This has been such a packed week! I'll try to keep this post succinct, but as always, no promises on anything.
This past weekend I drove up the road a ways to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa LiaBraaten. Now that was a good choice. :) We relaxed and Grandma and I played UpWords and Boggle. On Saturday, Grandpa and I went to an Amish auction. It was really neat-since he gives a lot of the Amish in that area chiropractic adjustments he's well-known and respected in the community. It was really interesting to see all of the stuff that was being sold. I don't know about anyone else, but most of the time when I see Amish people it is on the road or in a store, where they seem out of place and largely keep to themselves. It was a really cool experience for me to be the outsider for a change and to see this subculture from a different angle. Plus, Grandpa bought me ice cream. :)
On Monday, we went back to the field, but I worked on a task I haven't had much opportunity before. It was working with the Total Station. This is pretty similar to road or construction surveying, from what I gather-one person works the tripod, and one holds the orange rod with the prism on it. Just like Parker's old computer game TonkaTime. (Except it took waaaay longer to set up, and there weren't really any sound effects). For the part of this where I was the rod-holder, I ended up doing the most intrepid thing I've done in the past 3 weeks. I had to climb up Mound 7 (also known as the hot cross bun mound, because of some trenches cut into it by the University of Chicago excavators in the 1930s.), stopping to be "shot" all along the way. This mound was much bigger and steeper than it looked, and the grass was up to my shoulders! I had pollen all up in my armpits. So, I was trekking up this carrying way too much equipment, using the rod for a hiking stick, and wishing I had a machete. I fell in the aforementioned Chicago trench, and my partner heard me yelp, but couldn't see me at all, so she asked me what happened on the walkie-talkie. (I love those things!) I actually later dropped it, but I was in sight of my partner at that time, so I was able to hear her asking me what I was looking for in order to retrieve it from the grass. Adventures abound!
Tuesday I was all set up to do more Total Station-ing, but we had a massive deluge! It was actually kind of fun to see everyone running around trying to tarp up the units and get everything packed in the vans while the sky turned dark, but I love that kind of stuff...It's exciting. We drove back to the gym after we realized that we wouldn't be able to get anymore work done in the field. Everyone was expecting a long afternoon of lab, but instead our program director announced that we'd cross the Kentucky border to visit another Mississippian mound site- Whitcliff Mounds. This site is much smaller than Kincaid, but they have a pretty sweet interpretive center. The highlight was that we all got to practice throwing spears!! I learned about using this thing that attaches to the spear for better leverage/aim, which is called an atlatl. I got to the point where I could make a pretty solid throw, but without much aim at all.
Wednesday I got transferred to the other side of the site to dig with the team I had been with originally. It was fun, although the work was much more difficult because the soil was so different. I listened to the boys on that side serenade (or serencate) me with songs they put my name into for at least a solid hour. All sorts of songs, and "Cate" was substituted for any noun, not just actual names. It was hilarious. And of course, I loved the attention. :) It certainly helped the pass the time spent screening.
Most of the students from SIU left today, but we are getting a new batch in on Monday. It'll be different without them, for sure. They've been a lot of fun. We all went out to dinner last night as a sort of celebration for the end of the first field school session. It was a great time, and I've still never met a hamburger I didn't like.
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