Jules, me, Kara, Kaitlyn and some photo bombers sitting in a weaving hut at the Lekiya Negev Weaving.

Beer Sheba ruins

My roommate and me standing in front of the temple site inside of the fortress at Tel Arad

Our field trip this week was really cool! We first went to the Lakiya Negev Weaving. This is a group of Bedouin women who raise money to essentially teach Bedouin women different things like how to read and write, especially in Hebrew, and different skills. They give them more opportunities to further their education. Women donate their time and talents to weave rugs and other things to sale. These women were very nice to us and taught us a lot. They rugs and other things they made were beautiful. They spin and dye all of their own wool. I was also able to try herbal tea for the first time. The smell of it reminded me of Junipers for some reason, probably because I have crashed into junipers a few time and had them practically shoved up my nose, (thanks to my inability to stay on a trail while dirt biking) so the smell is familiar. However, is tasted way better!
The second picture is of Beersheba, which you might recognize from the various scriptures in the Old Testament. The excavated town, some of which you can see in the picture, dates back to 900-700 BC. I learned that when they do these excavations, they have to differentiate from that which is original and that which is remade. The common way they do this is my putting a cement line between the two. You  can kind of pick out this line in the picture below. This picture is shows the upper entrance into a huge underground system. You can't really tell from the picture but they only had to rebuild maybe a fourth of the outside upper wall (and maybe the stairs going down into to the well and cistern). This well has four chambers lined so that water wont seep through. It was quite amazing! Also, while I was standing on top of a look out tower here, off in the distance, I hear a glorious sound; one that I have missed. I heard a dirt bike!! My face instantly lit up and I whipped out my camera to get a picture of it. If you look towards the left bottom corner of the picture above you can see it.
The third picture above is of the ancient city of Arad in eastern Negev. The site contains ancient Canaanite cities that spand 128 acres with a surrounding wall. This place in literally in the middle of the dessert. They built the cities on top of a huge hill and then protected themselves with walls. My instructor mentioned in the Bible the story when spies are sent to check on the Canaanites so they could be taken over, but they were too scared because of the walls and strength they had built up. We also talked about a protection strategy found in many fortress walls. It has been found that most gates into cities don't open directly to the city, but rather, you enter a gate and then have to turn left to be in the city. It makes sense because the majority of people are right handed and if they have to turn right, they will have to stop and turn and essentially be exposed for a period of time. It's kind of interesting to think about. They found a temple site with an alter inside the fortress, including a spot for a Holy of Holies. While all of the ruins were very impressive and beautiful in a weird way, I couldn't help but get easily distracted by all of the lizards and other animals, because they were everywhere. But I had an amazing time! School is takes up most of my time, but I am loving learning about the Old Testament. There are so many things that I have never realized. I also really like our Israeli and Palestine classes. It's interesting to hear all of the beginnings and perspectives of Islam and Judaism, especially when they are compared to Christianity. It's a lot of work, especially with all the nursing but I love it! We had our first clinical and it was amazing! We work in all Palestinian hospitals, and the people are so smart and kind. Even though I mainly observe, I learned a ton! Everything is going great!

Well wall at Beersheba showing distinction line of ancient artifact and excavations.