As promised- Alfajores

So here's a picture of the real-pain-in-the-a&%*ss-cookies, which taste like a piece of heaven on earth (this picture is from the first batch I made last week, but let's face it- they all look the same!)

Yum!!!

Live report from my kitchen

This is a live report from my kitchen. I've been trying to make Alfajores cookies for the second time. The first time they turned out to be really good, and now I'm interested in making them again for the holidays at Rob's parents. The first time I made them I accidentally put a bit too much butter, but they still tasted really good. This time I wanted to put as much butter as the recipe says to put, and well... Big Fiasco. The dough was too dry and started breaking.

I got really upset because it's hard work to make these cookies, and it needs a lot of eggs, butter, flour and corn flour. Luckily I still have enough of everything to make another batch, but the disappointment of making it all over again after standing in the kitchen for an hour and using a lot of ingredients is really big. Throwing so much stuff to the garbage after working on it so hard is a bitch.

So this is a live report. I will send an update later how it all worked out (if it ever will, I still have lots of work to do....)

Peace out.

Shopping-mania

You wouldn't imagine how many ppl are everyday in the center of Munich. Since I work there- I see it every day. It started about a month ago, as December and the holidays started to show around the corner. Slowly slowly the main streets got fuller and fuller with ppl. Then they opened the X-Mass market, which as it is- takes a lot of space, in which I used to walk to go to work. So there's less walking space, and also a lot more ppl. After emerging out from underground (after taking the metro), I spend twice the time to go to work than just less than a month ago when I started. It's like swimming in oil! You have to really push your way, and move a lot in order to find your way in the crowd.

I promise that at some point I'll take some pictures of what's going on there in the middle of the week in a normal afternoon. You will not believe it. Really.

One more thing you notice when living in Munich, is the amount of money that ppl spend. Everybody's walking around with tons of bags from all shops. It's been like that for weeks already- and the 2 most busy weeks of the year are still to come! It's incredible!

Luckily I'm done with my presents shopping - got something for everyone! Now I just have to wrap it all nicely and that's it. Maybe make some nice cards. But I'm definitely not putting as much effort in them as I did last year. It's way too much work, and takes way too long (and I don't really have much time right now) and in the end ppl don't fully appreciate it. So only something symbolic this year.

Ok, kinda have to get ready for work now.

Till next time!

What do you want from me?

Was reminded of this song today, used to be my absolute favorite... Used to listen to it in repeat for hours, and write down its lyrics over and over again. Just listening to it makes me shiver.

enjoy.

Pink Floyd - What do you want from me.

Dried fruit cupcakes

You'll need:

• 1.5 cups of dried fruit cut to small pieces (about 1 square cm). You can use dried figs, apricots, raisins, cranberries, dry chopped coconut etc.
  

• half a cup of chopped nuts (can be walnuts, pecans, and / or any nut you like)

• half a cup brown sugar

• 3 eggs

You'll have to work just a little bit:

• Whisk all three eggs with the brown sugar until you get a fluffy mixture.

• Add the dried fruit to the mixture, and stir.

• Add the nuts and stir.

• Set paper cupcake cups on a big oven tray. (this amount will make about 20 cupcakes)
  

• Pour about one table spoon of mixture into each cupcake cup.

• Bake in a preheated oven (180c, or less if using the fan) for about 20 minutes, or until cupcakes turn gold on top.
  

• Cool down completely!!! before eating.

They are perfect as a small filling snack!

Originally from this link:
http://www.matkonim.net/cookies/fruit.html

Getting busy

I started working this week. I work in an English Language school, My job title is the same as it was in Israel, but here the actual work is different. We sit quite a lot of time in reception, and do a lot of office work. I look at this job as an opportunity to make some money and make my way up the ladder a bit. I hope that I'll be able to teach some activities too. I really hope so- coz all I can think about when I see the teachers of the center teaching is: I wanna be there- with the students, and explain to them and talk to them about more than booking them the next lesson.

Other than that, next week, I'm starting with my German course. I really hope it'll be nice, and that I'll meet some nice ppl. I decided that I'm not going to take the one that comes right after it- I'll try to solve that bureaucratic problem next week. This way I'll only take one intensive course, which ends around the middle of January. Till then I'll be very busy.

I got some contact with ppl I'd like to meet here in Munich, but since I started working- I didn't have the time to call and make an appointment to meet them. I should do that tomorrow- if I ever want to make any friends here.

Last Saturday I had a meeting/lesson from the uni, and the teacher was a really nice woman (she's in charge of our courses), who made all the pressure go away (ok not all of it but at least half of it). I'm not sure if this is a good or bad thing ;-) At least she is really nice and does everything for us to feel better about these studies.

Still haven't registered in any sports gym, thought I might see how it goes learning German and working at the same time- how much time does it leave me for sports. Worse case I only start doing something like that on January some time- then I'll have time for it and wont feel bad about having a subscription and not using it (plus I'd be able to save a small amount of money by then, and maybe even have some other recommendations about other gyms).

So that's my boring update!

Oh and maybe I should put here a really nice recipe I found online, for the easiest cookies (more like cup cakes) in the world, so... you know what? I'll do it in a new post!

The ability to LIVE

Guess what?

I got the job!!! They're still working on the contract, so I'll only see it next week, but they offered me the job- which is the whole point!

Today I was also given a new visa, for almost a year, and was also told that if I find a job- I can change my visa to a working visa- and work as much as I want!!!

This is so great, it's just such a relief! and it just gives me the ability to actually live here, like any other normal person.

So I'll see how it goes with the new job and the German course that starts in 10 days, and after the first course I might change the second one with a less intensive course- and work more. We'll see.

So happy!!!

Oh and I went shopping this week- for some clothes (to wear at work of course) and I spent a nice amount of money on really great basic stuff, and on my dream boots (from this website), which cost me a lot- but they are just perfect!!!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Active and Passive

Last week I was starting to get really frustrated from being alone at home all day. Studying alone with correspondence university books can drive almost anyone crazy. Let alone when they're written in German, by a professor who is already dead. I thought I'm going to get out of my mind, and then in the middle of the week decided that that's it! Enough! No more of these 4 walls around me, I don't care how long it'll take me to finish these courses, I need to find me a job! I want to earn my own money!

Since I already sent quite a few CV's online to several ppl, and got no answers, I decided that I'll do it the Israeli way- I'll just turn up on their doorstep and demand attention. I also planned on looking for a gym while looking for work possibilities.

So I got out of the house with a list of addresses and ideas where to go to, and started looking around. Luckily Rob convinced me the day before (which will always be remembered as the day I went lunatic and started to scream that I need a life) to get my own monthly ticket for the public transportation. It definitely pays off.

I went to the Jewish community and went to see the Rabbi and went to a few gyms and then on the way saw a branch of a company I used to work for in Israel. I decided to go inside and ask if they need workers. I got an appointment for an interview already on the same day in the afternoon, and another interview, this time with the director on Monday (yesterday). I think both went pretty well, and they're supposed to give me an answer about it till tomorrow. I have a good feeling, but I can still not tell whether it's going to work out. If not, at least I know that I did my best to try and grab this job.

I still haven't decided what gym I'll go to, it's all kinda expensive, but in the end you do get what pay for... They are all very nice. I haven't found a place that offers only Yoga (I have but it's either private teachers, who give lessons in their own place, or places, which are open only when there are classes, and therefore I didn't find anyone to talk to there). So I was thinking about joining one of the many Women's Gyms around town. These things are so popular here that Rob is really annoyed that he can't find a normal gym around home coz they're all for women!!! They offer classes and a gym and I think that's good for me. I might wait till I get an answer about this job, and then decide what makes more sense. It's the usual circle of whoever has a job has money to spend on these things, but no time, and whoever has no job has time for it but no money.... The irony of life.

So I'll keep you posted about my job situation,

Till then

Have a good week!

Breaking the girl

In the past two weeks, since last time I wrote here, I've been especially trying to study from my correspondence university books. It's all in German, and it's really really hard for me. In the beginning it felt totally impossible, and slowly slowly it got a bit better. Now I can read about 8 pages a day. Which is obviously nothing!!! But it's a progress. I guess I'll have to let go of the dream of starting the Masters program in the next semester. There goes another 6 months of my life...

Last Friday we went to pick up our new closet. We got two two-doors closets and one commode (chest of drawers). We already built the one closet and the commode, and started building the second closet. The time was around 23:00. We wanted to quickly finish and finally have our own place to put clothes in. We started tilting the closet from the floor, in order to stand it up. We did it wrong, and the whole thing collapsed on the floor, making a huge mess and noise. The shelves broke the little holes they were in, making it impossible to rebuild it in the same way. The nice bar that it supposed to be in the bottom of the closet, just to make it look nice- broke to two pieces. Damn! it was a new closet!!! And it took so much time and energy to bring the things upstairs 6 floors!!!

I started crying. What else can go wrong in the place?! I felt nothing is going right here. I was totally devastated. Yes. Because of a damn closet. Sometimes it takes just one small thing to break the girl.

We build it again, using the "floor" and "ceiling" shelves as normal shelves, which resulted in a closet with no floor or ceiling. If you open it you see only 4 shelves in it, the ceiling of the room and the floor of the room. I really don't think it looks so nice. After a good night sleep, and a nice dream, in which I found the solution to the problem (get nice boxes to put on top of the higher shelf and under the lowest one), I felt a bit better about it.

Now I have to get used to opening a closet and choosing what to wear.

Some impressions from Bavaria

As I promised, here are some stories about my travels with Yifat around Munich and Bavaria.

Lets start with a picture from our apartment, from the day Yifat came,
a day in which you could see the Alps (it was such a clear day):



On Sunday when Yifat landed, we went home for a bit and then wanted to take advantage of the beautiful day it was outside. The temperature was really high (relatively of course) and the sun shone in the blue blue sky. We went to the Olympia tower which is right in the Olympia park (where the notorious Olympics in 1972 took place), watched the views all the way up to the Alps, and looked at the whole city.




After that we went straight to the last day of Oktoberfest, which was really great, and we really understood why ppl from all over the world go there. Well... I guess once or twice is enough though...

In the next days we walked around Munich a lot, and saw quite a lot of it, which was really good for me, coz I wouldn't have learnd the streets so fast after moving unless Yifat came. Since she took most of the pictures in Munich, I'm not going to put any here, but I guess I'm going to put pictures from here in the future, concidering the fact that I'm going to live here in the next few years.

After wondering in Munich, we took two days to travel in Bavaria a bit, on the one day we went south to the famous castle Neuschwanstein, which was the inspiration to the Disney caslte:

The caslte in very nice Autumn colors

View from one of the windows in the caslte (yes, WOW!!!)

We actually drove there through the town Garmisch, a very posh ski area, and the views there were really breath-taking:

The middle of town: Garmisch

In the evening after the castle we drove back to Munich, stopping in lake Starnberg. On the way there we took these really nice country roads Bavaria has to offer, and got stuck in traffic. Not normal traffic, but this kind of traffic:


You see, there was a whole heard of cows walking back to their stable, after a day of eating and walking in the sun. We had to drive really slowly behind them, until they reached their goal. Was really funny!!!

We only got to the lake in the evening, to have a drink on the shore, in a nice Beer-Garten, but it was still very nice:



The next day we got up early and went east to Chiemsee. It has two islands in it (well two big ones, it actually has a few other smaller ones), on which there's a lot to see. Here are some pictures from the way (it was a very misty morning, which reminds me of the song with the same name, by Bob Marley), and I got some really nice pictures from a rest area on the way:

Driving to the lake we realized that our day is going to be very hazy and cloudy and grey. Nevertheless, we had a nice day (even if it was cold) on the islands:


On the next weekend we drove to Rob's parents to walk in the old town there, and on Sunday we drove home through Regensburg, which is a really nice town.

I hope you enjoyed our little travels in Bavaria, lets hope that there are going to be a lot more!

Short update

Last week Yifat was here, and we saw a lot of Munich, and also quite a bit of Bavaria. I'll tell all about it in a different post (I hope), but now I just wanted to sum up and update:

so... What do we have here:

1 apartment in Munich
6 floors above ground
0 elevator
102 stairs
2 German courses in the next future, which means:
487€ less in my bank account
15 days till my visa is not valid anymore, which means:
less than 15 days to fix it
4 different means of public transportation next to where we live (tram, bus, train and metro)
19°c in the middle of October
1 broken kettle (my fault) which means:
1 new kettle, which means:
15€ less in my bank account
6 trips to furniture stores, which ended up in buying:
2 closets with:
2 doors each, and also:
1 chest of drawers (commode) (I tell you there's no real word for it in English!!!), which means:
360€ less in Rob's bank account
1 big headache from moving
lots of motivation to find a job.

Till next time!

"We're not in Kansas anymore, Toto..."

In the last weekend, as I wrote in my last post, I tried to meet all of my friends in Dresden. I wanted to see them all to say goodbye. I gave them some presents (that I brought from Israel) and promised to stay in touch. I really hope that I'll be able to keep my promise. Rob and I thought that we should come visit in Dresden every few months, something I would love to do, just that I know that it's not going to happen as often as we'd like.

On Monday Rob defended his thesis, and got a very good grade for it. His parents came to Dresden especially for that, and we spent the afternoon with them.

Our last night at the apartment was very weird. It was almost totally empty, except for our suitcases, an inflatable mattress and some other stuff that Rob left behind for us to use till we leave.

We left early on Tuesday morning (after sleeping for just a few hours, since I really wanted to see Andrea one more time the night before), knowing that we'll never go back to that place again. It's so weird leaving a place that you really liked, but I think I've talked about it enough already.

We got to Munich on Tuesday night, after stopping at Rob's parents for lunch. We had a carload of stuff to bring upstairs (I'm reminding you that our place is on the 6th floor with no elevator), which made Rob go up the 102 stairs 9 times, and me 6 times. I was so tired at night, but still didn't sleep that well. I still need to get used to this place.

We had quite a few problems here since we moved in, in the beginning the fridge door refused to close (that was already fixed), then the washing machine wouldn't turn and suck the water out (which was a mistake in the connection in the end, and was fixed by Rob), the lights in our bedroom don't work now, coz the fuse there burnt (going to be fixed, hopefully in the next few days) and finally: we haven't found a closet yet, that fits the size of our bedroom (since this is the attic the ceiling is tilted, and there's also a window in the middle of the only wall that can take the closet). I've been living in my suitcase for more than a month now, and I don't like it. Oh, and the bathroom mirror that we had in Dresden, broke while Rob was trying to take it off the wall, since we glued it too strongly.

The weather here is really cold (maybe in other places too, just my impression is that it's really cold here), winter decided to come early, and it's already 5 degrees outside (at night). I hope next week is gonna look nicer (the temperature is suppose to rise) coz Yifat is coming tomorrow for a week!!! This will be great! I can't wait till she's here.

I still have a lot to do, like sign up for a German course (coz I have to- for my visa), and then get my visa longer, and register here in Munich, and next Saturday I have an introduction day to the open university program that I signed up for. I still have to look for a job too (have to sit down and write applications, coz in Germany everything is complicated, and just sending your CV is not enough). I don't know how I'll do all that- learn German, study alone in German, for a Masters, and have a job, but I guess I'll just have to figure it all out.

Here's to new beginnings! The day we moved to Munich was the Jewish New year- so... I hope it'll symbolize a good new beginning for us.

Till next time from Munich...

Our trip to Spain

(this post was written a few days ago, but due to the lack of internet connection is being posted only now)

Madrid

We got to Madrid on a Tuesday in the evening. We flew with Easy Jet, therefore our flight was obviously late in one hour. In the airport in Berling Rob worked on his thesis presentation, while I just slept.

Charles and Ana were great: they came to pick us up from the airport. There's nothing nicer than someone picking you up from the airport! Meeting them again was so nice. I really misses them. We went straight to have dinner, knowing that if we go home we'll never want to go out again. They took us ti the center, where there's a lot of Tapas bars. Of course we ate Tapas - and it was really good food. We realized that the food in Spain is going to be really expensive, and so it was.

When we got to their apartment they continued the good hospitality with giving us their own bed while they slept on the sofa.

The next day Rob and I just walked around Madrid (ALL DAY LONG!!!) and saw quite a lot of things. Madrid is a really nice city, but I must say, in the end it is just another beautiful capital city in Europe.

Madrid

We got to the palace,

and realized that the guards are changing.

It was a really nice little ceremony with horses.

I love these Facades.

It makes the city so special.

Toledo

On the second day in Spain we took Ana and Charles's car (have I mentioned that they were really good hosts?) and drove to Toledo. The drive took about an hour and we were there. Luckily we had a GPS in the car, which made things much easier, even though it wasn't so hard to get there.

Toledo is a really nice old city, that used to be the capital of Spain hundreds of years ago. We went to the old city which is still surrounded with walls. It was a really beautiful place, and you could really feel the history in it. Toledo also has a long and cast history of Jewish people that lived there, sinice they held high positions, of course, until they were exiled from Spain. Because of that there are two synagogues in Toledo, though one was transformed into a church at some point. The big one was actually kept almost as it was, except for the fact that it's empty nowm the walls are covered with the decorations from then- which was a few hundred years ago. It was really ineteresting for me to go see such an old synagogue, especially coz there's really old churches and cathedrals everywhere, but synagogues dodn't always survive.We came back to Madrid in the evening, and brought some food to eat at home- which was really ncie coz Ana got lots of good food too and together it made into a really nice dinner.

On our third day we went to the Art Museum Prado in Madrid, which if considered to be one of the best ones in the World.. It contains of mainly paintings from really famous artists, such as Velazques, Rubens, El Greco, Goya etc. I must admit that both Rob and I decided that we're not fans of paintings from that time.

We went home in the afternoon since we all took a flight to Barcelona in the early evening.

The gate to the old city in Toledo

In Toledo there was a really nice mixture

between Judaism and Christianity.

You can see it until today.

The view over the roofs of Toledo

One of the cathedrals

Barcelona

When we landed in Barcelona, Ana's father came to pick us up from the airport. He took us to their house, and Ana's parents did everything to make us feel comfertable in their home. They live just outside of Barcelona, on the other side of the mountains, which really reminded me of the Carmel Mountains in Israel. We spent the weekend there, enjoying Ana's mother's great Spanish cooking. We took the train to Barcelon on Saturday and walked in the city and saw a lot of it. In the evening we went out. It wasw a special weekend in Barcelonam called La Merce, and there were a lot of concerts, street performances, and so on. The main event was on Saturday night: a fire parade.

The Catalan Government building in Barcelona

We walked into this church,

which was really really beautiful,

and suddenly we saw that there's a wedding going on!

We stayed till it was over, of course.

Fire fire fire!!!

A fire blowing dragon

It was a lot of fun, and only small damages were reported by Charles, who spoted some holes in his shirt...

The next day, Sunday, Ana spent with her dad at the Bull Fights (it was his favorite bull-fighter and Ana's first time there) so we spent the afternoon with Charles in Barcelona. It was a really nice day, and we walked along the beach, had a typical Spanish Paella for lunch, and enjoyed the sun.

The port of Barcelona

Beautiful beach of the Mediterranean

Paella, the Spanish specialty.

Jamon (ham).

The main dish in every Tapas Bar.

Early on the next day Charles and Ana left to Madrid, back home to work. Her mom took us in the morning to Barcelona (which was really nice of her) and there we stayed in a small hotel (which was right in the center, but ther street next to us was occupied by hookers the whole day!!! vert inetersting experience I tell you!) We stayed there till the end of our trip. We planned on going somewhere nice and warm in the last two days, to just lie on the beach, and get a tan and relax, but the weather..... OOOOOF!!! The stupid weahter decided that we don't deserve a real relaxation, and it was raining the whole time! Sp we walked a lot in Barcelona, and saw quite a lot of it. Wednesday was a holiday there, of the saint of Barcelona Santa Eulalia. They had a parade and in general the streets were full of ppl. On one of the dats we webt ti see the Picasso Museum, which was really nice, really really nice. The food was good, but again- really expensive. In general I think we really liked Spain, though we would have loved to have a few nice sunny days in the end...

In the last two days we went to see a lot of buildings

that were designed by Gaudi.

I like his designs, it makes the whole area much happier.

Park Güell

also designed by Gaudi.

Last picture:

the view from our airplane,

as we took of on our way back...

We went back to Dresden on a Thursday, and then started the marathon of me seeing everyone I wanna say goodbye to, and Rob preparing his presentation, that took place on Monday.

About that and more on my next post.

Empty house

Last night I got back to Dresden after almost two weeks in Israel.
It was a really nice visit this time, got to see almost everyone I wanted to see, didn't force myself to eat anything (so didn't get to eat most of the things I don't have here) but I still got the stomach flew for 24 hours... It happened in the only day I actually ate more than I should have. I guess I'm not used to that anymore.
I saw my family a lot (which was really the best part of it) and saw all my friends at least once. Was at Tali's wedding, which was the most special wedding I've ever been to (in the middle of the mountains with great view to the valley and hills) and even though it was the hottest day ever- we managed to dance and have fun (it was an afternoon wedding).
Now she's in Nepal with her new husband, they were supposed to go on a trek but he doesn't feel so good (problems with his back) so they're kinda stuck. I'm waiting for another e-mail from her telling us what they did in the end...

I got back to Dresden last night, to an empty house- empty of people and empty of things. Rob took all of our things to Munich this weekend, and is only coming back from there today. It's so weird to be in such an empty place... Luckily- we're going to Spain tomorrow for a holiday (meeting Charles and Ana finally!!! YEY!!!), and when we'll be back we'll have exactly 5 days here and then- we're moving to Munich.

So... I guess I'll have a lot more to tell after Spain,
Have a good week everyone!

Beautiful Dresden

Last weekend Rob's older brother and his girlfriend were here. It was really fun!!! They came here on Thursday evening, we had dinner at home together and then we went to the old city to wonder around a bit. The next day we spent the whole day around town- and we got to see a lot of what this beautiful city has to offer. The next morning they had an event far away so they had to get up early and drive.

Here are pictures from that weekend-

one photo is worth a 1000 words...

(click pictures to see them in a normal size)

This is the Zwinger
Was build by Augustus the Strong
and today houses several art collections.
This is its Crown Gate.

The Frauenkirche
(the Women's Church)
Was rebuild in the last 10 years,
after it was almost totally ruined
in the bombings of February 1945.
It's pretty impressive (and huge!)



Blaues Wunder
(the Blue Wonder)
Said to be the first bridge in the world
to be build without any constructions in the water itself.
We crossed it from the side you see in the picture,
and took a cable car up on the hills.


Here it is again with some more view.

and again.

(these pictures were taken
from a really nice restaurant
on top of the hill
that has the nicest view in Dresden)


Here is the view to the other side-
The Elbe river and it's amazing valley.



On this side of Dresden
there is some of the nicest and
most expensive houses in town.
Even Putin himself used to own a house there
while living in Dresden
when it was still DDR (GDR).


Last picture- from Neustadt
the cool side of town.
We went to have dinner there,
and this is just a nice picture of the sunset.

Hope you enjoyed!!!
I'll sure miss this city...

A leaf in the wind

There's a song like that in Hebrew.

That's how I feel right now.

I need to decide what to do with my life.

And I have a deadline to decide that.

I don't have any energies to decide that so fast.

I'm too depressed to decide life decisions right now.

I need my friends.

Yifat is there for me and Tali too.
My sister and parents are there for me.

But its not the same.

I need Rob to be here- but he still has one and a half weeks till he's done where he's doing his experiments. Until then he has to listen to me every night till really late. To me complaining and being sad.

I need to clear my head.

I need to clear my head.

I need to clear my head.

Isn't it ironic???

Tell me, isn't this ironic?

There's one master program that I wanted to get in to. It's in Munich, and it's in a direction that really interests me. I decided with Rob that no matter what we'll move there. We were naive to think that I'll get in, and that if not- I'll find what to do. That we'll find a solution that is good for both of us.

There's one master program that I don't really wanna study, but signed up to coz it's almost interesting, and it gave me a free German course at the uni here in Dresden.

I didn't get in to the program I wanted in Munich, although they take 30 people every year, there are quite a few foreigners there, and that it's in English.
But still, Rob already found a good job in Munich- so we're definitely moving there. We even got an apartment.

I did get in to the program here in Dresden, the one I don't really know if I like, although it's in German (and my German is worse than my English), and they take only 20 people every year.
I was told I'm the only foreigner there.

I hate this. And I don't know what to do anymore.

It's becoming a reality

This weekend we did nothing really. But the weekend before that- we were in Munich. We looked at 5 apartments. out of them there were only 2 that I would really move in to. One of them was too small and there were many people looking at it- so we had less chances to take it anyway. The second one was really nice. Big, airy, with lots of light, full and big kitchen, big bathroom, little storage room, big bedroom and a nice big living room. It's in a good location- right next to a subway station and next to a train station, the tram goes just on the road and there's everything we need in the area. It's in the attic of a building- which makes it really cosy too. But there's one catch. It's on the sixth floor. No elevator.

If you know me you're probably thinking to yourself: so she probably didn't take it. She wont take a place that's in the 4th floor without an elevator- so sixth???

Wrong. I did.

We liked it so much that we decided to do the deed. We'll take the chance.

Going up there three times showed me that it's possible. Just that it'll take me much longer to get home from the moment I got in the building, compared to this apartment that's in the second floor. And hey, worse case I'll be in better shape!

We thought that if we really hate it and can't do that anymore- then we'll look for a new place in a year or so. For now we like it.

***

Other than that there's nothing new. I still don't know how I'll get a visa after this one is done- but I guess I'll just take more German courses. That will give me some air for another 4-5 months.

Oh and I obviously passed my German exam- and got in to the university here in Dresden, which is really ironic- coz I don't really wanna study here, rather don't really wanna study this masters. I'm going to sign up anyway- coz this is what I have in my hands now, and I have time until the 30th of September to decide what to do with it.

so... Have a nice week you all,

I'm here- not doing much.

Love is all you need

Yesterday evening I was sitting at home after coming back from Yoga, eating my dinner and chatting to my sister online. Rob wasn't online, so I thought he's still in the lab and that I'll get to talk to him a bit later. Suddenly I heard a key in the door. My heart dropped. I thought it's somebody breaking in, but who would break in with a key??? And who has a key to our place other than us (no one...)???

I went slowly to the entrance, scared to see who it is, what it is, and then....

I saw Rob opening the door...

He wanted to come home to be with me, simple as that.

Be with me when it's all sad.

He even came with me to the ultimate chick flick: "Sex and the City - the Movie". I was supposed to see it with a friend, but when he came I convinced him to come along, coz I really wanted to see it, but at the same time didn't wanna leave him at home when he came all the way for me.

So... nothing changed really, I'm still all confused, still sad, still feel insecure.
But.... I feel much more relaxed knowing he's there.

Why am I so sad?

I have the answers to this question.

Not getting in to the program I wanted puts me in a very hard place.
First of all, I have to re-think about what I want to do with my life.
I thought that this program is what I wanted to do.
I thought that this program will make me what I want to become.
I thought that this is what I am interested in.
I thought that this is what is good for me.
I thought that this is what I'm going to be good at.
I thought that this is what I'm going to be.
I thought that this is what I am.

On top of that now, I have to figure out how I'm going to be able to stay here in Germany.
Without studying I'm not going to have a visa.
According to the law I am allowed to learn German one more year, and stay here with that visa.
The problem is that I did already almost all the German levels offered and I only have one more left to do. After that who knows what I'll do.

I hate being hung in the air like that. High and dry.

Don't know who I am anymore.
What I wanna do.
How I'm going to stay in the place I call home?

I'm (left) out

I didn't get in.

This is one of the saddest moments of my life.

The university in Munich didn't accept me.
They said there were many more high qualified applicants.
About a 100. And they only take 30.

This is one of the saddest moments of my life.

I'm so disappointed.

And we have to move there anyway.
Because of me Rob signed a contract for three years to do a PhD there.
I have to move, and I don't want to.
And it's all because of me.

This is one of the saddest moments of my life.

This weekend we're going to look at apartments in Munich.
And I didn't get in.
But I have to move anyway.
And have to find a place to live there anyway.
And have to leave this place in Dresden, which I love so much.

This is one of the saddest moments of my life.

Discovering the value of time

Yesterday I had to do a presentation in my German class. Each one of us had to do one, about something that has something to do with what they're going to study next year. I had to choose a subject in "Education" and I chose "Motivation". I prepared for it quite well and it went really nicely too. I realized (already when I did my first one in the other class I have) that the fact that I have so much experience in teaching and standing in front of a group really helps in life, and not just in these situations.

Since I had to prepare for this, I didn't meet all my girlfriends this week, so I had some time to spend alone. Which was really nice too. Just to realize that I actually do have time to do things, and only coz I insist on meeting 2-3 friends a week (sometimes more) on top of going to yoga twice, on top of uni- that's what makes life so exhausting. But it also helps life look much much nicer.

So now, a week before my German exam (which I'm doing nothing to study for) not having anymore Hebrew lessons (last Sunday was the last one, it's the summer vacation now) I had time to do some arts and crafts, and here's what came out of it:

It's a newspaper holder.



I bought the wooden naked thing in the hobby shop and decorated it myself

and here it is in more details:

and from on top:

Hope I'll do some more things like that in the time I'll have after the exam...

Oh and I still didn't get the answer from Munich.... Hope it gets here next week...

Have a great weekend and week everyone!