an other try. "Do you speak English?", just going in and asking the question was a start.

They spoke English and seemed to understand what I wanted so I went for it. GOOD JOB, GOOD CUT!!! Now I know where to go, he got a big tip.

Off to do laundry and pack.....................

Talk to you in 10 days...................

Shalom.............Bernice

Machpelah

In spring the power for hot  water is turned off and we switch to solar power.  That is fine until you have an over cast day and have to take a cool shower.  Sunday it rained here and was over cast most of the day, when we got home from our field study and got into the shower, we realized the importance of sunshine.  Our shower was invigorating.  Rain this time of the year is called Latter Rain as mentioned in the Bible,  it is important for summer growth of wheat, figs, and grapes.     June through August  there is no rain and then Early Rains start in September.  The heaviest season for rain is December through February.

A field study for graduate students had been arranged for Sunday and we went.  The whole day was spent at Tel Lachish with Dr. Barkay.  Dr. Barkay is the most amazing man, he knows every rock and crevice in Jerusalem,  and in all of Israel,  he’s a wealth of information and  had worked at this suite for over 10 years.

Saturday was a study with Dr. Notley.   We stopped at the suite of the  Tombs of the Patriarchs, also called Machpelah or double cave.  The suite’s historic background begins in Genesis 23 when Abraham purchased it from a Hittite for 400 shekels of silver.   His wife Sarah, along with Rebecca, Isaac, Leah and Jacob are buried there.  It has not been proven,  but there is a lot of evidence to point to this being the actual place.

Because Machpelah is sacred to both the Moslems and the Jews, half of the building,  that sits over the graves, is for Jews and the Moslems can’t go in.   The other half of the building is for Moslems and the Jews can’t go in,  as Christians,  we can go in either side.  On the Moslem side we all had to take our shoes off and the women had to ware robes with hoods.  The women had to be modestly covered,  but the men didn’t,   is that fair?  While wearing the robes, something accrued to me,  “I hope the person who wore this before me didn’t have head lice”.    I shared my thought with the other girls so we all could worry together.  So far no reports of head lice.

After Machpelah we stopped at a glass factory.  Two men were working,  heating and blowing and shaping the glass.  It was fascinating.  I would love to add an oven to my studio and play with fire and glass.   A number of us purchased pieces from the little shop.  I got a wonderful piece of free form glass sculpture.   Don said that it was a mistake that they put on the shelf hoping that some dumb American would buy it.     Well, this dumb American did, and I just love it.  It is about 18 inches tall and I’m sending a picture of it.

More later................Shalom...............Bernice

#1   Shop across the street from Machpelah.   Notice in the lower left hand corner.....  plastic chair !  ....... 

#2   Us ladies

#3   Glass worker shaping molten glass

#4   My glass sculpture

As he was leaving for school this morning, a soldier asked Don to let him onto the roof,  and  so  Don unlocked the roof door and let him go up.   He said that he would be up there until 6:00pm.  We have no idea why he is there, but I guess it’s OK.   Maybe I should see if he would like a sandwich, all he was carrying was a bottle of soda and a very large gun, an AR16, Don said.

I had another bus adventure, well maybe I should say mishap.  After showing the driver my  pass, I was walking down the isle and putting my pass back into my purse.  The bus lurched forward,  and I fell face down into the lap of a woman.    Fortunately the woman was fat, so I landed in a nice soft spot.   I struggled to my feet and apologized  while she straightened her dress.  She didn’t seem to understand English, but I think she knew that I was apologizing because she made a signal with her hand as if to say “It’s OK!”  I hope that’s what her hand movements meant.

The four day field study to Galilee was exhausting.  Dr. Write pushes us to the limit,  I know that this class is sort of an over view and he is trying to expose us to many places, but we would visit so many places in a day that I had trouble remembering which was what.  Good thing I don’t have to take a test  like the others or I would fail miserably.

One of the things that stands out about this trip is the boat ride on the Sea of Galilee.  It was a beautiful day,  and the boat man told us about casting nets and gave us a demonstration on how to use them.  The  evening before  we left, we had a camp fire on the beach, sang songs and roasted marshmallows.    I guess they were marshmallows, they were called marshmallows, they caught on fire like marshmallows,  they tasted almost like marshmallows, but they looked strange.    Any way,  we had a good time.

At one of the antiquity sites  Dr. Write was giving his lecture while we grouped around him sitting on the rocks.   Something was crawling on my arm,  I screamed and knocked it off.  The boy in back of me had put a worm on my arm.  It was about 6 inches long and had many  legs,  maybe a centipede.  After the lecture, he (the boy not the centipede) apologized.   I said  “That’s OK, now I have something to write home about”.

On the last day of this field study,  we stopped at a hot spring.    The water flowed into three large pools.  SWIM TIME !!!

There were rocks that hung over one of the pools and the students were diving and jumping off of the rocks into the water.  Don and I decided to join in the fun.   As we began to climbed up the rock, the students cheered and ran for their cameras.    Don dived in first, and as they were all chanting  Ber—nice,   Ber—nice,   I leaped into the air and fell into the deliciously warm water.    It was refreshing to spend some time playing at the end of this very busy day.

The bus went right by the diamond factory in Tuberous but, didn’t stop.   Oh well ........

The next two days after this field study was spent recovering.  I was completely worn out,  that’s why I didn’t write,  too tired to think.

More later.............Shalom ..........Bernice