My alarm went off at 5 a.m., but I turned it off right away because I wanted to sleep in more. My AC had gone out, so I had to sleep with the door open, and there were people by the pool being really loud. On top of that, for some reason, my key won't turn the lock from the inside when I go to sleep, so I had to put my suitcase in front of it so I would know if someone was getting into my room in the middle of the night. So, I was stressed because it was very humid in my room, I kept hearing people yelling outside, and I was anxious about my door and didn't fall asleep until 1 a.m. However, when my alarm clock went off again, I had a message on my phone which I read, and then I was up.
I got up, got dressed, and prepared myself for breakfast. The outside felt good, but I didn't want to be on my balcony, so I went downstairs to walk the pool area of the Villa. Linda was already outside and asked if I was alright and I explained that I was just trying to wake up by taking a small walk. I made a round around the perimeter of the territory and took some pictures of snails to send to Folklore Fiancé (they were very excited about the snails). After my short walk, I went inside to have breakfast and sat with Linda. Since we were going to be digging today, I wanted to skip on the cheese for breakfast and ended up having a lot of sausages (or something akin to it) instead.
Each of the participants made it down one by one, and I realized I had forgotten my sandals upstairs in my room, so I ran back upstairs to get them. We were going to leave our boots in the shed outside of the hotel after we were done digging, so we didn't track in a bunch of dirt when we returned, so Angela, the director of the dig, told us to leave our sandals there so we could switch them out at the end of the dig and wear them back to the hotel. I came back downstairs, and I was done breakfast, but it wasn't time to leave yet, so I sat with Cyrene and Elizabeth until our bus came. We dropped off our shoes in the shed before we left and waited for the rest of the group to come outside so we could go to the site.
On the way to the site, it began raining a bit, so when we got there, we were given our field notebooks and got the introduction to the tools we would be using at the site. One of the supervisors made sure we knew the names of all the tools: trowel, spade, shovel, hoe, pickaxe, and of course, dustpans and wheelbarrows. We were given gloves, and when it seemed like the rain had passed, we all were assigned our groups. The square that my group was assigned was the one I was hoping to be in, so I was excited about that.
We put the ladder in the area where we were, and we had to start cleaning. Since the site is only dug for the field school, the last people who were at the site had covered up the features with plastic, and because of the weather over the past year, we had to shovel out what had fallen on top. Bulgaria is not usually rainy, but it had been uncharacteristically wet for a while, so we were shoveling a lot of mud. My boots were half covered in mud when I switched out of the square for sifting through the wheelbarrow job. The mud was very heavy, and I will admit I was disappointed because it was so wet and I was expecting a very dry workspace. But, as Cyrene pointed out, if it's shite weather (my words, not hers) and I still manage to have fun and enjoy it, then I'll know for sure that I want to do archaeology as a profession.
At least it isn't hot like it is back home.
It began to spit again, so we kept digging until it seemed like the rain was going to come down harder. We moved over to the break area for tea and coffee and waited for the rain to stop. A few participants were trying to get the attention of the stray dog that keeps coming near us but then running away. She's very sweet but very timid. The rain stopped again, and so we went back to dig. I was back in the square while someone else manned the wheelbarrow. The rain came back not soon after, so we had to pack up and go back home.
It was disappointing to go back home after being rained out on our first day, but my back and feet were a little bit relieved. It's a lot of hard work and continuously slipping in the mud was killing me, especially with my knee injury. We had a little bit of down time before lunch, so I showered and got in my swimsuit, and went down for lunch. Almost immediately after I was done eating, I left and got into the pool. I didn't want to get all the way here and spend all this money on a room and not use the pool at least once, so I was eager to get in. Although, I had forgotten to reapply my sunscreen, so now I have a wicked sunburn on my back, but luckily I have aloe!
Cyrene and I left the pool around 2:30 p.m. and sat next to the pool on chairs until around 3:00 p.m. I took care of some things I needed to do until 3:50 p.m. because we had our lectures (there were two today) starting at 4 p.m. They were interesting, but I'm so tired that I kept nodding off and I felt bad. There was some time between when the lecture ended and dinner, so I took care of some other things and then went down to dinner. I'm not sure what dinner was, but I didn't like it.
I asked if anyone wanted to hand and Cyrene and I decided to get beers and chill on my balcony while we drank. I ate a lot of chips once I was done my beer and dropped a few off the balcony because a cat wouldn't stop screaming, so I guess she was hungry? She ate the chips. I'm going to try and bring her real kitty food tomorrow.
Let's hope for no rain and a semi-dry square tomorrow!
I got up, got dressed, and prepared myself for breakfast. The outside felt good, but I didn't want to be on my balcony, so I went downstairs to walk the pool area of the Villa. Linda was already outside and asked if I was alright and I explained that I was just trying to wake up by taking a small walk. I made a round around the perimeter of the territory and took some pictures of snails to send to Folklore Fiancé (they were very excited about the snails). After my short walk, I went inside to have breakfast and sat with Linda. Since we were going to be digging today, I wanted to skip on the cheese for breakfast and ended up having a lot of sausages (or something akin to it) instead.
Each of the participants made it down one by one, and I realized I had forgotten my sandals upstairs in my room, so I ran back upstairs to get them. We were going to leave our boots in the shed outside of the hotel after we were done digging, so we didn't track in a bunch of dirt when we returned, so Angela, the director of the dig, told us to leave our sandals there so we could switch them out at the end of the dig and wear them back to the hotel. I came back downstairs, and I was done breakfast, but it wasn't time to leave yet, so I sat with Cyrene and Elizabeth until our bus came. We dropped off our shoes in the shed before we left and waited for the rest of the group to come outside so we could go to the site.
On the way to the site, it began raining a bit, so when we got there, we were given our field notebooks and got the introduction to the tools we would be using at the site. One of the supervisors made sure we knew the names of all the tools: trowel, spade, shovel, hoe, pickaxe, and of course, dustpans and wheelbarrows. We were given gloves, and when it seemed like the rain had passed, we all were assigned our groups. The square that my group was assigned was the one I was hoping to be in, so I was excited about that.
We put the ladder in the area where we were, and we had to start cleaning. Since the site is only dug for the field school, the last people who were at the site had covered up the features with plastic, and because of the weather over the past year, we had to shovel out what had fallen on top. Bulgaria is not usually rainy, but it had been uncharacteristically wet for a while, so we were shoveling a lot of mud. My boots were half covered in mud when I switched out of the square for sifting through the wheelbarrow job. The mud was very heavy, and I will admit I was disappointed because it was so wet and I was expecting a very dry workspace. But, as Cyrene pointed out, if it's shite weather (my words, not hers) and I still manage to have fun and enjoy it, then I'll know for sure that I want to do archaeology as a profession.
At least it isn't hot like it is back home.
It began to spit again, so we kept digging until it seemed like the rain was going to come down harder. We moved over to the break area for tea and coffee and waited for the rain to stop. A few participants were trying to get the attention of the stray dog that keeps coming near us but then running away. She's very sweet but very timid. The rain stopped again, and so we went back to dig. I was back in the square while someone else manned the wheelbarrow. The rain came back not soon after, so we had to pack up and go back home.
It was disappointing to go back home after being rained out on our first day, but my back and feet were a little bit relieved. It's a lot of hard work and continuously slipping in the mud was killing me, especially with my knee injury. We had a little bit of down time before lunch, so I showered and got in my swimsuit, and went down for lunch. Almost immediately after I was done eating, I left and got into the pool. I didn't want to get all the way here and spend all this money on a room and not use the pool at least once, so I was eager to get in. Although, I had forgotten to reapply my sunscreen, so now I have a wicked sunburn on my back, but luckily I have aloe!
Cyrene and I left the pool around 2:30 p.m. and sat next to the pool on chairs until around 3:00 p.m. I took care of some things I needed to do until 3:50 p.m. because we had our lectures (there were two today) starting at 4 p.m. They were interesting, but I'm so tired that I kept nodding off and I felt bad. There was some time between when the lecture ended and dinner, so I took care of some other things and then went down to dinner. I'm not sure what dinner was, but I didn't like it.
I asked if anyone wanted to hand and Cyrene and I decided to get beers and chill on my balcony while we drank. I ate a lot of chips once I was done my beer and dropped a few off the balcony because a cat wouldn't stop screaming, so I guess she was hungry? She ate the chips. I'm going to try and bring her real kitty food tomorrow.
Let's hope for no rain and a semi-dry square tomorrow!
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