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