The Dig

Gwen's Blog - The Dig

                          

Day 1 Experience

                                   

 I learned that digging looks easy but it is really a lot of hard work. Digging is interesting because you get to find a lot of things. The only things that I saw today were rocks, worms, dirt, and mud. The digging was really hard for me at first because it required a lot of weight and I am not very heavy. It hurt a lot at first doing the digging but then I got used to it. It was hard doing the part where I had to put my foot on the big shovel and push down a lot to the ground. I have so far learned that the dig is hard but with a little bit of teamwork you can easily do it.

                                                Day 2

Today we found pieces of brick, ceramic, and snails. My group also found a yellow ceramic pottery rock while we were digging. The dig was really interesting today. What I did was throw the dirt at the screens than get whatever our group could find out and I explained about what I found today above. What we would do was put our hands in the dirt and just really dig in a lot with our hands and just see what we can find.

 

                                                         Day 3

Today I got hot and did not feel well and I had to go home, and I also lied down on the couch in the library building at Thomas Sappington House. While waiting for my ride to pick me up I was so worn out. I literally was just fine when I came home because it was just the heat that was my bothering me so I came back for lunch at the Thomas Sappington House with the group. Than Ms. Barnes came in and talked to us about the Thomas Sappington House.

                                                  Day 4

Today we dug and we found nails, a lot of glass, and pottery stuff. We found bottle glass and window glass. The glass was interesting. We measured out another 50 cm. From units and we call that Unit 5B Level 1. First we found the edges of the teurp. Basically we just kept on digging today. We found 2 railroad spikes.

        

                                             Day 5

Today we dug up again and I found this glass piece that had looked like it had come from a tile of a building. We also found quite a few nails and some glass and this was about it really. Today we cleaned up some of the stuff that we saw with old toothbrushes to get the mud off of them and that’s basically what we did today.

                                           Day 6

Today we started two new units, units 6 & 7 and then we started digging over by the barn then started digging by the house. I found nails and a big jaw bone with teeth attached to it. We also toured the Sappington House today. It was interesting because the whole house (well not all of it the kitchen was added in 1820) but everything else was built in 1808. Our legs hurt really bad because we had to stand on a slope of dirt.

                                                       Day 7

Today I found some nails and glass but not much else. There was a man who came in to talk about guns and shooting guns. Nothing much happened today.

 

                                              Day 8

Steve another person who was working there was showing some kids around younger kids around who wanted to hear about archeological digs. These kids were saying that they wanted to be archaeologists when they grow up. Than Steve brought them into the discussion that was going on with a guest speaker about the Bosnian War. The Bosnian War was a tough subject for kids so the kids were scared. Than that was the day.

 

                                                  Day 9

Today we found nails, teeth, whiteware, yellowware, glass, etc. Today was definitely a good day to find stuff. Also it was very hot today. So we had a speaker talking about the digging archaeology experience she’s had before. The speaker’s name was Rachel Murphy. That’s about all for today.

 

 

                                                   Day 10

Today we did the measurements of the plan map. Than I screened but didn’t find anything this time since I screened in the new unit instead of the old unit today. The dirt smelled like poop in the new unit. We had a speaker come in who works at a museum presenting exhibits at a museum example; black kids and white kids, girls and boys, black artist white artist. Those would not be appropriate.

 

                                                      Day 11

Today me and one other student came this morning and one teacher and the person who lives there. Me and the other student didn’t get the message that we weren’t starting till noon. So we stayed and helped take down a tent. Than Ms. Burchett came and I showed her around. Then everyone else came for lunch at noon. After that there was a speaker that came in and we talked about how population was different in certain parts of the world and towns. Than we left and did the measurements for the dirt in the floor ground.

 

                                                     Day 12  

Today I helped put shovels with all the dirt back in with the pit and we mapped and we measured the soil. Then the prism therefore totaling what a laser can do. Than I interviewed Steve.

                                              

 

Day 13

Why it’s Important to Know about Digging/ Do Digging/ Participate? It’s important to learn about our history and what we can find if we go even deeper that there is always more. It’s important to participate to help out the environment, community, and the area. I participated because I didn’t get in summer p.e. Before all the slots went out. Also I participated because I’m 15 and have never had a job before and I wanted to learn what a job would be like. The dig seemed really interesting to me so that’s why I signed up. We’re digging here because people believed that where we’re digging had a summer kitchen here. They had been told that the summer kitchen was destroyed by the basement that was built which is the resident manager’s house that was here. The steps for doing archaeology is to dig in the pit first than screen to see what you can find then put what you find then put what you find in a bag then wash what you find with a toothbrush and some water then dry it with newspaper or leave it to dry. Then put it in a bag and label the bag then you’re done.

 

 

Home: An Update

We'll we've been home about two weeks now and I haven't been too good about updating our blog. Everyday is busy, busy while everyone gets used to schedules, work and everyday stuff. We all had terrible jetlag when we got back and I would be ready to start my day around 2:00 am. Of course by the time afternoon hits you are dragging and trying not to go back to bed. Wu Ning is getting used to her new home and life. When she met Guinness she was a bit scared but curious too. She is still learning about being gentle and needs to apply this people as well as animals. Luckily Gwen is taking most of this in stride and often finds her sister's fits funny.

There have been some interesting moments as Wu Ning learns about expectations and customs here - a bit like Chinese Beverly Hillbillies! She is starting to learn not to pull her swimsuit off at the pool, go to the bathroom outside when you are in the yard, unbuckle your carseat on the highway or throw food you don't like on the floor. Guess we're not quite ready to visit too many houses yet! She is understanding more of what we say and she is quickly getting used to other typical American things - fries, riding in the shopping cart and going to the pool (which she loved!).

I've also been doing some detective work since we've been back since we found out Wu Ning spent some time in the orphanage in Xian before joining her foster family. I looked through a few hundred pictures posted on a yahoo group web site (parents and volunteers post them if they got to go to the orphanage) and found a few pictures of Wu Ning when she was about 1. You just have to sift through them since there are no names and look for facial features, hairstyle/pattern, etc. These will be great for her to have and she recognized herself immediately when I showed her the pictures! Here's one nice close-up:

We also received pictures of her along with her foster family. We had mailed them a disposable camera a few months ago and were able to develop the pictures when we returned. She lived in a family that had two biological teenage boys and judging from the pictures she was well-cared for. We understand that foster parents do not normally adopt the children in their care even if they would want to - just another part of their child welfare system that is much different than ours. She lived there for three years and we believe she regarded them as her family, which I'm sure has made her transition hard. We will keep this pictures for her when she is older and ready to see them. I will say it really took us aback to see her with another family, but we are glad she got the opportunity to have that loving home when she was younger, since most kids spend most of their time in institutional care.

Well that's it for now - we are so happy to have our little girl home finally!

Beijing Sites and Pictures

Summer Palace - Beijing - Visited on Thursday, June 25th

The palace was the first site that we visited. It was beautiful and the grounds were expansive built around a large lake. All three of us were suffering from jet lag and from the 100 degree+ heat, but enjoyed the site nonetheless.

The palace was home to China's most powerful Emperess. The two most impressive parts were the "Long Corridor" which was a covered walkway that stretched along the lake for almost a mile. It was a wood beam construction with very elaborate painted scenes for the entire expanse. About half way down the corridor there was a large temple on top of the hill. I hiked about 500 stairs up to see the temple and enjoy the amazing view. Inside the temple there was an extremely large Budda. Unfortunately the pictures of the Budda did not show up due to the poor lighting.

This first picture shows the elaborate painting on the long corridor

This next picture shows the temple on top of the hill

This is a dragon guarding the long corridor

The last picture is of a boat made out of marble at the end of the long corridor

Temple of Heaven - Beijing - Visited on Friday, June 26th

Unfortunately Gwen was sick and had to miss the sites in the day on Friday. Dolores gratiously offered to stay back at the room with her, since she had seen the Temple of Heaven already on her previous vacation to China.

This temple was used by ancient Chinese emporers for a ceremony once a year were they gave animal sacrifices to heaven.

The first two pictures are of the main temple

These are the couldrens where the Emporers would burn the remains of the animals that they sacrificed to their god

After the Temple of Heaven, Laura and I went to an old Hutong area and took a rickshaw tour through the Hutong. Hutong is an old traditional Chinese type of neighborhood with single story houses that are designed with the concept of Chinese fungshway. The houses consist of four single room buildings built in a square around a courtyard. I forget which direction is which, but the room on the side that is most desirable for light and temperature was for the owner of the house. The second most desirable room was for the boys. The third for the girls and the last room was for a servant(s).

On Saturday, June 27th we visited Tieneman Square, the Forbidden City and the Great Wall.

The first two pictures were taken in Tieneman Square. The first is Laura in front of the famous building with the massive portrait of Mao Tse Tung. The other is an example of one of the many, many times that Gwen had her picture taken, famous with her exotic red hair. We couldn't walk 10 feet without someone asking if they could take their picture with her.

The next picture doesn't do the Forbidden City justice. The is where the Chinese Emporers ruled from for over 1,000 years up to the very last emporer. Pictures just do not capture the massive size of the walled city. It goes on and on and is considered the most important site in China.

The last picture was our last stop in China and doesn't really need a caption. It's the Great Wall. It's another site that our pictures just don't do justice to the massive size of the thing.

Laura, Doleres and Gwen stayed towards the bottom of the wall. I hiked up on my own to the 5th Watch Tower which was about 35 minutes straight up very steep stairs and then 35 minutes back down. The wall goes on and on and on across northern China. You hike for weeks on it. I knew it was long, but I didn't really grasp (unitl I saw it) that it goes up and down over a mountain range. The trek was exhilerating and the views amazing. This was the last site that we saw in Beijing. The next morning we were off to Xian to meet Wu Ning!

Final Leg of Trip

I'm a little behind these days (surprise!) but wanted to report on the final days of the trip. We completed all of our paperwork and everything went without a hitch! After keeping it together the entire trip I got a little teary eyed just certifying the paperwork was accurate - I guess I was just relieved to know we were actually done and nothing had happened to delay us any further. We left China and headed to Hong Kong where we had an afternoon and evening built in to see sights before leaving in the morning. That sounded good in theory but in practice not so much. Wu Ning cried at the promenade, cried at Victoria's Peak, and cried until she fell asleep while heading back to the subway. In between crying the sights were beautiful though and I would love to see more of Hong Kong if I get the opportunity to go back to Asia. The standard of living is much different than China and you feel like you are in any major international city.

Flying Home - the happy part

Gwen with some new friends

Hong Kong Skyline
Pretty dresses for the group picture

Then it was time to fly home - a flight we'd been dreading with 2 kids. The first flight was worse than I expected (and I'm sure the people around us were thrilled) so it was a long 4 hours. Then time for the 10 hour flight were Wu Ning kicked and screamed for about 20 minutes and then collapsed and slept about 8 hours - yeah! I didn't sleep a wink though so by the time we got home I was worse for wear.

But we came home to a great surprise - welcome home signs and a ton of food from friends - it was wonderful coming home to a stocked fridge! We are so lucky to have all of you and it made us feel so happy to be home.

Greetings from Guangzhou

We are almost done with paperwork and will be leaving in a few days! Guangzhou is nice but even I can only eat so much Chinese food! We had horrible pizza last night - so much for trying an American restaurant. We hvae a farewell dinner with the families tonight and it has been great meeting everyone and having people share a common experience.

Yesterday we went to a temple where Gwen received a special blessing. Wu Ning was too busy crying to receive it - I figured the monks didn't want a screamer. She is doing well overall but cries at the drop of a hat. She likes to run away but other times will need to hold hands every second. Each day she gets a bit more used to us and seems to understand a fair amount of what we say - she has a few American words down but still has a long way to go of course. She is now comfortable taking a bath (took about 4 days), going to the bathroom, changing clothes, etc. so that has helped tremendously. She has the same Sugar and Spite personality of her sister and mother so Jeff will be in real trouble now -- three volatile women! She has bonded well and really does feel like part of the family - something I was a bit worried about before but it really does happen and very quickly.

Here are the girls with Grandma wearing their grandma, big sister, little sister shirts.

We spent the 4th of July like most Americans I guess - across the globe with our Chinese adopted daughter watching belly dancers in a middle eastern restaurant... a memorable holiday at the least!

We went to the zoo today which makes me appreciate ours even more. They actually had a dog chained up in the petting zoo and a fair amount of the buildings didn't come close to what we would expect. The children's splash area was apparently clothing optional so we took a pass on that. Since toddlers just squat on the ground here, I've not had much appetite for water play areas or pools. One hour or so in the blazing heat was enough for all of us so we took off after we saw a tired panda.

The girls wearing their monogram shirts -thanks Martha!

Yesterday we went to a wholesale market with floors and floors of toys and junk everywhere. We were the only westerners there and like all shopping here was just wall to wall people. Hopefully I haven't lost my concept of personal space and won't want to keep shoving ahead and being so close to people when I get home!

Here's a picture of the girls with our coordinator, Sherri, who helped us learn Chinese.

We miss everyone and will be anxious to see friends when we get back and settled in!

Laura

Hello from Gwen

We are having fun. Wu Ning is nervous but getting better. It is fun being a big sister. We have gone to many festivals and we've seen pandas, kangaroos, and monkeys at the zoo. I was famous in China -- everyone wanted to take my picture. We went shopping for my friends at a festival. We got to go see a street festival. I can't wait till we come back and see my friends. And also you! Love, Gwen

Wednesday in Xian

On Wednesday, we saw the Terracota Warriors. These are statues of soldiers that were discovered about 40 years ago when some farmers were digging a new well and found the head of a warrior. There are over 7,000 warriors that were buried with the first Emperor of China in the Qin dynasty. It was not the first dynasty, but was the first to control so much land to be called Emperor. He believed that by burying all of his soldiers with him he could control them in the afterlife. An advisor convinced him that the soldiers would revolt against him and he would lose control if he insisted on his plan, but that he could make statues with the faces of each of the soldiers and they would still protect him in the afterlife. The Chinese consider this the 8th Wonder of the World. I'm not sure if it carries the same recognition around the globe, but it was fascinating.

It was over an hour in the van each way and the kids had both had enough by the end of the trip. In hindsight, it was probably not realistic to expect them to handle that long of a trip. There were quite a few meltdowns and at one point, Wu Ning broke away from Laura with surprising speed and gave us all a scare. It is pretty obvious that she is testing the boundaries. She is an adorable kid, who I think is very smart, curious, self-reliant, and has a very strong will. She will test us because that is what 4-year-olds do, but her smiles and infectious laugh far outweigh the tests.

Gwen has been a trooper through all of this. She hasn't really said anything, but it's obvious that she's struggling with not being the only child and not getting all of the attention. She has been very supportive and has been sharing her toys without complaint. The language barrier is probably holding them back a little. I think once Wu Ning learns English, they'll start to bond more. Dolores has been a great help through all of this. Gwen pleads to sleep in her room each night and I think she is giving Gwen the one-on-one attention that she needs to keep going. There's no way we could have brought Gwen without Dolores' help.

We went to a dumpling dinner / traditional Chinese dance performance that evening. The dumplings were delicious and kept coming and coming. They must have brought at least eight baskets of dumplings, maybe 20 different varieties in the end. I've never been so full in my life.

The dance performance was traditional and not something I need to see again, but the kids seemed to like it.

Bye for now,

Jeff and Wu Ning