Milestones and Distant Horizons

Greetings everyone!

It has been quite a while since we last updated this blog. Some people are really good at keeping these online journals, us on the other hand, we get busy and forget about it. Oh well, better late than never. Anyway a lot has happened since we last chronicled our journey on the other side of the world. Another semester at JUC has gone by and a new semester has begun. The passing of the Spring 2011 semester marked a number of important things for us: the completion of all of our coursework at JUC, the completion of our first year as Student Life Directors, the completion of our second year in Israel, and the beginning of our final year here, which means beginning serious work on our theses, completing our remaining comprehensive exams, and setting our sights toward going home! It’s really hard to believe that we have been here for two years already—in many ways the time seems to have flown by and on some days it feels as if it couldn’t go any slower. Looking back it is amazing to remember that two years ago to the day almost we were getting settled in our apartment in the southern Jerusalem suburb of Baka.

This spring our only class was Archaeology of Jerusalem II with Dr. Gabriel Barkay, though I (Justin) audited a course on the cultural background of the biblical world. This meant that our only homework for the semester was a term paper in archaeology, which we spent a LOT of time on. We needed to write on an archaeological topic that pertained to the history of Jerusalem from sometime between the building of the Second Temple in the Persian period (the fifth century B.C.E.) up to the Islamic period (the seventh century C.E.). Mandy wrote a paper entitled “A Brief History of Glass Emphasizing Eastern Developments and an Examination of Late Hellenistic and Early Roman Glass in Israel with Jerusalem’s Contribution to Vitrics [i.e. Glass] Technology.” Mandy’s paper covers the history of glass in the Near East which is a relatively new field of archaeological study as well as the glass-finds in the excavations done in Israel (and Jerusalem) over the years and what those finds can tell us about the history of the use and production of glass vessels. I wrote on “The Archaeology and Early History of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.” My paper covers the history of the site upon which the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was built in 325 C.E. and the archaeological excavations done within and in the vicinity of the church and the contributions of these excavations to the understanding of the site itself and also the history of Jerusalem. Writing these papers, or rather small books—both of our papers were over 150 pages—has been quite a process, which, as Mandy and I recently discussed, is much like an archaeological excavation in miniature—extremely tiring and demanding while at the same time fun and very rewarding.

JUC, as you have gathered from previous entries, has a lot of programs and various options for students, so for us, the conclusion of the semester means the beginning of the short-term programs. These two or three week programs run at various times throughout the academic year, but take place consistently in May and June and part of July. So after a brief reprieve following the completion of our spring semester we had to help get the campus ready for the short-term students who arrived mid-May. The staff and long-term students usually have a number of “jobs” to do while the short-termers are here and our job for May, June, and July was preparing all of the lunches for the field trips. This particular job is a lot of work, we will spare you the details, but will suffice to say that we made over 3,000 servings over a period of two and a half months for 382 people. At any rate we made it through and by mid-July we were really ready for our trip home.

We left for the States on July 20th and spent a refreshing month with Mandy’s family in Colorado. It was amazing to be home again after two years (the passport control guy in Charlotte, North Carolina, was shocked that we had been out of the country that long). We were really ready to go home, in fact we were longing for it, like we have never longed for anything before. Being in another country, no matter how “Western” it may be (and Israel is pretty westernized), makes you long for the tastes, smells, and culture of home. Eating American food again was overwhelmingly good (not that the food in Israel is bad, its just not the same). Our first big meal upon arriving at home was a burger and fries at Red Robin. The other restaurant that we were craving, and still are, was Rubio’s (our friends on the West Coast know what we’re talking about), but they are not in southwest Colorado, only in Denver, and we didn’t have time to drive out there. Ralph Rubio, if you happen by this blog entry, please send a fish taco our way! Mandy’s parents treated us to many meals both homemade and at various restaurants, all of which was wonderful. I think we came back to Israel heavier than when we left! The weather was also so nice with rain almost every afternoon and cool evenings—a stark contrast to Jerusalem’s dry summer season and scorching August days.

While we were home we tried to earn our keep a little bit, mostly by trying to help out Mandy’s parents with various projects they have been meaning to get to and haven’t had the chance yet. Our biggest project that we tackled was organizing Mandy’s dad’s workshop, which took us about a week total of consistent work, but it was an accomplishment that we are really proud of. Mandy was the mastermind of this operation, who allowed us to organize and clear out something like 30 years of accumulated stuff. Though of course, it wouldn’t have been possible without Dad, who was so patient with us as we dragged him from one big pile of stuff to another and made him decide what to keep, toss, or sell. We’re proud of you Dad for all your hard work out there.

Overall it was a great trip, though we didn’t get to visit anyone else during the month that we were home. We just weren’t able to make it happen financially or practically. Sorry to all our friends and family who we missed this time around. We will try to make a way to see you soon!

The time at home went by quickly as time usually does and we were back on a plane on August 20th to head back to Israel. We arrived with a week to spare before the beginning of the semester and we quickly set to work getting events planned, and getting the “student life” end of JUC’s semester ready to go. The students arrived the weekend of the 26th and classes began on Monday, August 29th. So the semester has now been in full swing for almost two weeks. As noted above, we don’t have any more required course work, so now our priority has turned to our theses as far as academics are concerned (more details to come on our thesis topics as we get the details nailed down). We are, however, auditing Biblical Archaeology I again with Dr. Barkay just to keep refreshed on the key topics in our field. We are also continuing to volunteer at the Institute of Archaeology at Hebrew University in the Tel Rehov lab sorting pottery for the final publication of the site.

The semester seems like it is going to be a good one. We have a great cohort of students this who seem serious about their studies and are just pleasant people to be around. Added to this, our perspective has been renewed after our refreshing time at home and we are geared up for another year of study and service. All the while we are trying to set our sites towards moving back home and thinking and praying about what’s next for us after Israel.

As always thanks for your prayers and support everyone (and your patience with our blog entries). Blessings to all of you.

Justin & Mandy