Day 4

Today was a bit disappointing as far as our trench goes... It started storming last night - Macedonian style.  The storms in Macedonia are epic in nature - torrential downpour, lightening, and thunder that sounds as if the hills themselves are growling in fury.  We had hoped that the morning would clear, but the clouds still hung ominously in the darkened sky when we reached the bus at 4:30.  I climbed the hill (the short way) to the dig site and reached my destination soaked to the bone from the waist down due to the water that still clung to the tall grass.  As we prepared for the work day ahead, the clouds seemed to grow even more restless.  Even Bill looked nervous, taking a wide stance, arms akimbo, assessing the coming onslaught.  Mud clung to my shoes, making them heavy and slippery as I carried buckets of heavy earth to the waiting wheel barrows. 

We all worked nervously, constantly checking the darkening sky to the south.  Lightening burst in bright spurts down from the heavens to the neighboring hills coming closer and closer to where we worked ferociously; the thunder hailed its approaching assault.  Soon, icy raindrops began their decent, and we ran for shelter beneath the thin plastic shelters over the dig site.  Feeling increasingly nervous, we quickly returned our metal tools to the storage facility and packed up our bags in the waiting van.  As the storm announced its inevitable arrival, we broke shelter and began sprinting down the steep slope as if the hounds of hell themselves were after us. My raincoat wasn't even enough to stop the penetrating drops streaming down in a hammering deluge on our fleeing horde. The van soon caught up with us picking our way down the precarious slope.  As we parted to allow its passage, the wheels began to slide out of control on the muddy precipice.  We held our breaths as the van skated sideways, threatened to tip, and finally regained stability. 

We had no means of transportation from the site due to our early departure, so we gathered under the shelter over the sacred pool at the base of the hill as the stormed raged in fury over us.  The van ran back to town and finally returned to pick up its next passengers, myself included.  By the time we returned to our hotel, the storm had all but passed.  Work was cancelled for the day, and we all retired to our own devices until breakfast at 8.  I cleaned the mud off and warmed up in my room before heading downstairs for some espresso and required summer reading with my friends in the outside gazebo.  Looking out at the early sunny morning and rain clouds disappearing into the distance, it was hard to envision the dark storm I had just escaped.

The rest of the day was long and lazy.  We made a few trips into town and tried to progress in our studies, but the beautiful weather made it hard to concentrate.  Right now, I'm just hoping that our good fortune lasts until tomorrow so that we can get some more work done before the weekend.  We had our first pottery reading today, but nothing too exciting to report.  Bill and Eulah may use my drawing talents to create artistic renderings of the pottery we may find at the site, but nothing has been interesting enough to draw or photograph at this point. 

Tomorrow is apparently a holiday for most Macedonians - a sort of "Day of the Dead" - and many of our workers may not show up for work tomorrow.  As long as the weather holds out, it shouldn't cause too much of a problem.  I just hope everything dries up enough that we can make a final interpretation of our layer before breaking ground again....

Oncoming storm

Dark skies over Bylazora

Storm rolling in