Biblical Hebrew: Not As Useful As I'd Like

            I made it safe and sound.  Some interesting tales from my travels:

            At Logan I was able to experience the wonder of the full body scan and, frankly, I don’t see what everyone was getting his/her panties all in a bundle about.  To be honest, I was bored by the process and felt invigorated by the burst of radiation that my internal organs received.  I will keep everyone posted on the development of my super powers.

            I made two major purchases at the airport.  One was a bottle of motion-sickness pills; I hate flying and they were supposed to put me to sleep, more that later.  Realizing I would miss the rest of Game of Thrones, I decided just to by the book and read it.  So far I think HBO has done a great job, but the book does add a measure of background that is filling out the parts of the story I already knew.

            I scored an aisle seat with no one behind me and no one next to me, which meant lots of room and a reclined chair.  Unfortunately, the pills failed in their mission to overcome my fear of flying and knock me out, but I supplemented it with a hearty, room-temperature glass of the finest red wine Alitalia has to offer.  That managed to do the trick at putting me to sleep for a few hours.

            The airport in Rome has a much wider array of shopping opportunities than Logan does, however the overpriced nature of airport commerce is exaggerated when looking a prices in a currency whose value is one and a half times greater than normal.  Thus, I contented myself to A Game of Thrones and waiting out the three-hour interim between my flights.

            The shuttle we were herded into decided it didn’t want to close its doors, which meant the entire staff of the Roman airport was summoned to fix the problem.  Meanwhile, these two old ladies next to me on the shuttle were bitchin’ about missing their flight.  When I assured them that the plane would not leave without them because everyone who was flying on it was trapped on the shuttle too, they didn’t seem convinced.

            The flight to Tel Aviv was uneventful.  The lines at passport check were kind of crazy, though.  I managed to pick the wrong line, the one that was moving at half the speed of the rest.  When I approached the desk, I discovered why.  The lady behind the glass was pretty and friendly looking, but alas, it turned out to be the devil’s trickery.

            Hands over passport.

            She: What is the purpose of your visit?

            Me: Digging etc etc.

            She: Where?

            Me: Tel Gezer

            She: Did you come alone?

            Me: Yup! (I was real proud of myself)

            She: Where are you staying?

            Me: Neve Salom (Oasis of Peace)

            She: Do you have an invitation?

            Me: … no?

            She: Like a letter or something?

            Me: … no?

            She: Are you staying at a hotel?

            Me: Yes, in Neve Salom with the rest of the people digging.

            She: Do you have family here?

            Me: No.

            She: Do you know anyone?

            Me: I have good friends who are Israeli citizens, but they aren’t here now. (At this point I was kinda worried that there was a problem.)

            She: Are you meeting anyone?

            Me: Yes, they’re picking us up outside of customs.

            She: “Us?” I thought you said you came alone.

            Me: Well, there are other people digging who are also being picked up here, but I came alone.

            She: *sigh* Are you a student?

            Me: Yes. Want my ID?

            She: *sigh* Yes.

            Hand over Lyco ID. She scribble scribbles, wordlessly hands back my passport, and never looks at me again.  I depart.

            So yeah, got the third degree.  And I made it out, and met up with Jerry, a man with a thick Texan accent and cowboy hat.  We made small talk over the difficulties of studying Greek, then collected four more diggers and went on our way.

            Outside, it was hot, hotter than it’s been in my neck of the woods all year.  It reminded me of Sicily, except it was hotter, and this time there was ample shade outside the airport.  We drove out to Neve Salom, saw the Tel in the distance, discussed the old castle from the crusades and the monastery behind it, as well as the left over entrenchments from the war in the sixties.

            We got assigning our rooms.  I am living with Daniel, one of the people I rode from the airport with, a history and biblical studies major.  There are two more with us, but not yet arrived.  The hotel is not lavish, but the rooms are spacious enough, there is hot water, and there is plenty of common space to spread out, not to mention a whopping three internet hotspots and a pool!

            I ran into Dr. Knauth (who didn’t recognize me due to the haircut) and she, Daniel, and I walked about the village trying to discover the best path to the castle and monastery.  Daniel and I were going to be industrious and hike out there before dinner, but Neve Salom rests atop a hill, and so the hike would have been 45 minutes downhill to the ruins and more coming back, so we decided to table that and keep romping around the edge of the village, taking in the wide variety of wild flowers that grow here.  There is also a building called the Dome of Silence, which I found an odd title, for the most notable characteristic of this large, white, hemispherical structure is the incredible acoustics it possesses.  I was able to whistle chords all on my own by playing each tone in succession quickly.

            We headed back for dinner, which for me consisted of hummus, pita, couscous, curried potatoes, and some black meatloafy thing we decided must have been lamb.  There is much more to say about this village and its role, but I’d rather leave that for another time so ensure my readership keeps returning.  Nothing like a cliffhanger!

Also, Jerry knows a place in Jerusalem that serves a mean bacon cheeseburger, so perhaps not all is lost!