July 16-17-18

July 16- Costume party

      Tonight we had a costume party after dinner. Each work group had to come up with a theme, and we prepared costumes instead of doing lab work. The Roman group dressed as hippies, the Iberians as Romans, the Greeks as zombies, and the Egyptians stayed Egyptian. At the party, each group had to perform for the others, and for the judges (who were dressed as The Just Ice). The judges awarded points after each performance, and prizes were given to winners (and losers!). The winners, the Iberian-Romans will receive a massage from anyone in the group, the Greek Zombies receive a master-class in the preparation of Aigua de Valencia, the Egyptians are now required to do the wave whenever anyone says “carrot”, and the Roman Hippies must sing to Manel, the head archaeologist of the site, a love song.

 July 17 – Barcelona

       On Thursday morning we took the bus and train to Barcelona, where we were given a guided tour of the City Museum of Barcelona. We got to see the remains of the Roman, Gothic, and Medieval city. We learned how the site changed over time, from a crafts district, to an important religious site, and then into the royal palace and chapel. The expansion of the city was also demonstrated through wooden dioramas and audio-visual presentations.  We also got to hear about how the Romans used to do their laundry, take baths, dye their clothes and make their wine.

        After the museum, everyone went to lunch at an all you can eat restaurant which was a good idea as many of us were quite hungry. Many members of the group were excited about the paella and the dessert.  When we finished eating, we split into three groups; one group went to Sagrada  Familia, another to Parc Guell, and one went shopping.

      When we got back from Barcelona, we had a visit from Julia, the program coordinator from Fundacio Catalana de L’ Esplai, who showed us some traditional Spanish, German, and French folk dances.  Most of us were not very good, but we still had fun.

18 Back to work!

       Last night there was a thunderstorm which began around 3:00 am and continued on and off until 7:30. Most people slept through the storm, but several woke up. Each clap of thunder echoed off the mountainsides of Garraf, and sheets of rain pattered on the gym roof. The group leaders waited until the rain stopped to wake us up. The extra time was welcomed by those who could not sleep earlier in the morning.

            The ground at the worksite was only a little muddy and digging was easier today. This was most notable around the mouth of the cave where we continued removing dirt and rocks. Work on expanding the terrace continued at the same rate as the last work day.  Many pieces of bone, pottery, and rocks moved by ancient people were unearthed. Nothing spectacular was unearthed, but more pieces of glazed pottery were found in comparison to previous days.  

            Afterward we continued our usual daily routine and noticed workers erecting tents for the festival in a field near the pool. Tonight we will do our first festival event and dine with the youth of Begues. It is a potluck style dinner and await it with ambiguously positive expectations.   

Cheers from Julia, Ben, Haroula, Dmitry and Burcu!!!