March out Troops.

Thankyou everyone for the birthday wishes, and im sorry i cant respond to them all personally.

Its been a great last month here in israel, actually i spent some of it in Eygpt which was amazing. Hard to believe that five months have gone so fast, my stomach is churring with butterflies, the good and the bad ones. Tzuba is my first real goodbye. When i left chicago i knew id be back in may, when i left india, i knew id be back in march, and leaving here it might be forever. Which is a scary thought becuase i have made amazing friends here, and by the end of my trip Tzuba really did feel like home. Life here isnt So differnet, and i would say the differences here are ideological ones, but strong beliefs. A "Kibbutz" itself is such a unique place full of small intricacies, that you cant read about, or even understand from a visit. I was lucky enough to really be enveloped into kibbutz life and get the chance to explore and expeirence it for myself.

India here i come. Israel i wont forget you.

רות

Feb-u-where did you go?

Some things that might explain why i havent been writing, and why i havent been putting up pictures.

A few weeks ago i decided to leave my ulpan program, for various reasons not so important. I was offered shelter by a friend of mine living on the kibbutz, so not much as changed since im still living in the same etc etc, but now that i dont have to clean spoons everyother day for 9 hours, ive been able to do a lot more trips and hikes etc, and have vastly improved my cooking skills, which i see as a skill much more usefull than silverware drying.

Anyway in one of my travels i visted a super ecofriendly kibbutz "lotan" in the negev. It was sooo amazing there, and i really loved it, indescribeable the atmosphere, ideology, just spirt that all these people had for the enviornment. On my long bus ride home, i fell asleep and my waterbottle leaked on to my beloved fancy camera! yah! stupiiiiiiiid! And really honestly it didnt get SOAKED, i also had books in my bag, and the edges were damp, but i thought everything would be alright, well it wasnt, and after talking to lots of camera stores this is what i have::

pay 1700shekels ($420) and they will fix my electrical circut and whatever else needs to be fixed so i can have a working camera.

get it fixed in america and pay ALOT less, but then be without a camera for my last month in israel when im traveling all the time, and of course without it in india.

sucks right, but i suppouse its my fault, and im litterally going to have to pay for it.

Happy Purim to all!

The Situation of my Spirt

Sorry if anyone actually its trying to keep up with my life, but its hard enough for me to keep up with it myself. The time is going fast, but im finding lots of things to keep my busy, like learning hebrew, working, reading, traveling etc etc. oh and knitting.



I cant compain too much, im going to the beach in January

Happy Hannukah

there it is, my pride and joy. my very own hannukia. made from cardboard, paint and hot glue.

Ruth in arabic means cowshit.

this is my home, number 86, its removed from most of the other dorms, and theres hellas bike.

I havent been blogging much because im busy. I wake up at seven everymorning, to either learn hebrew, or work until 4. After that im free but ussually tired so i end up studying, or reading. Ocassionally when the weathers nice i wander up the hill to the ruins. (Right to Left ) Alex from Kentucky, Fillipo from Italy and Hella from germany watch the sunset. Beautiful

despite this computer moving desperatley slow, time is moving quite fast here.

Remember if you love me:

Ruth Eddy

Ulpan Kibbutz Tzuba

Jerusalem Hills

90870, Israel

The holy land.

Im settling in semi smoothly. Today was a beautiful day. The past few have been FREEZING! FYI everyone: jerusalem is cold! I heard that the amount of rain we have received this past week, is equal to about 3 regular winters. But alas ha yom ha shemesh zorahat (today sunshine). After hebrew six of us headed down the path, past the vineyard, past the orchard, past the 14th centuary ruins to ..... the grocery store! I brought my camera along...





if you click on the pictures they get really big, and you can sort of see the intricate landscapes in the backround, also i didnt have something else in the pomegranate picture so you can compare sizes, but ill just tell you that they were HUGE/GADOLAH! this is the land of the pomegranate in fact there are several trees on the kibbutz, im not sure if its the cleanest but i have snacked on a few, straight from the tree (also did you know they grow on trees?, they looked funny hanging i dont know how i thought they grew, i just never pictured them on a tree)

The facts:
i work 3 days a week for eight hours a day as of now doing dishes...
i learn hebrew 3 days a week for eight hours
i get saturdays off
i get 12 shekels a day to spend at the ohel on food
i live with 2 other girls (a german and an american from D.C)
out of 243 kibbutz in israel, 70 are socialist, one of those 70 is tzuba
i have 14 days to leave and still get my money
my room number is 86
my laundry number is 261
my food number is 4

Things i want:
belt
scarf
slippers
external hard drive.

i think thats the basics, if ive left something important out, ask and i will answer.

hope all you americans voted, wisely.
-Root

Rain

well, im here
the superjew sitting next to me on the plane stank, and the cab ride was a fourtune compared to the 60 rupees im used to but other than that, all is well. I dont want to say much because i dont know much, but things for now seem very mello. i have two roomates, a german i havent met and victoria, a indiana graduate from D.C. it reminds me a lot of summer camp. Thats all i really know for now, im anxious to get a aquainted with the place, but i really miss sambhavna. I know that israel will be a good experience, but had i known how amazing my month in india would have been ahead of time, i might have planned differently se la vi. Im excited to go back, and eager to give israel a chance.