A Day in the Life

Dawn breaks, and the SEEP team is typically awoken around 6:30 am either by our own accord, or by the blaring raucous of a Grecian male on a motor bike. The latter, at least from my own experience, seems to be the more common. After such a refreshing night's sleep (often interupted by more blaring motor bikes, the continual honking of car horns, and the highly irritating and unnecessary squeel of tires of every design) the group collects itself around the breakfast table. We each take in a little taste of something, either cereal or fruit normally. Following breakfast, we drive out to the chosen survey site for that day. But, considering there are nine of us and only one compact car, we are required to make two trips out to the site.

The work day consists mainly of slow walking. This "walking", however, is by no mean your standard walk in any way. The lush, green pastures of some hidden glade are far from our working enviroment. Instead, we trounce through the Grecian countryside, which--if you've ever been there--you'd know is some of the most inhospitable countryside on the whole of the earth. The vegitation covering the ground either consists of "some" thorns or "all" thorns, with very little deviation from "all" thorns. Indeed, the plantlife in Greece greatly resembles the country's militaristic past. Like any good hoplite spear, these plants are sharp, tall, and quite unforgiving. Here are a few examples:

There are many more thorny options to choose from, aside from those photographed. I personally have seen (and walked through) thorn bushes wider than my bedroom here at the SEEP house. But aside from all the sharp, pointy excitement, some actual fieldwork is undertaken while surveying.

Recently, the group has made two interesting finds in the past week. First, we discovered a series of large stone walls at the top of a hill. And upon exploration of the area, we discovered nearly one hundred assorted pottery sherds. The second significant find was made on Friday when, on another hillside on the opposite side of the campos, a team member noticed a large collection of pottery sherds on the surface. Close assessment of the area identified a site containing more than one hundred and forty prehistoric pottery sherds. Here are some pictures from the first of these two events along with general pictures of us surveying:

After a hard day of surveying, the team returns home around 2 pm. They are greeted by the hard labor of the team member who had the day off; for that team member is responsible for cleaning the house and preparing lunch. Lunch typically consists of Greek Salad, sliced meats and cheeses, fruits, and sometimes pasta.

Following lunch, our only other responsibility is to enter the data from our survey record sheets into the computer database. Otherwise, our time is free to ourselves. In most cases we nap immediately following lunch. This helps us recover from the hard work of the day as well as deal with the incredible heat of the afternoon. Often we will go to the beach after our naps and enjoy a cool swim in the Aegean.

Dinner does not come until around 8:30 or 9 pm. We normally go to dinner as a group and enjoy the many tastes of the Greek pallet. Dinner in Greece can be a time consuming endeavor. It is expected that everyone sit around the table and talk before finally ending the meal. This said, it can often be 11 or 12 o'clock before we finally return from dinner.

After dinner, if we still have the energy to stay awake, we tend to have drinks and relax before heading off to bed. Then the whole ordeal starts anew the next morning. We are again rudely awakened by the roar of motor bikes, the honks of horns, and the squeels of tires.