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!