Winding Down

It's just after 9 pm here in Israel, and waaaay past my bedtime. It's been a super busy day - I was helping restore the mosaic floor in the 'sacristy' area this morning, instead of back-breaking digging work, which I quite enjoyed. It was really neat to plaster the little tile squares back into place, as they were damaged during the earthequake 1500 years ago, and ponder about the person who laid them in the first place. It was a pretty cool experience, and I'm glad I asked to help out there!

Thankfully the bus was on time today, and after a quick swim I spent the afternoon doing chores - hand washing laundry, writing postcards, organizing the souviners I've picked up, checking my 'to buy' list, and visiting the kibbutz gift shop to find something cool for my little brother! Then we washed pottery, had a really good devo about faith in storms, a quick meeting about the Jerusalem trip on Monday for the people leaving Monday night (yay - we're going to Jerusalem after all) and then we were late for supper. We dashed from supper to a really good lecture about the dig history of Hippos, and then came back to the room to do email and such before bed. I'm so tired!!!

Tomorrow is going to be busy as well - we're leaving early Friday morning for our trip to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, and won't be back till Sunday evening. Then we have to finish packing, as we're leaving Monday at 6 am for Tel Aviv, where we'll store our bags the the airport, take the Egged (public transit) to Jerusalem for the day, and then bus back to the airport before the baggage storage place closes. From here on out our lazy afternoons around the kibbutz are over, and I'm really sad about that.

I'm surprised at how hard it is to think about leaving this place. I realized earlier this week that while I never had a moment of "wow, I'm really here", I feel very at peace and less stressed then I have in a very long time. The serenity of this community has snuck into my spirit and Israel has gotten under my skin in a way I didn't expect it to. I thought this would be a very emotional experience for me, but it's actually been really calming. If I didn't have a husband patiently wating for me in Canada, I just might stay here! I sure don't want to leave...

I've really got to go to bed - it's super late and I don't want to fall asleep on our last day of digging!