Who Knew I’d Miss Bucket Lines?

Phil Karash (from the first session) writes:

It’s been two weeks since I left Israel. I’ve finally stopped waking up before sunrise. All the dirt is gone from beneath my nails. No more pick axing at dawn. No more wheel barrowing or seemingly endless bucket lines in the scalding late morning sun. No need to have ibuprofen with breakfast to take away the aches of the previous day…

And I miss it all more than I could have imagined. As I’ve looked at the pictures coming out of the second session, I wish I was back on the tel, picking up pottery and buckets for hours on end. Kabri was a place where I was able to reconnect with old friends and make brand new ones. I never thought I’d end up in the Holy Land, getting slightly lost in Jerusalem in a rental car, helping find a plaster floor in a few thousand year old structure, or eat hummus on the side of the Mediterranean with a great group of people.

When I first arrived in Israel I never thought I’d want to go back, but now the idea of spending part of next year at Megiddo sounds extremely enticing. We’ll see where the next year takes me…