Updateontoday

So the corn... nasty. Artery clogger; there was a pool of butter at the bottom of the cup. I couldn't finish it and think I took a few years off my life span. But I finally got into my room, and there's a towel! I just finished packing up all my stuff, and am about to head to the beach with some zagorka. It wont be the same without everyone, but I'll do my best to make things right.

Last day in Varna - and Eastern Europe

Well I'm finishing where I started, only five weeks later. Its been fun. Being the last one left out here isn't quite as much fun, but I'm eating all the shopska I can for everyone who's missing out. I may finally drop the 2 lev on side-of-the-road corn I've passed up so many times. Its not quite one of those blistering hot Varna days I'm used to, but the entire road in front of dear Hotel Astra is getting torn up. Luckily in Bulgaria there are no safety standards, so you can walk through the construction zones willy nilly. I'll try to catch a glimpse of the water before I head to the airport, but I dunno if I'm gonna make it in - I have no towel, and being wet for my flights home probably isnt the best idea. I guess that'll have to wait until next time.

Another twelve hours until its time for me to head out. I really have no idea what I'm going to do for the rest of my stay. Waltz around, all alone, I guess. Haha, maybe some zagorka on the beach will do me good. This may be my last check in from this lovely place called Bulgaria. I hope you enjoyed the blog!

I'm sure I'll do some follow up posts; you might here from me at an airport next.

Sending my love to everyone everywhere.

Now from Sofia

Here I am in Sofia, alone in my hostel for the first time in aaaaages. Saw Christine and Kat off at like four in the morning, its gonna be weird after being with them for over a month. Now a little lost and not quite sure what I should do, but whatever - I'll work something out. But to continue on from yesterday...

Arriving in Stara Zagora to some familiar faces was great. We introduced ourselves to the SZ field school team, and they seem aight - nothin special though. I lucked out with my teams I guess. We went out to dinner at a cool Italian resteraunt all ancient themed and stuff, then went back to our hotel to shower and freshen up, hung out downstairs and caught up with Courteny then went out with a large Balkan Heritage contingent to a cutty club in the pedestrian area. North American cities need to adopt these pedestrian thouroughfares - they kick ass, and people are always walking around no matter the time of night. We got let into the club hastle free when we flashed our California ids - thanks Arnold! The next morning, after a rough start, we hopped on the bus with the rest of the SZ team and drove a little over an hour to Plovdiv, Bulgaria's third largest city. There it looks like peopl actually care about there city - good work Plovdivians! We spen the day roaming, there are old Roman sites all over, some incorporated into modern buildings. Theres a small shopping street that uses the original Roman road, and some of the shops even use remnants of house walls in their product presentations. The Plovdiv old town is what we all agreed we assumed Bulgaria was going to be like. A little hilly, super skinny cobblestone roads surrounded by 19th centery massive homes and buildings. It was incredibly cool, and we all could see ourselves living there. Traditional Bulgarian homes are absolutely incredible, all with walled in garden/courtyards and incredbly detailed painting and woodwork on the buildings. We also got to check out a Roman Ampitheatre as well.

Christine, Kat and I brought our luggage with us to Plovdiv and caught a 6:00 bus to Sophia, and got here around 8 maybe? Saying goodbye to Nayden, Courteny, and Ivan 2 (another Balkan Heritage associate) was no good, but they were incredibly helpful I'm so thankful for all their efforts. After walking around Sofia with all our luggage for a good hour and a half, we finally get pointed in the direction of an almost brand new hostel and find a place to stay for the night. It is very cool, and where I'm typing all this from now. Last night we went out for lots of food at a Pizzeria down the street, then came back and hit the sheets. Its been a long few days, and the girls had to get up super early to catch their flight.

But here I am, ready to see some sights in Sofia, walk around, eat and drink a bit, then catch an overnight bus back to Varna, where my flight leaves from at... I'm not sure exactly, some time in the early morning hours of the 11th. I have to figure that out.

Time for me to sign out here, holpefully catch some of the cool bits in Sofia and continue surviving for just a bit longer. Lots of love to you all.

xoxo

Checking in from Plovdiv

Back in Bulgaria!

We had a great time in Turkey, but by the time we hopped on the bus we were thrilled to be on our way back to the Bulg. However (this was yesterday btw) our trip back to our newly adopted home was a little rough. First we discover the bus leaves at 10:30 rather than nine, which is what we had planned. That was ok though, we were working off maybe two hours of sleep and needed to rest and eat and drink, which we did plenty of in our disoriented states. Here in Bulgaria and in Turkey they serve a bunch of yoghurt and yoghurt drinks - they have a special bacteria in them here that helps kill all those nasty germs that make you sick, so I've been trying to have as much as I can. Anyway after hopping on the bus, which took us to the other side of the city where we caught the actual bus (heading towards Sofia, we were going to get off at Haskovo to catch another bus to our friends excavating a site in Stara Zagora). Well right after we get on the freeway, just on the outskirts of town, our bus dies and we are stranded on the side of the freeway for an hour. Finally a random Mini bus/van comes and picks up us stranded travellers (it was only us and a few older muslim women) and we're back on our slightly more uncomfortable way. Things go relatively smoothly until we hit the border. Things seem fine until we stop at the duty free and one of our drivers runs in and comes out with thousands of cigarettes. He hands out cartons to most of the travellers. All the while everyone is communicating in Turkish, and laughing at the fact that we have absolutely no idea whats going on. At one point in the border crossing (we went through quite a few toll booth things throught the ordeal) when we're off the bus he opens up the floorboards and jams more cigarettes under the floor and seats and such. No, this isnt sketchy at all. Meanwhile I find it hilarious we've somehow managed to land ourselves in the middle of a smuggling ring, but the girls are freaking out. As long as I didn't end up in Bulgarian prison, I was along for the ride. So after a tense hour, which included customs searching our van and opening some floorboards but somehow not finding anything, we made it back onto Bulgarian soil. Never would I have imagined I would be so thrilled to be back in my comfort zone, Bulgaria. We continued on our way, but made quite a few stops to drop off cigarettes to randos at gas stations. Finally we arrive in Haskovo, where a jovial security guard informs us that there are no more busses to Stara Zagora until the next day. Great. Luckily he says his friend can take us in a taxi there for a bit of an inflated price. We have no other options, really, so we say ok lets do it. His friend comes back a few minutes later - but he's no taxi driver. He arrives in an old early 80's Ford Escort hatchback that looks like its been around the block about 10 too many times. Today seems to be the day of sketch, so we're like what the hell and hop in this guys car. The moment we get on the freeway he starts driving about half as slow as he should be, and I realize he's in no rush, and we're probably gonna make it there in one piece. An hour later, we arrive in Stara Zagora where we are able to meet up with Nayden, one of the supervisers from our dig in Varna, and Courteny, one of Balkan Heritage's assistants who was also at Varna. Seeing familiar faces was absolutely incredibly awesome, and we're so thrilled we could see them again.


I've got loads more to tell but I gotta head out, so hopefully I'll remember everything for the next time. I'm heading to Sofia to stay there for the night in a few minutes, and I'll be alond for the first time since the first two days I was in Bulgaria, so I will probably get a chance to update more there, maybe tomorrow.

Until then much love, hope all is well and I can't wait to be home!

xoxo

istanbul!

Made it to turkey after spending a night in Sozopol, a smaller resort town about three or four hours south of Varna. After a confusing seven hour bus ride to the maın bus statıon ın ıstanbul, Chrıstıne, Kat and I managed to catch two dıfferent metros to the maın busy oldtown sectıon of the cıty. Wıth no hostel bookıngs, we were plannıng on walkıng around wıth all our luggage and beggıng each hostel we came across to take us ın. Well about 3 mınutes after walkıng, thıs random nıce-resteraunt-owner asked us ıf we needed help, and began to tell us about the hostels ın the area. Fırst though he sat us down - three dısgruntled, flustered, dırty and confused travellers - to rest ourselves and brought us out some amazıng apple tea. He then mentıoned he had a three story flat that used to house hıs brother that he ıs just begınnıng to renovate and rent out to people - for 45 euro a nıght. Thats how much ıt would have cost us to stay ın a decent hostel, so after quıck delıberatıon we decıded to go for ıt - as slıghtly sketchy as ıt was.

The place ıs amazıng holy moly. We stıll have no ıdea how we ended up wıth such a nıce base. For yasmeen, mom, dad and those who have been there, ıts lıke a mınıature versıon of our spot ın Cruzy. Small old sıde street, super skıny, fırst floor bedroom lounge area, second floor lıvıng room lounge kıtchen bathroom, thırd floor master bedroom wıth massıve bed. Its amazıng. We have no ıdea how we ended up there. And we get free breakfast at the nıce resteraung rahım(the owner guy) owns. We feel ıncredıbly fortunate.

And the Turkısh! After comıng here, we have realızed most bulgarıans truly are assholes. The turks have been so amazıngly helpful sınce we landed ıt,s been ıncredıble. Istanbul ıs amazıng - thıs cıty ıs wonderful. We are goıng to be stayıng for two more nıghts so we hope to get the most ou of ıt - even though we dont really know what we are doıng. We know we wıll at least be enjoyıng our humble abode.

Thats all for now, I wıll do my best to get more ın soon.

stay up xoxo

So I apologize for the break from blogging, but boy have I been kept busy. A lot has been going on. Finished up the first week of session 2, its been pretty good. Did a bunch of digging of course, got to know a some more of the students better its been fun. Friday night, the three other students who stayed and I took a fun little bus trip down the coast a few hours to a small city named Sozopol, which was amazing. Its pretty small (even though it blows up during the summer) and the hotel we stayed in was absolutely incredible when compared to the one we stay in at Varna. We went out for dinner at a nice restaurant, which was fun even though our waitress was way off her rocker and we got ripped off, but then hung out on our balcony, from which we had an awesome view of one of the sweetest coves I've ever seen. Afterwords cruised down the bech with a friend, which had the softest, finest sand I've walked in for ages, and walked along part of a super old sea wall fortress wall thing. It was a really cool city, and after only spending one night there I really want to go back during my week of travels after I finish session two.

^ That was an a quick draft I wrote and meant to post a few days ago, but unfortunately I didn't get around to it. Now I'll try to add some more.

Tomorrow is my last day on the site. After four weeks! I'm sad to see it go. It has been one hell of a time. Most recently, yours truly (with help of course) managed to find and uncover two graves! It was incredibly weird and exciting. We found the first grave, in my square, because the was a "negative structure" evident from a rectangle (maybe 4 x 10) of brown, softer soil in the level of hard, lighter (color) limestoney soil. We fond it at the end of the day, so we had to cover it with different dirt for the night so looters wouldn't dig it up in our absence. The next day we cleared it, took a picture for the records and I began digging down just where that soil was. About a meter down I hit two rows of large foundation rocks lining the sides. That was one of the most exciting moments of the whole thing! There actually is something down there. Then another half-meter down, after more careful dirt removal a skeleton appeared. Success! That was my first foray into gravedigging and it was epic.

Then the second grave I found in the square next to me (a few days ago). After digging down in a grave shape once again I found these few random bricks about 2 meters deep (under an old turkish kiln, but thats another story). These were surrounded by random holes, which just vanished into darkness. That was incredible to uncover after a hard days digging. Today we tried to excavate it more, and we created a big enough hole for someone to put a camera in and snap a picture. There's an empty chamber in under the tiles, and more lined foundation stones like the other grave! It's super eerie to see all that hollow space under maybe 8 feet of dirt? Really exciting though, and I loved playing such sweet parts in the discoveries.

The other part of my field school for the past two weeks consisted of drawing the artifacts we found, and imputing them into the official site book, which will eventually be added to the permanent museum record and presented at conferences and such. The other student who have been here fore all four weeks and I have been doing that every day from about 3:30 to 5:30. Its been really sweet to be able to add our own workmanship to the record books. Today was our last day of drawing though, and on our way out we found our site directer sitting at the museum cafe, so we sat down with him for some coffee. Turns out we were at the staff tables, which sit on 3rd century roman table posts! I want to work at a museum more and more now - I cant wait! Hopefully it goes down.

I'm sorry this is all I have time for at the moment, but I hope all is well wherever you are.

Sending lots of love and i can't wait to see you all in a bit over a week.

stay up out there xo

session one is done

Well the first period of field school varna is now over - what a trip it is making out to be! Only three other students are continuing the dig at Djanavara Hill with me for the next few weeks, and we're excited to see what the new students will bring to the table. I wish i could walk you through all that has been happening here, but alas I can't remember everything and I would have nothing left to share when I'm done.

Last night, the last scheduled activities of our crew, was a blast. One of the directors, Vasco, had us all over for a Bulgarian bbq in the garden of his family apartment building, and it was fantastic. Drinks and food a plenty, everyone was in good spirits at the end of the session and fun was had by all. Afterwards we headed to the top of possibly the tallest building in Varna, the 15th floor of a hotel/casino which housed a Bar with a panoramic view of the city. Partying with everyone was a blast, sharing drinks and the dance floor with true archaeologists was some of the most fun I've had. Minchev is a beast.

Everyone who isn't staying is gone now, today was spent soaking in the sun, relaxing reading, taking a break from activities. A very necessary day, time to recuperate and catch up on some sleep. The new kids should be arriving tomorrow, maybe tonight so I'm excited to see what my new roommates are like. I had a blast with the last guys and hope the new ones are at least half as cool.

I've been getting away from the hotel for some meals as of late, and have finally experienced some true bulgarian cuisine. Its sensational. I've always enjoyed chicken, but its not something I'd typically the first thing I'd order. Here however, its amazing. A new found love for poultry, I have. They do something here that makes the birds taste golden. Mixed with some mushroom sauce, its heaven. And I'm also realizing how much I love cucumbers and tomatos. I mean I always new I did, but a national dish here is shopska (no clue on spelling) salad, which consists of just cucumbers and tomatos. We eat it at least once or twice a day. I love it - used to hate on it, but no longer.

The computer will not recognize the photos on my camera, so photos unfortunately may have to wait. I finished reading the lemon tree today - get that book! Especially you bums who are too lazy to learn anything about Israel and Palestine. Now on to Portrait of Dorian Gray, we'll see if I can handle Mr. Wilde.

Thats all for now, another will come soon enough!

Almost halfway through already?

Well the last two weeks pretty much flew by; it felt like nothing. Well my back wold argue with that, but it does not seem like that much time at all. The dig is progressing as swell as ever, we've had some pretty sweet finds. On wednesday, my team in square 11 found three "notable items"! One was an old dime sized copper Roman Imperial coin, from 2nd or 3rd century a.d. Another was a fibula" which was the old school monks' equivilent to a safety pin - it held their robes together near their shoulders. Then again at the end of the day we found a small bone fragment the size of a cigarrete, three target symbol inscriptions and small lines near the end. Apparently it may once have been attatched to a knife or fork or basically anything.

Since then not a lot to report, we've been digging deeper centimeter by centimeter through our square. Although now we need our wheelbarrow inside the square, so we have to maneuvore it up a skinny two by four, 15ish feet long up and out of the square. Full of dirt and stone. An we're using wheelbarrows that appear to be the same ones used in the original ecavations at the beginning of the 20th century. Every trip up our makeshift ramps becomes the hardest challenge of my life (not quite, but damn you have to focus). I am getting a little tanned and toned as well. hah. I can't wait to get back on my bike and see how these newly strengthened muscels correlate to the trails.

I went out to a club last night - I forgot the name of it but their wednesday night parties are called "black party" because is the only party when rap music is played in varna. Quite the racist endeaveur but it was fun to hear so many california shout outs during the music. A little taste of my home(s). People are also sexist here as well, so its fun to hear "politically correct" American girls complain about not being given a shot at the pickaxe or wheelbarrow, only to try themselves and fail miserably. There's a reason men do all the hard work beezies. We've had some workshops this week as well, I learned to do technical srawing of pieces of pottery as well as cultural items, which is prety much anything. I'm not the best, and it can take me a while, but with dedication I could see myself pulling off quite the catalog of pieces.

Oh and lunch today consisted of chopped cucumbers with dill, potato salad, and mashed potatoes and a brick sized chunk of fried cheese. It was pretty good other than the cheese. I couldn't keep a straight face. But I'm going to get dnner at a bulgarian resteraunt suggested by a varna local tonight, so I'm excited to get stocked up on some great eats. And drinks. All the clubs and lots of bars are on the beach, so I've spent a few nights socializing with my feet in the sand and a beer in my hand.

Tomorrow is the last day of work for the first group of kids, who have been fun to get to know. Two are staying in varna for the next two weeks as well, so we'll be leading the pack. I'm excited!

Well thats all for now - and I'm sorry but, my days are becoming more efficiently spent, and thus packed, so making it onto the internet is getting harder and harder, but I'll do my best to keep you updated, and soon figure out some photos. I should probably be taking more as well, I'll try to hop on that.

Hope everyone is continuing to enjoy their julys as much a I am, I miss you all, and wish I could be sharing this fun with you.

Muco Amor

Hello (with the noise from the throat)

First day of week two! Pretty similar so far. Well, kinda. A new Bulgarian guy worked on our square today, and we were missing Teo. We're not sure what he was thinking; our square is royally f'ed. but it's ok, there's nothing a vew hours of heavy lifting wont fix. except for maybe the old stone wall that may now be in shards... but we all make mistakes right?

I broke camera number two oday, but luckily snagged a Bulgarian from our group to come with me to the camera shop and she managed to get me a knew one free of charge. I'm cery thankful for headstrong bulgarian women. In this case, at least. Last night was spen partly on old (artificially looking) pirate ship on the black sea. It was windy but warm, and we had a blast with our crew and team of directors. A highlight was deffinitely leading a line dance in circles around the boat, and grabbing Minchev, getting him to join in. Minchev continues to go above and beyond, and is my idol.

I never write anything that I think I'll want to write on my blog down, assuming I'll remember it when I'm in front of a computer. That never happens.

I forgot to mention one day we heard voices come on over loudspeakers, while we were at work at the site. The Bulgarians said the city was testing a new attack warning system. Attack warning? This country is more and more like Goldeneye on N64 every day.

I walked around the city a bit more after work today - lit some candles at the original varna cathedral, walked the a souvenir bazar where they sold any kind of bladed weapon you wanted (note: don't get in a fight with any bulgarians), and happened upon some ancient roman baths (which is what we guessed they were).

Not sure where this one's going, but soon I'll be back

xoxo

Internet cafe with Jo, after failed attempt at cococabana

Today we went on an adventure in Bulgaria. We actually got to see more of the county than just russian mofia and clubs. First we went to Pobriti Komani, a stone forest with magical energy powers. I climbed a really not so tall rock post thing and i did feel the energy. They were formed hella long ago, similarly to stalagmites and stalagtites, ecept possibly in sand millions of years ago. There is also a therory that these rocks were formed under water, and they hella reminded my coworkers of the palace in the little mermaid. This place is about thirty minutes away from Varna. We took a sweet white mercedes van to get there with comfortable seats that reclined.

So after the magical rocks we left to continue our tour and saw mosaics in a mosaic musuem in a third century roman town named after the emperors sister. The mosaics were sweet. They were still partially intact with some color, and the museum was set up in the old house so that you walked through the roman's house and saw them that way. The house was next to an original old roman road that had the ridges from the carriages and the channel for the waste still intact. I walked on this roman road and felt connected to the pagan romans that lived there centuries before.

Then we went to lunch the most random place in the world. It was at a spring that was once considered sacred because a golden goblet that was dropped into the spring magically reappered out of the water and onto the surface, it was considered an act by the Gods. We had lunch while watching a poor monkey struggle with his chain that was attached to an umbrella. This place was unquestionably run by the mafia. It had way too many barn yard animals and wierd decorations, including but not limited to the monkey. The lunch was decent but made better when the monkey started harrassing young children.

After lunch we went to the Maderas unesco heritage site where we saw: an instcription of a horse man/ king on the large rock wall as well as a few different pagan stone fortresses as well as the foundations of a christian bascillca from the late antiquity. I also walked barefoot through another energy field by what was once a sacred large rock that happened to be destryoed by stone workers around the first world war. I was impressed.

I took lots of pictures through out the day but dont have my cord with me so i cant upload them. We had meat for dinner for the first time in quite a while, it was american style with "freedom fries". And then i went to the beach and chilled with the coolest person in the world.

Tomorrow we are going on a boat cruise which we are stoked for! It is on a pirate ship, possibly.

until then, much love

Rainy

Played with the trowel some more today! However, after break (10 - 10:30) we were inundated with some torrential downpours. Before that I continued to dissect what is most likely a toppled over wall, which really isn't the most interesting thing in the world, but its cool enough. Our site is maybe about half a mile out of a suburb that looks suspiciously like Tijuana, and there is a dirt road that strolls right next to the church. Early in the morning we saw three horse drawn carriages prancing down the road further into the forest. A little later, two of them came back, full of wood, and being escorted by a motorcycle cop and forest rangers (70's civic looking car). Turns out they were gypsies being arrested! Bulgarians seem to hate on gypsies a bunch, well a ton - I guess they're not the most popular crowd. But at least one of them was clever enough to escape with a cart full of wood in the middle of the forest! Not sure how that works out, but whatever. The cops and forest service are at our site everyday, mostly just hanging around, smoking cigarettes and visiting with our crew for a bit. I also forgot to mention earlier that we've had a bit of media coverage as well. Our first day, a local news station came out to film a segment, interviewing some of our directors and workers and such, and we watched it on the nightly news the next day. I think yours truly may have been captured in the background swinging a hoe. We've also already been in a few newspaper articles, presenting an overview of sites getting excavated in Bulgaria.

More on the site... like I said it's a little out of town, but there's a paved road that goes almost right by it, and on our way to and fro there's always an older woman or two hobbling along, sometimes with a dog or cat to god knows where. The church is pretty rundown, the foundations are underground, and the walls stand no taller than... four or five feet in some spots. The area is surrounded by forest, which I just found out was planted by the original excavator in the early 1900's. The area used to be bare, but when he died and no one looked after the site, the trees spread, and now almost 100 years later you cant see an end to them!

Also, Varna has millions (not quite, but almost) of stray dogs and cats. Everywhere. They're really dirty, but seem nice enough. A few of the dogs have red tags on their ears, which are put there when they are immunized (I don't think that's the right word). They seem pretty ballsy too, I've seen a few jump out in the road and bark at cars flying past like mad. The cats seem to have it a bit more rough, they all look really skinny and scared and a bit helpless.

Dinner's coming up, I'm hoping for some substantial food. Lunch consisted of some sort of cabbage and oil dish... on bread it wasn't too bad. With a bunch of pepper and some salt at least.

I'm glad to hear the parents made it to france and are having fun. And I have a cell phone here, although I'm not quite sure how to use it, but if anyone wants to give me a shout or whatevs, please try! 0886589609 later gators

Thunder

Digging in the dirt is great! After dayy... four I see the tediousness of it, but that's to be expected. Yesterday, in another square, we found our first old coin, from the 6th century. The only thing I could read was a "K" on one side, which was the Byzantine numeral for 20 - so it was a 20 Byzantine dollar coin, which, according to Minchev, you could get a dinner for back then. Today my group started working on our actual square, rather then the one next to it nearest the wall of the church. So many roof tiles! I believe I was a bit too aggressive with the hoe on occaision, and shattered a few, but we're not saving every little thing and no one seems to mind. I still feel a little bad about it though. There's remnants of what could've been a wall, spaced about 8m from the church wall in our square, which could've been another barrier, further pointing to an interestingly fortified church.

In my first week we've had three pretty gnarly thunderstorms, with some of the loudest weather I've ever heard. So much for rare rains in July!

The food here has been interesting. We're stayin at a pretty cheap hotel, and eating all our meals at the hotel. They're testing us out to see if they will open a resteraunt. I think there's like two old bulgarian women making all our food. So they seem like homey recipes, but made with cheap frozen products from safeway. It's not exactly what I was expecting, but it's still alright nonethelless. It's fun because typically each meal has three dishes, a soup, a salad, a dip, and the main course, and then dinner has desert. Had some rice rolled in cabbage today, as well as potato soup. Had some sort of shepard's pie for dinner last night. Lots of times I can't identify the meat, which is kinda scary, but it's cool tasting new things.

The nightlife seems to be the main drawing point to Varna, and I haven't been getting out that much so hopefully soon that will change. I can't wait to be off prednisone! The poison oak is doing really better though.


Hope all is well wherever you are! xoxo

Quick update...

So don't have very much time here, but now at the end of night two! Today was less exciting, more strenuous, blah blah blah but I'm still having a blast. Found a big slab of marble today, about the size of a square dinner plate. Minchev (the museum's director) said it came from Turkey and is probably a floor tile, like the ones used in the altar area of the church. Sweet! We had a lecture today in the museum about the Byzantium, up until about the late antiquity (8th century?) and we learned about Christianity's transformations throughout the time, and how the church at the site we're excavating came about, and was then raised by the invading Slavs. It was pretty cool being able to make connections between the classroom and the worksite. We got seperated into our groups today, and the squares we're gonna be working on for two weeks; its me, girl from davis, girl from NZ but originally from Bulgaria, Bulgarian student, and a Bulgarian Theo with a master's in underwater archaeology, who is in his 30's maybe? I learned some Bulgarian today too, asking the Bulgarians how to say things is pretty much the only communication we can clearly make. I have confidence it will get better though, and it's been fun learning to count to five, and say things like shovel, pickaxe, hoe, trowel, etc. Lots of digging! Ok I think my time is runnning out, sorry about no pictures, I'll get that together eventually. Stoked for tomorrow! digging in 7 hours... yes! haha until next time

The work begins...

Today was our first day at the site, and what a day it was! It turns out we're excavating actual ruins believe it or not. The site is about 15 minutes outside of town, out in a clearing in a forestry area. I'd like to explain everything I learned about the church, its context, and well pretty much everything I've learned, but I feel like I would lose a lot of readers, nor do I remember everything, so I'll try to give the lay of the land as best as I can.

We are working on the site with a group of Bulgarian students as well. Today was the first day of the season at the site, so we were the first to break into the ground in a year. What a rush! Not really, but it was pretty exciting. Our directors/leaders/advanced/experienced excavators/etc were oozing enthusiasm, and that certainly helped move the work along. You can plainly see the foundation/walls of the main church building, which consists of the nave, altar (situated towards the east), and four rooms at each corner. This church was built in the fifth and sixth centuries, which falls in the late antiquity period. It's style is unique to the area, as well as it's large, thick walls. It is assumed, by the people we work with who have been working there for the past 7 seasons, that since it was situated outside the city of Odessos (Varna's name back in the day) it had to be fortified and provide some of its own defenses.

Anyway we started digging/clearing out the land on the other side of the wall behind the apse, where our directors believed there could be more buildings that would form a complex complementing the church. A good thirty of us went to work on the dirt covering an area of around 15 meters by 40 meters (pretty random guess and it wasn't in a rectangle, but my best guess of the area), all with shovels, pickaxes, and hoes. I had a pickaxe, and within the first few minutes had already come across some pottery from the 6th century, the time the church was built! Throughout the day, I manged to come across a ton of basic pottery shards, some bigger pieces ( maybe like 3in x 4in) of pottery coated in a black laquer, other pieces decorated with lines, as if a fork was run through it while it was being spun, and even another piece that had some old cyrillic looking letters on it. When I asked the director about them, he was really stoked, and shared the hype with me, explaining that they were exciting finds from the same period as the church, and came from those big, 2 handled jugs that were used to transport wine, olive, oil, and even nails. I was already having a blast! We also had to clear out lots of big tree roots, which took up a lot of time. We worked from about 8:15 to 10:30, then took a 30 minute break. After the break we went back to clearing, except this time I moved further away from the wall, starting to dig a bit more finely than just hacking away at dirt. Earlier in the day i realized I may had inadvertantly started destroying a yet-uncoverred wall, so I was kinda worried I'd screw something else up. Anyway after a bit of clearing in this one section, I came across a few bricks lying in a row, which lined up with a few other bricks discovered further down, which means its the wall to more rooms built adjacent to the main building. Once the director and leader guys saw, they were ecstatic! I haven't seen anyone that excited in a very, very long time. It was practically gold to them. They said they would've been incredibly pleased to find this after possibly the first ten days, and never expected to the first afternoon. It was so cool to be a part of it. The girl I was working with and I were just like "uhh.. sweet!" and were so stoked that it seemed like we made a big discovery. Deffinitely getting the archaeologist juices flowing. After a bit more clearing, and no other supstantial finds, we were done for the day, around one. The typical labor I'm used to is working allllll day in mexico, so I couldn't believe we weree jsut stoping. I felt like I could go until nightfall. But alas, I do as I'm told. We returned to the hotel for lunch, after which I picked up a new camera before our next get together, at the Varna archaeological Museum. Be prepared for pictures in the coming posts.

We got to see more of the museum than previously, which impressed me more than I expected. They've got some really good stuff in there, including the oldest gold trinkets/jewelry/etc, which came from prehistory (before writing), from a pre-Thracian culture. The Bulgarians are very proud of their old gold. We also say some pots that were exactly like the pieces of pottery I had discovered at the dig, so it was cool to make that connection. We were guided through the museum by Vasco, one of the PhD candidates we work. He's an incredibly educated guy, and is super nice and fun to be around and ask questions; just an all-around nice guy.

After the museum, headed to the beach with like... eight girls? I guess I can thank my sister and family in Michigan for giving me my patience with them females. The girl to guy ratio here is rediculous, like four or five to one. The beach wasn't sunny, bt was warm and humid. I got in the water for the first time, and... it's not the best. You need to get through a bit of nastiness the first few feet, then are just swimming, around in something that deffinitely feels toxic. But I'm blessed with the simple ability to get over such things, and enjoyed the warm temperature, deadly or not.

This was a mad typing rush, as I usually get kicked off the internet before I can figure out what to do, so I apologize for typos, blabbering, and whatever else I may have done in my haste. Eventually I'll be able to get a hold on this blogging thing, with pictures and better writing and what not.

Anyway I'm having a great time so far, and only expect fantastic times ahead. Until next time.

Much love!

Dia Dos

Well we started the morning off with breakfast at the hotel, which consisted of some sort of filo dough/cheese/egg pastry. I think I showed up a good hour and a half late, so it was pretty cold and not the most appetizing meal in the world, but fun to try. Afterwards we went to the Varna Archaeology Museum, where our resident professionals gave a presentation. We're going to be working directly with the museum director, who will be on the dig with us, as well as a few PhD candidates, and two girls from the program last year. The group is made up of students is from USA, Canada, and Australia mostly, with a few other random Europeans and such. Two girls are from Sonoma and Davis, while another is from SF and knows a few kids I know, including my roommate in Vancouver, Davey.

After the short presentation at the museum, I walked around the beach area with Carly, the girl from Davis and Sam, from Queensland. The beach is interesting, packed with people, ubrellas, and bars, but all surrounded by remnants of more glamorous times. Run down buildings full of wire fencing and graffiti are right next to clean looking bars, which also just happen to have "no guns" signs in the windows. Are those really necessary?

walking back away from the beach there's a large, nicer looking park we walked through. It reminds me of the big open park boulevards I learned about from maybe 18th centery Europe, something out of Haussman's Paris designs. The large walkways have rows of nice flowers through the middle, then are lined with busts of prominent Bulgarians (we assume) from throughout history. Then, this major walkway leads to a large, about 50 ft stone statue of two men standing back to back, one with a gun and the other with a grenade. That was semi surprising. We assume bulgarians are quite fond of their firearms. It looked like something out of a James Bond video game.

Unfortunately, earlier today I tried to use my camera for the first time only to discover it had broken in transit. Unfortunately, pictures are going to have to wait until I figure out a new camera situation. That's a pretty big bummer, but what can I do?

Just finished lunch, and am heading to an old monastary cut into stone a few miles out of town in a bit. I wish I could take pictures! One of our directors took a quick hiatus today from the program to get married, but he'll be back later this afternoon to join us at the monastary. Talk about job commitment!

I think I'm running out of time here, but I'll be back soon enough. Lots of love!

Day 1

Woke up late today, with a torrential poor outside! The roads had turned into rivers, it was wild! Waltzed around the area of the city my small hotel is in; it feels like a different world. There are spots that still look like they belong in the USSR. I luckily found this internet cafe though, which is cheap and close, so I should be able to manage to update this more often than I thought. Assuming I keep my wits about me. About to meet the entire session 1 crew in dinner in a few minutes, so I have to clock out. Once i get more acquainted, expect more thorough updates! PS Mom and Dad, I figured it out :)

Bulgaria!

Well, about 3 hours from leaving, still here in Novato. I figure if i start this now, it will be easier to work out while I'm there. Get ready to follow along!