5:30 AM

My morning starts before the sun is fully up. The call to prayer at dawn (fajir) from outside the window rouses me before my alarm, and I force myself to sit up so my body starts to wake. After three weeks, my morning routine has become pure muscle memory: throw on my dig clothes, brush my teeth, and braid back my hair - no actual sentience required. I only start to feel truly awake when I step out onto the balcony to put on my boots. The air is cool and everything is quiet except for crickets chirping and the occasional rooster crowing in the distance. As I tie the laces I can see a line of pale orange growing above the horizon.

We've had more Americans arrive in the past week, so it's important to be downstairs early in order to get an actual seat on the bus to the site. I slide in next to Clara who almost immediately falls asleep against the window. We pull away from the dig house at 5:30 and my excitement starts to build. I'm still tired, of course, but the momentum of the rumbling bus starts me down the mental path of wondering what the day has in store for our team. After a quick stop at the gas station for snacks we rumble up the gravel road to Antiochia.

The drive to the site each morning is one of my favorite parts of the day. Everyone around me is still dozing, but I can't help but feel entranced by the countryside passing by the windows. We rush past banana fields, greenhouses, and herds of goats; the colors blurring together in a swath of green and tan. The mountains line the horizon for as far as I can see, rising in great blue-grey shadows on the sky. I always make sure to look for the stork nest on the telephone pole where I can catch a glimpse of the two birds resting. Then the breeze from the open window rushes through me in a rare moment when I actually feel a little cold! I know that it will reach upwards of 90 degrees today, so times like this are to be savored.

By the time we arrive for breakfast the sun has almost finished rising and the sky has turned from black to periwinkle. I step off the bus to be greeted by the sea stretching out below me. Some days the sky so clear that I can see across the Mediterranean to the island of Cyprus in the distance. We head towards the breakfast tables, eagerly awaiting the cup of strong chai that will wake us up for real.

Before sitting down, I take a long look out to sea. In this liminal time between waking and work, I make sure to take in the beauty of this place before I'm so hot and sweaty that a shower is the most miraculous thing I can imagine. I've always loved the contemplative ease of morning commutes, and this one does not disappoint. Taking the time for a few seconds of reflection before the hard day of digging begins remind me exactly why this is all worth it.

-GMH