Hi everyone!

Sorry i haven't written in such a long time, but we've been very busy and I really haven't had time! I have a lot of homework and not much free time! It's also been a very rough week because last Friday, my very good friend from EIE, his older brother died in a car accident. These past few days have been very sad for all of us here.

Last week we went on two tiyulim- to Sataf, located just below Kibbutz Tzuba, where we were able to see terrace farming and mountain irrigation systems dating back to 1000/900 BCE. The next day we visited Ir David- the city of David where king David reigned. We went through underground tunnels and caves it was so much fun!

Friday we had a very big Jewish History test that included everything we've learned about since the beginning. It took me four hours, but I think I did well and it was nice to be finally done afterwards. The rest of the day was a lot of fun until we received the news of my friend's brother. He did EIE six years ago decided to serve in the Israeli Defense Forces with his twin brother after high school. As I said earlier, the rest of the weekend was very quiet and sad, everybody was very shaken by it.

Today, we had a tiyul to the Israel Museum and the Dead Sea Scrolls, where we learned all about the different sects of Judaism! Then tonight was very busy because we had to pack up our rooms. We are going on a 10 day trip away from the kibbutz because we are going to Masada, Dead Sea, Eilat and participating in Gadna for 5 of the days where we train to be in the Israeli Army! We had to pack our bags for going away for 10 days, and then also pack the rest of the stuff in our rooms because when we come back we are switching rooms and roommates!

Okay that's all for now, i will write when I get back and I'm sure I'll have lots to tell!

xoxo,

Paige

post #4

1: doing homework and hanging out in the zula

2:at gezer, simulating a casemate wall (see below)

3: gezer!

4: me and friends at the end of the tiyul

shaloooom. ma nish ma?

HISTORY LESSON:

yesterday we had our first of many tiyulim (trips) and went to Gezer. Gezer means carrot in hebrew but we went to the ancient city of Gezer. It is an archaeological site called a tel where 29 layers of civilizations have existed over thousands of years. We learned about the Canaanites and how they were the first civilization there and very sophisticated with their modern technology. We also learned about the geography and topography of Israel and Gezer in particular. The whole area was very green and unnaturally hilly. Then we talked about the "4 D's" that archaeologists look for to see if there was civilization at the tel. the 1st D is Drink: there needs to be a water source. At Gezer, there was a huge ditch in underground that they used. it was so cool! the 2nd D is Defense: they need a wall of some sort to defend themselves. The Canaanites built a special wall that was called a Casemate Wall. When there was peace, they used it as a market/mall! But when there was war, they would fill it up with dirt and nobody could get through! It was really interesting! The 3rd D is Dinner: they need rains and flat, arable fertile lands so they could grow crops for food. Gezer had this! The last D is Dollar: they need a good economy. The Canaanites had a very good economy because they had a trade route which was called the Via Maris. Gezer is a prime example of the four D's, making it indeed a civilization.

After 3 hours of Jewish History everyday, we have Hebrew for almost 2! I'm learning soo much though and i'm enjoying it! ready?

ani paige. ani talmidah b'kitah! ani m'america, avail achshav ani b'kibbutz tzuba b'yisrael! ani medaberet anglit v'ani lomedet ivrit.

who knows what that says?? once i get hebrew on my laptop i will type in hebrew!

it's very had to learn both hebrew and french everyday and i confuse the two a lot but i will have to get used to it!

right now i have a free period (i have a couple today) so i'm sitting on my roommate hillary's bed and we're on our laptops listening to music. it's raining really hard outside so it's a fun rainy day. yay for rain in israel!

love, paige