A post from an airport

I'm in Istanbul. At the airport. There's free internet which is great- helps me pass the time. The flight here was ok, I read my new book the whole time (I'll put it on the list on the right soon). There was an old fat Turkish lady next to me, which totally took half of my space... But the flight really passed fine.

I'm on my way to the shortest visit I ever payed Israel. In total- not including the flight times- it's gonna be only 6 days. In these 6 days I'd like to:
See my dad and his wife and my little brothers.
See my grandma.
See my grandpa (they're divorced).
See my aunt and cousins (from both sides)
Spend time with my mom and sister.
Celebrate my moms birthday in 2 days, with her.
Get a haircut.
Go to the dentist.
Go to the doctor.
See all my friends: including: Yifat, Adi (and her new baby), Goni (and her new baby), Tali (and her new husband to be).
Eat Humus.
Go to the beach whatever weather it is.

Well if I think of something else I'll let you know...

Anyway- wish me a good flight,

Will write again from the holy land!

Back to the heat

GOD it's hot in here. And so humid... Back in Israel if you didn't really understand where is "in here". Got here 2 days ago, my sister picked me up from the airport after a really terrible flight. The one to Istanbul was almost ok but the one from there to Israel was a nightmare: screaming kids and babies, ppl who smoke in the gate (the gate to Israel is always a closed gate for security reasons- just imagine being in a glass room with ppl who smoke, usually it doesn't bother me but that was just rude), ppl touching you, pushing you, ppl who don't know how to form a line, ppl who sit in other ppl's seats on the airplane (yes, in my seat too), ppl who get up from their seat as soon as the seat belt sign is off- and walk around on the plane- bothering the poor stewards, yelling at the stewards and so on... It was the longest 1 hour and 45 minutes of my life (especially coz the flight took off later than scheduled - and we waited on the plane the whole half hour delay). Anyway, my sis picked me up, and we went to her new apartment in Tel-Aviv- very cute apartment! It was the first time after a long time that we slept in the same room, and the same bed, which ended up in us talking half of the night, laughing and telling stories. That was a lot of fun! The next morning my dad came to take us to breakfast, and then my sis and I went shopping for me (have a wedding in 2 weeks and no dress)- I found a dress (very special one), we changed my sisters bedroom a bit (needed some final touches and rearranging) and then we went to Haifa. Dad surprised me again with a rented car- so I can be independent here and go and do whatever I want, so I went to pick it up, and only then I went to my moms.
Luckily someone called me last night about a translation job (saw the adds I put at the uni 2 months ago) so I worked today to get some cash...
Other than that- it's really hot here (a heat wave started yesterday especially for me) and that's about it.

***

[5 days earlier]

On Saturday we went to Berlin. We got there in the afternoon and went to Rob's friend's place- as I said before I really like this guy- and it was a nice feeling to have somewhere nice to crash. We met Rob's cousin for drinks, and then for food, I managed to lose my cell phone (again) and find it (again), we went out to a Poker party (apparently it's big in Germany now- and apparently it's big in Tel-Aviv too), got back really late at night, slept till noon, went to the park, went out for food, and then went up to a really nice bar on top of a roof on the east side of Berlin- right next to Alexander Platz. The weekend was really really nice, and I can't wait to get to Berlin again.

Alex - as seen from the bar on the rooftop

27

That's it. Yesterday I turned 27. Was a normal birthday, lunch with mom and my sis and aunt and Goni (had a really good burger!!!), and went out with my friends at night (drank a whole bottle of wine almost by myself...) and got the nicest present from Rob: tickets to the Arctic Monkeys concert!!! it's gonna be in Dresden and we're gonna go together!!! I was so touched... He wanted to give me something that I wouldn't have to carry back and forth between Germany and Israel- that's brilliant!!! I loved loved loved it, and I can't wait to go...

***

Have a ticket to Germany: July 5th, dad gave me miles to use, so I only had to pay for the taxes (which are pretty much, but a lot less than a whole ticket...) so it saves me a lot of money...
Everybody keeps asking me how I feel about going there, if I can't wait, or I kinda wanna stay here a bit more, and I must say, and that's what I answer: I can't wait. I'm gonna be back in Israel on August 20th, and I hope Rob gets a ticket to come here soon after that, we're planning on spending September here.

***

Charles and Ana left on Tuesday, I went to say bye and spent the whole day in Tel-Aviv with them. Was obviously so much fun! Beach, rest, restaurant... Hope to see them again soon, wouldn't mind doing that in Spain! ;-)

Back in Israel

Wow... I have so much to tell... And I had no time until now... So... I'll start with the last weekend- at Rob's parents' house. We got there on Friday afternoon, after picking up his cousin Vivica who came from Berlin. We were the first to arrive from all the ppl, and so we met all of them when they came. Well- his grandma was already there. Anyway, Friday night I met 9 cousins that I never did and 3 that I already knew. They were all so nice!!! They all spoke good English, so even though they were talking German a lot (and I actually understood a bit of what they were talking about sometimes) and had they're inside jokes (they're a really close family) I always had someone to talk to, and I could always approach them in English and expect them to understand me. OK, so the next day was the day of the big relay race. Rob and his big bro got a detailed plan for everyone- who's supposed to be where and when. I went with his dad to take a picture of the second change- between Georg and Ulrich- 2 brothers. We got there with Rob's Grandma, who was wearing her "Team Captain" T-shirt, and with Vivica. We waited for a while until the team number was announced (to let the next runner know he should get ready to run) and then finally Georg arrived and Ulrich continued with the race. Georg looked a bit worried and told us that he never saw Rob's brother- who was the first runner!!! They just told him that 154 (their number) has collapsed and he can start running his track! We didn't even know what happened to him until Rob's dad went to the hospital to see him... Apparently he ran a bit too fast in the beginning (so he said) and after a while didn't feel so good. A 100 meters (!!!) before the end of his track, he was running up hill and then he doesn't remember what happened, except for the Ambulance that took him to the hospital. Another runner had told him later that he caught him falling. Anyway this whole thing changed some plans- but the team continued running. I left the grandma's car, and joined Rob's car (he dropped off 3 of his cousins and himself), managed to upset him one time too (a big miscommunication) and "run away" from him, took some pictures of the runners and the changes between them (some are still on the camera's film), and generally have lots of fun! It was an exciting day, and everybody was really nice. I even got my own T-shirt with the same "85" in the front, but with my name in capital letters in the back... Was really cool. At the end we were all sitting in the beer tent, eating pretzels and cheese and other typical German food, and waited to hear what place the team ended up in. There were more than 300 teams, and "Elfriedes Enkel" ended up in the 159th place- which is not really bad. A good place in the middle. They were very famous for being one family, there was a reporter that wrote about them for the local newspaper- and made the grandma feel very special and a celebrity, and Rob's brother was famous for being the only one that was evacuated to a hospital that day...

The next day was my last day in Germany, we all had a big breakfast together (I helped Rob's mom bake Pita bread and make Tehina and Humus) and then slowly slowly all the cousins scattered away. I spent a few more hours with Rob (I miss you...) and then his big brother took me to the airport on his way home. We got there a bit too early (3 and a half hours before my flight) so I had a lot of time to kill, but it passed and I realized that I'm gonna see my sister soon... After a year and 8 months I haven't seen her at all... Slept about half of the flight, and then landed... Didn't recognize my sis (lost a lot of weight and got a new haircut) she had to wave so I know it's her... She looks great! I missed her so much... I used to dream about meeting her- every week since I went away...

Got home saw my mom, saw my dog (cute and old!), and met my best friends (except for Yifat- she's still not here- studying hard for her exams- I'll see her in 10 days), and tomorrow I guess I'll go see my grandparents and my dad and brothers.

That's it. Oh yeah- I already ate Humus!!! today... It was great!

Not much more to say,

Oh- Today is my sister's birthday!!!

Happy Birth Day Nitzan!!! Love ya!!!

A post from a plane

This post was written on the airplane between Shanghai and Frankfurt:

After packing our suitcases we were sure we each have more than the 20kg limit. The problem was that I really had nothing I could throw away or leave behind anymore, in my suitcase were my clothes and shoes and that's it. Even after sending boxes to Germany, and giving my dad a very heavy bad of mainly books and presents, I still had lots of clothes I wanted to have with me in Germany now, and I just could not dispose any of them. So after sitting on our suitcases to make them close and taking all of our heavy things on our backs we left Andrew's place at 09:00am and headed to the airport. It was raining and cold, perfect weather to not make you want to stay another day.We called a taxi from upstairs already- but coz of the time (rush hour) and the rain we ended up waiting for 30 minutes. We were already thinking about taking the subway, when a taxi arrived. There was a lot of traffic, but we still made it for Rob's check-in- which was first. We separated, I went to my check in counter and stood in line. Rob was done first, and came to meet me- he told me that he had 29kg but they let him through with no prob. Probably coz with British Airways the new regulations don't allow you to take a big carry on so they're more understanding about weight. It was my turn and I went to the desk. They weighed my suitcase and it was 28kg. Then- the mean insensitive Chinese guy in front of me said: "you have overweight". I asked how much, and he replied: "8kg. You're only allowed to take 20kg." FUCK. I asked and begged and tried to reason with him (even though I knew that there's no reasoning with Chinese ppl), but still this SOB kept on saying the words: "8kg" "overweight" "I can't help you" "regulations". The tears started coming out of my eyes, and I got really annoyed. By that time Rob took my suitcase aside and opened it to see what I can take out of it. I kept saying that there's nothing more to take out, and in the end we put my other coat and hiking shoes outside, and tied them to my backpack. We took 2 other things out, things I can try to get in Germany again, and put my suitcase on the scale. It showed 25kg. I was so annoyed and upset I kept telling the ppl behind the counter that coming here i was allowed to take 26kg, and that only in China I see this kind of thing. Rob convinced the guy to "only" charge me for 4 extra kg and the guy let us put the 2 thing I was about to throw- back in the suitcase (I still think he's and SOB). You're prob wondering why I was so upset with the overweight issue to begin with. So I'll give you a few reasons:
1. It costs 30€ per kg!!! That is about: 300RMB, 45$, 180NIS. PER KG!!! Wankers.
2. All the stuff I took out of my suitcase ended up on the airplane anyway. So why does it matter where???
3. My carry on baggage consists of one backpack with my laptop and huge camera, one small backpack with lots of books , one small bag with my wallet, passport etc. one "The north face" Jacket attached to my bigger backpack, and a pair of hiking boots- dangling from it too. This sucks!!! And it's very heavy. Very. And I have to carry it through a connection in Frankfurt.

Anyway, for the time being the last few hours in China left me with no will to return...

***

On the airplane now... It's different to take a morning flight, the scenery is beautiful, I could see Beijing, and the deserts beyond, places that I would prob never reach. The one road on the ground was so alone, it was so easy to spot. Big factories in the middle of no-where, maybe nuclear plants, who knows.

***

I'm listening to some Chinese music I downloaded from Andrew. Mostly things from the last few years. The idea was to bring some Chinese pop songs to my mom and sis, who showed an interest in how it would sound like. So now I'm listening to the Albums so I can tell later on what's a better representative for Chinese kitch cheesy love songs.

***

I fell asleep for like 10 minutes with departure, but then I woke up when they handed us the flight menu and a snack. It was little pretzels (Beigale- as we call it in Hebrew) something I missed and dreamed of for months now. Funny to fulfil my dreams on a plane...

***

I just asked the old lady sitting next to me how to read the name of the Chinese album on my i-pod (she's Chinese). I could read the first 3 characters but the forth was a mystery. I think she was a bit impressed. LOL

***

I just talked to her a bit (in Chinese). She's going to Spain, coz she works there for the past more than 20 years.

***

That's it- that's what I wrote on the airplane. I'm in Dresden now, Germany, and I'm sitting in Rob's uni, using his log-in to connect to the wireless internet. He's gonna come here in about 30 minutes, to meet me after class, and we'll continue the hunt for an apartment. Tomorrow I hope to write again here- I have lots to say about only one day in Dresden...

Last day in Shanghai

Qingcheng hou Shan (Qingcheng back mountain)
On the way up

Last week in Sichuan was great and the weather was nice to us. On Sunday, as I already mentioned, we went to see the cute and adorable Panda bears in the Panda breeding center in Chengdu. I could watch these animals forever!!! Here's a picture that kinda sums up what they do all day, and how lazy and cute they are:

Lazy and sweet
Panda.

On Monday we took a bus to a place called Qingcheng Shan (read it like tsingcheng, Shan = mountain). There are two main places there- the main front mountain- which has a few temples on top, and some cable cars, and the back mountain- where we went- a bigger nature reservation, with one temple on top, and a few villages. We got there just after noon, and started climbing up. It was so beautiful! They did put stairs all the way, and from concrete of course- but they did it really nicely and even made the concrete look like real wood. The vegetation was amazing, a bit subtropical, and lots of it, it was so great to breathe such clean air in China.

Lots of waterfalls and fresh air

It took us about 3-4 hours to climb to the first village, and since it was already getting late, we decided to stay there the night and go down the mountain the next day from the other side. The village was obviously for tourists, most of them come there just to have lunch and then they continue going down. The room we took cost us 80 Yuan a night, which was the price after negotiating… It wasn't a nice room and it was cold there all evening (we slept with the sleeping bag on us and 2 more blankets to be warm) but we referred to it as just a place to sleep in and leave first thing in the morning. We had an expensive dinner as well, but at least it was quiet there and we were the only tourists there at night so it was nice. The next day we woke up (I already fell asleep at 20:00, and slept all the way to 08:00!!!) had breakfast and headed up to the top of the mountain- so we can go down the other side.

The bridge might look like it's made of wood,
But it's made of concrete.
Still- it's nice work.

Up on top (about 1600 meters high) the air was actually a bit thinner, and I found it harder to go up these last "few" stairs, even though the last day I had climbed so many of them with almost no prob. The way down was just as beautiful as the way up, if not more in certain spots. Again- it was all green, with lots of waterfalls, streams and the sound of beautiful colorful birds.

At the bottom of Qingcheng Hou Shan

We got back to Chengdu on Tuesday evening after trying to get there the shortest and fastest
way- but obviously in China that doesn't work, in the end you find yourself sleeping on a van for an hour- just to find out that the driver doesn't have enough ppl to go to Chengdu with, so you get off, after wasting so much time, and take the normal bus through the bus station, that brakes down in the middle of the highway, the driver goes to the back of the bus, with a screwdriver, does whatever he has to do, and keeps on going…

The last two days in Chengdu we basically enjoyed the nice weather, and met Kevin and Wang a lot, and had good food. We booked a flight back to Shanghai, with e-long (booking company online), and found out that they didn't reserve the tickets for us with the discount price (the prices change every day) coz we didn't send them a confirmation with a signature by fax. We called them and explained that the problem is that they sent us the e-mail requesting a signature in Chinese- and what can we do- we can not read Chinese, and the woman in their call center, who spoke English to us on the phone when we booked the tickets- should have known!!! After a big mess, and a lot of stress they agreed to give us the discounted price, and we could relax until Friday afternoon- the time of our flight back.

We spent the last few days here at Andrew's place, which is great – coz it feels so homey. My dad was here for a really short visit yesterday, he made so much effort to be able to be here while I'm still here, that he took a flight that goes through Istanbul and Bangkok as well… it took him about 40 hours to come here…. We spent the day together, and had a Chinese dinner at the small restaurant we went to with Kevin and Wang (the one with the old lady who speaks English, and never moved out of Shanghai). Today he already flew to his next business stop, taking with him a small bag full of stuff I have no room for, and want them to get to Israel. Thanks dad!!!

Tomorrow's our flights to Germany, I can't believe I have less 24 hours left here, I haven't left China in about 7 months and it feels weird to leave now- and leaving to Germany, not to Israel yet…

I'll try to get connected to the internet in Dresden again, but most likely we wont have internet for a while, at least until we're settled in our apartment- which we still have to choose (Rob's making appointments for us right now to see places when we're there). In the first few days we'll stay in a Zimmer (the German word for "room", it's apartments for rent for a few days, instead of taking a hotel) and hopefully we'll find an apartment that we like as soon as possible!

OK that’s it for now, hope to write here again soon!

P.S please see the pictures I added to the last post

A different kind of goodbye

I went with Rob to the airport last night. Being there really made me regret not going- but I blame the airport flame - that feeling you get when you're there- like no matter how great your life can be somewhere- you just wanna go somewhere else... Standing in line with all the people taking his flight- and not taking it myself... hmmm... Of course I've noticed something else I've been feeling while being there- it was as if we don't know how to say goodbye just for a few days... We're so accustomed of saying goodbye for a long period of time - that we couldn't stop being sad and kissing each other as if the next time we meet is in a year... Then I realized he's only going for 10 days (well 11 but who's counting?) and this is ridiculous! I smiled at him and let him go...
Being alone in this flat is kinda weird- before- in Israel- I had my own place and when Rob was there it was always full of light and warmth. Then when he left- it felt empty again- but it was still my place and after a little while I got used to being alone there and enjoyed it. It was all decorated to my taste, with lots of pictures I took on the walls, my little things everywhere. Most of the furniture was mine - and when Rob was gone- I could still feel natural there. But here- this flat is not just mine- it's actually ours. We didn't put any pictures on the walls (I guessed it's not worth it for 6 months - maybe I was wrong- but we're almost in the middle of that period already- so what's the point) and all of the furniture is the flat owners'. It's weird waking up here - without him reminding me what I'm actually doing here...

***

I skipped school today- thought I don't feel like going there so early in the morning after getting home late last night. Tomorrow I guess I'll go- and the next day- what will probably be good for me- to keep busy. I also got an invitation for a Candle Lighting tomorrow night at the place of a couple I met here- he's from Israel, she's Belgium and Jewish and they met when she studied in Israel. I hope it'll be good there- coz I have no idea who else is coming, but as I wrote here before- especially when you're alone in this city you should force yourself to go to places even if you're not sure you'll know anyone there...

Leaving today...

Haven't heard from Rob since yesterday... I'm worried... I hope he contacts me before I leave today- I'm leaving in 2 hours... And I'm really anxious... I can't even write anything right now... I'll go shower now and get ready... I'll try to write here as soon as I'm online again... I have a 4 hour flight to Frankfurt - then 3 hours in the airport, and then 11 hours to Shanghai. A long trip- and if I wont hear from Rob until I go- I'll go crazy really...
Taking deeeeeeeeeeeeeeep breaths... Trying to relax...

It's sinking in

Rob's on his way to Shanghai right now. He still has about 3 hours to go till landing. The last few days, while he was packing his stuff, and spending time with his family- it hit me: he's leaving soon to China, which means that I'M NEXT. It suddenly sunk in that it's really close. I think it made me more excited than him about his flight.
I still have 15 days to go- which is not a lot really. There's so much I still have to do... Like getting the Chinese Visa. And going over my Chinese (still VERY lazy...). And packing up- deciding what to take and what not. Buying all kinds of stuff I know I can't find there. I think I need a list.

***

Not doing anything can be a lot of "work". Well it can really be a time spender. I read all day, and I go to the gym, and everyday I do one chore. Like today I called my x-boss and told her where to send the last paycheck to. And I took my car out of the garage. And went to the gym. A busy day! LOL... It's so sad- I can't stop laughing...
So you see... Right now It's not the most amusing thing- to read my blog- but I assure you! In 2 weeks time- It'll be a lot better...