Final Day at Omrit

So today was our final day at the site and on the kibbutz. I am sad to leave, but on the other hand I am ready to go home and see my family and friends in the states. Here are some final photos of squares and the banquet at the end of the day.
















Part of the square that Nanette excavated earlier in the season.














Greg's square pose for a picture in their square on the final day with their final product. From eft to right Jordan, Nancy, Carli, Lindsay, Mark, Kaylen, and Greg.















Amy's square goofs off on the final day. From left to right, Joey, Amy, Becca, Richie, and Jordan, in the front, Tracey.















Andy gives a speech at the pool at the last day banquet.















Andy and Dan look on as Greta says a few words.

A note to viewers...

I have lots of awesome pictures of the last couple days in the field, the last of which was today. I will try to post some pictures later tonight, but at this point I am not quite sure if it will actually happen. Just a warning. Also, we leave for Jerusalem tomorrow, and I am not sure if there will be internet there. If that is the case, I will post when I get back into the states.

Just thought I'd let you, my faithful readers know what the deal is!

Sepphoris and Nazareth

Our latest Sunday adventure brought us to the site of Sepphoris and the city of Nazareth. Above: a church in Nazareth, the Church of the Annunciation. P.S. I totally had another picture of this church, but it some how got lost....




















Sepphoris! It had beautiful balks.















The Mona Lisa of Galilee!














A view of the waffle-ness that is Sepphoris.

Tel Hai dialog group

A group of students at Tel Hai college, which is across the Hula valley from where we are, has an on going dialog group about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. This group includes students from all side of the conflict. We invited them to come and talk at the Kibbutz, and a week later, we went to Tel Hai and sat in on a class. Both of these experiences were very interesting, as we got to see the conflict from so many different perspectives. Above: some students talking at the kibbutz.















Dan mingling with a student from Tel Hai.















Students, American, Hewbrew, and Muslim, listen to the discussion.
















All the students sit in a circle around the rug.















All the students mingling in the new campus of Tel Hai.

Tel Dan

Today was our day off. There was no real excursion planned, but many people went to Tel Dan which is nearby. I thought it was quite beautiful. There was much history and nature. There was a fantastic wading pool, and many quaint trails.




















At Tel Dan. One way goes towards paradise, the other Winnie the Pooh tree.















Ancient Tel Dan. The Israeli gate.















Kate in the wading pool.

Below: The pool at the kibbutz, and the road to it. It is a very nice pool.

More fire!

The site from the road. The site is completely surrounded by fire damage.















Jake, Grace, and Clare walking to the site one afternoon.

Below: storks, by the hundreds, fly over the site after the fire.

Fire!

So yesterday evening, long after we were done digging for the day a fire broke out near the site. Luckily, the site was, for the most part, untouched by the flames. The ash almost completely surrounds the site and we are lucky that damage wasn't at all extensive. Here are some pictures of the fire, before and after it reached the site. This morning, as to poor air conditions, we only went out for about an two or three hours. Some will go out later this afternoon. I will take another picture like the second one below after the fire.















Smoke from the kibbutz.















The fire not quite at the site yet. (The site is located at the small darker spot to the left of the large tree.)
















The extent of the fire.















The charred landscape.















The site with ash between the squares.

Gnats.

Our site, including surrounding cities, and kibbutzes, is at the height of gnat season. That's right readers, those small seemingly harmless insects have just about taken over the lives of your loved ones over in Israel. Did you know that they bite? Yeah. Not fun. They are especially bad in the morning, when there is no breeze to deter them. Unfortunately, that is the exact time that we all have to dig. This does, however, make for some very interesting outfits in attempt to hide from these awful insects. Above is most of the square lead by Amy. From left to right: Becca, Richie, Tracy, Amy, and Joey.





















Clare shows off her technique for keeping the gnats off.




















Jordan from Macalester covers up.














Another amazing outfit by Clare.




















Jake takes a moment from working to show off his head covering.

Bet She'an

The big purple bus at ancient Tiberius.
















Bet She'an.















Part of the HUGE theater at Bet She'an. It was three stories high, but only one remain.















Part of the group sitting on the ancient latrines.
















A sunset over the Sea of Galilee.

On Sunday we traveled to Bet She'an, an other archaeological site, about an hour and a half south of where we are staying. There was so much to see there and I would have loved to spend much more time there. We only had about 2 and a half hours there. Gaby gave us a tour as he had worked on the site for many years. On the way there we stopped at the ancient city of Tiberius and saw one of the Roman gates. On the way back, there was a fantastic sunset over the Sea of Galilee.

More places we have been

Capharnum: the City of Jesus.















The 2000 year old Jesus Boat. www.Jesusboat.com!















The Sea of Galilee!


Sorry for not posting yesterday. We had a very busy day visiting Bet She'an. I will post those just as soon as I load them from my camera to my computer.

In the meantime here are photos from more places we have been, as my computer ran out of batteries before I was able to load them the other day.

Places we have been

Banias waterfall.





















Banias.

















Lindsay and Kate at Ceaserea Maritima.





















Your author, Becca, at the Mediterranean Sea, where the group went swimming.
















Akko.

More pictures to come!

A group photo

The whole group poses for a photo.

The Kibbutz

A couple of the rooms that we are staying in at the Kibbutz.















Gabby gives a talk to the group about the Palestinian Israeli conflict before dinner.















The dining hall at night during the Shavuot Festival.















A sunset from the dining hall.















The dining hall.