My recipe for a perfect weekend

The sun came out and all the ppl came out of their holes. Suddenly anything irritating is much more bearable, it's much easier to spend the whole day with the kids.

We haven't done anything special this weekend, but the fact that we spent most of the time outside, in the sunshine, you can see that the kids are enjoying all this time in the fresh air.... We were just strolling around town yesterday, sitting for food in a small cute café, and I had my hair cut, it looks so much nicer now, which also makes me feel better about myself.

Today we went to the zoo with a friend of mine and her son, the two boys were having so much fun they did not want to go into the stroller and have a nap even though they were both really tired.
We had lunch in the garden, with R's sister who's here for a very short visit, and had some Italian ice cream for dessert. That and the sun light, wow, what a difference in the mood it makes. Unbelievable.

So there you go. All you need is some sunshine, fair temperatures, family or other ppl you love, and some nice activities outside, and you're set.

Enjoy spring everyone,

It's finally here.

Hysterically Quiet

These moments are very rare.
He's resting in his bed, listening to music.
She's sleeping in her bed.

Oh and here he called me.
told you it's rare.

Now you understand why I haven't been writing here lately.

Staying home with two kids is definitely not easy. It also leaves you with no time for anything but taking care of your children. There's always one kid that really needs you.
If you also need to make sure there's something for you and for them to eat, 3 times a day and some snacks, then you're really out of breath.
You're just always engaged in something. It could be "just" holding a baby trying to help it fall asleep, or if it's "just" sitting next to the table helping your older kid eat, or if it's "just" playing with your kid in his room, so that he gets some time alone with you.
It's exhausting. Really.

We got a kindergarten place for R, but he's only going to start in fall, till then I'm "home schooling" him while his baby sister is also home.

There are some magical moments. Yes.

But a lot of the time I feel tired, frustrated and sometimes just overloaded. I think that a 2 year difference between siblings is not optimal, especially, if not exclusively when the older one still doesn't go to day care.  I see other parents of siblings that are both home, and when it's a year difference, it's almost easier, since the older one hasn't yet hit those terrible, horrible twos.
When it's 3 years and more, the older kid can already go to kindergarten (meaning- will have a place in a governmental day care place, by law) which gives the again new mom (or dad, whoever stays at home) a bit of time alone with the baby, which is something I really yearn for now.

I don't know if any of this makes any sense, after the 10 minutes of quietness I had, I was disturbed by multiple reasons. So... I hope you understood at least a bit of it.

Sometimes in bed, just before falling asleep (if that doesn't happen in 2 seconds) I "write" a whole post in my head, but then I never really write it down.

So I hope I will come here again soon and write some of my thoughts.

Have a good week everyone!

Wedding update :-)

Well... I sat down to write about our last 2 weeks, but it always seems so hard to start...

So I guess I'll start where I stopped last time:

My family started coming here on Wednesday, more than 2 weeks ago. My mom and sister landed in Munich and we spent the next 2 days here enjoying what Munich has to give. On Friday early in the morning came my aunt and 2 cousins, and then we headed all north to where our wedding took place.

On that weekend most of Rob's family came over from everywhere, and a lot of our friends. On Saturday night we celebrated our Polterabend, which is an evening in which the friends and family of the couple break a lot of China and make a lot of surprises. That evening was a lot of fun, and every member of Rob's family took part in amusing us with different games and music. After the tradition, we also had to clean the parking lot of the brewery in which the Polterabend took place, from all the China that was broken. This is supposed to show the others how we (the couple) work as a team. They tried to trick us in letting us think that they brought a truck load of porcelain, but inside was just a (relatively) small portion of it. Rob had the most fun looking at my face as I saw the big green truck coming over and reversing into the parking lot. We cleaned for about an hour, and amused our guests... After all that Rob's grandma told me that since we worked so good together, now I am allowed to marry him :-P

That evening passed really fast, and I hardly got to talk to all the people, who came from really everywhere: all over Germany (Dresden, Hamburg, Leipzig, Berlin, Dusseldorf, Munich, Frankfurt, Essen and more), Austria, Spain, France, Belgium, Israel (of course), Estonia, Italy, Switzerland... It was very multi-cultural...

The day after some ppl went home and some spent the day in the area doing some nice stuff. I went with my mom, sis, aunt, 2 friends of my moms and 2 friends of mine to a ncie cafe in the middle of no-where, with really nice nature views. I'll never forget that day, coz my mom decided to fall into a little hole in the ground, covered with grass, getting herself poisened by some plant. It was much funnier than I can explain here, just thinking about her laying there, laughing about herself was the best part of the day!

A couple of days later, all of the girls met in Rob's parents' kitchen, to prepare for the little lunch of the wedding day. I mannaged to burn 2 of my fingers, which was really not funny at the moment. It really hurt!

The wedding day itself was one of the most relaxed and beautiful days I've ever had. I was really not too excited, was always just happy. Rob's family, and his mom especially, went through so much trouble, just so that day will be so special. It really was.

After the wedding we stayed there for another day and then headed back to Munich. On the weekend we drove with my dad and his family to Salzburg, which was really a lot of fun!!!
My brothers are so cute and nice and fun, and in general the scenery on the way and in Salzburg itself was amazing... Was a really fun weekend...

I guess I'll put some nice pictures at some point, just wanted to say hello, and tell a bit about my last 2 weeks.

Now I kinda have to go back to normal life, in one month I have my exam... I really hope that I have a chance to pass it. I don't need more than passing...

Will write soon with some pictures!

Have a wonderful week and weekend!

Towards happy days

Hello to everyone!

In the last few days I've been up, I've been down....
I'll start with some bad news- Goni called me and told me that her daughter is really ill and therefore they wont be able to come to our wedding... Of course I was very disappointed, but that's the way it is when you have kids... I wish her daughter all the best and a lot of health now, that's for sure!

The day after that I decided that, that's it! no more blues!!! As from yesterday: I AM HAPPY!!!

Our wedding is in less than a week, and I decided to not let anything get in my way to being cheerful and excited. Well... I haven't started getting excited yet... But today I'm very excited about my mom and my sister who are coming in a few hours! I'm going to pick them up from the airport, and then take them to their hotel for a rest, in the meantime I'll go to work for a few hours and tomorrow I'm off!

In a very funny way- today and tomorrow are the warmest days of the year here, as if my mom and sis are bringing the weather with them... I like it!

So friends and readers, next time I'll write here I'll probably be married already :-)

I really never thought that a thing like this will make me feel so funny. How weird!

I wish you a very nice weekend and days,

See you soon

Yael

It's time to share some big news

So! The time has come!
Remember I said that when the time will come I'll share some news?

So here it comes:

Rob and I are getting married this summer :-)

Just wanted to share, since now all the ppl that are supposed to hear it from us already did...

It's a big headache, we're planning also a celebration in Israel, on top of the one here in Germany, so we have a lot to organize...

Hope it all goes well with no troubles!

***
My dad visited us last weekend - which was very short but also very nice. He met Rob's parents and it was a nice dinner. I'm lucky to have such a dad and such people around me :-)

Other than that it's all normal, we're going to Dresden this weekend for a short visit - which makes me very happy! I miss my friends from there a lot. Although I did see Paula last Easter here in Munich, which was great. Now I have about 4 more friends to visit there and catch up with.

After that we'll go to Amberg and have an appointment in the city hall to set up some details about are wedding (we're getting married there).

And that's it I guess...

Have a great week you all!

Family visit

Last week, as I told here before, my mom and sis were here for a visit. They arrived on Friday night and left a week later on Friday afternoon. How can I sum it up? It was great, it was tiring, it was fun and it was really full of sight seeing. We were in Berlin for the first 3 days, and we saw a whole lot of it, we met Rob's parents and sister there too, we had a really cool apartment in a hostel called Alcatraz that we all shared (Rob and I and my mom and sis), we had great weather there (blue sky all the time) and basically it was really nice.
Then we drove back to Dresden, and spent 3 days here, saw almost everything there is to see (didn't have great weather but was still nice). I would put pictures but I don't have all of them yet.
On the day that they arrived I did a Toefl test which was one of the most exhausting experiences of my life, I'll get the results in about 3 weeks and we'll see how it went...
Last Friday I drove my sister and mom to the airport (I drove alone to Berlin and back!!!), and after I dropped them off, I met some friends in Berlin and also stayed to watch one of them give his Radio show in Hebrew. It was cool to sit in the studio and see them talk...
Today I had a Hebrew lesson again (the last two weeks were winter break) and it was nice, got some more things to do for them, and hopefully it'll become something regular- and this way I can make some more money every month.
After work I went to meet Cecilia, my Mexican friend, she came back from there a week ago. It was fun seeing her after a long time (almost 3 months).
Now I'm in bed, feel a bit yucky, hope I'll feel better tomorrow, coz I have to go to school after missing more than a week. I feel bad about missing so much, but to be honest, I didn't feel bad about it even for a second for the past week so... why start feeling bad about it now? maybe coz I'm a bit worried that I feel so far away from it now. Hopefully I'll go right in to it again...
This coming weekend my friend Yifat is coming for a visit, almost spontaneously (she told me she might come a few weeks ago, but only decided to really do it today) and it's gonna be a lot of fun!
Tali- my sweet friend- is getting married, she waited all week to tell me that in person on skype and not via e-mail. I told her that I have a phone (!!!) and that she could have called. She said she didn't know... LOL typical Tali! Anyway - it's very exciting and I wish her and her boyfriend (or shall I call him her husband to be?) a big Mazal Tov!!!
Oh and by the way, my cute amazing cell phone from China died totally last week, and now I have a simple Nokia that is ok but is about 10 generations of cell phones back in time... Troubles of the rich...
Have a good week everyone!!!

A time to relax

Yesterday I had an exam. It was coz we finished a level, and we have to take it and pass it in order to go to the next level. My teachers really prepared us well- we practiced a lot, and in the end the exam was much easier than what they prepared us for. The other groups, including my old group, didn't think it was so easy. So again I thank myself for changing the group. Today, while the teachers are checking our exams, we have a day off, and tomorrow we'll get the answers.

I made friends with a real nice girl, who joined my old group the day I left. She's from Chile, and she's cool and fun. She's here coz her boyfriend is from here, so naturally we have a lot to talk about (and complain about..).

Other than that nothing too exciting is going on in my life, Goni had her baby (girl!), Adi's baby is home now after being in the hospital for the first 3 months of his life. I wish them both all the health and sleep and happiness in the world! It's a bit weird that two of my best friends are mothers now... Especially coz it's two girls (are they already women? hmmm...) who were the ones I would guess last to become parents. The one was always late in doing everything everybody else does, plus she's a real researcher, who's doing her PhD now (but on a maternity break). The other... Her I met about 7 years ago, in those days the last thing she wanted was to have kids, and in general she hated those little creatures (even though where we met was in a job of teaching kids hahaha). But life has it's own way of biting you you know where, and even though I was always the one (and still am) that loves kids and almost everything that has to do with them, the one that works with kids, and sees her self doing that for the rest of her life, those friends are still first in line.
At least I know what the reason is... These girls were always the ones that will do things the way they're suppose to be done. I'm, how to say, not really like that... I'm not a crazy person, I'm not a 'real' rebel, not from the outside. I look totally conventional, and if you just see me in the street, you'll never guess exactly what kind of person I am. But if you look at my life you can see, that I'm not necessarily the person who does what everyone expects her to do. Well, that's just me.

I'm knitting a lot lately! I love it! I'm knitting a baby cover for Adi's son, and a scarf for my sister. She's coming in about 3 weeks with my mom!!! YEY!!! I'm so excited about it! Already booked a place for all of us in Berlin (where we'll be for the first 3 days) and a place for them to stay close to where we live in Dresden (for the last 3 days). Now all I have to do is make a list of places in both cities we want to see, and that's it. I miss them a lot, my mom and sis, and it's gonna be great!

Anyway, I really don't have anything exciting to tell,
wish you all a great weekend,

Quiet comes from inside

Thursday morning, we're all set and ready to leave to Sinai with the car. My mom is just getting the last things from home, and Rob and I are already downstairs waiting. I put my sun glasses on my head- to be able to see in the hallway- and they break. hmmm... can't drive without sun glasses all the way to Eilat! not in Israel! My mom says she'll drive to Tel-Aviv until we get to my sisters who's joining us 2 days later, but forgot her passport at my moms place- so we had to go through TLV. I find a good sun glasses store where my sister lives, a chain store in Israel, they have sales for the end of the summer, I find there a nice pair of glasses for only 104 NIS, I'm happy, we go on our way to Eilat. We get to the border with Sinai at about 17:00, cross it, someone we know is waiting for us to pick us up to our usual beach (where we know the owners and we always go to). The place is beautiful and charming as usual. The days go by, The heat isn't so terrible, there are just some really strong and hot winds at night, but we go through it. There's no electricity, so we live according to nature, wake up with the sun (and the flies all over us buzzing and driving us crazy) and go to sleep early, after watching the billion starts and the milky way in the sky. I saw so many shooting starts (always wished for the same thing- not gonna tell you - so it comes true), and was almost relaxed- couldn't stop thinking about my little and annoying country that decided it wants to bomb something in Syria (stupid stupid stupid). A vacation with your mother could sometimes be too much, and I must say that I wouldn't have minded if we went there for a little bit less time. 5 days were a bit too much. We did go see a Bedouin village, and then walked around those amazing red mountains a bit, and one day the sheikh of the tribe there took us with his jeep to the mountains to see some nice colored sand (red, yellow, white, purple, orange...). There was one dog fight at the beach we were staying in, and while I was deciding that I shouldn't be next to it, the dogs pushed me (while fighting each other) I ran and tripped, and got lots of bruises all over. At the same time my glasses, who were laying on the floor (coz the beads jewellery lady was there showing us her stuff on the floor) got stepped on by someone (could be anyone there- there was a big mess) and there went a new pair of glasses to the garbage... I was very annoyed... The rest of the time we just tried to pass the time in the shade, swim in the sea (Rob went snorkeling a lot- I tried once and was too much of a chicken- afraid of all those fish!) caught a tan, ate good food and read a lot.
There's one main thing I got to realize there, even thought it's such a cliche: Being relaxed and quiet comes from inside of you. No nice beaches, no good food, no silence outside will make you happy and peaceful. It must come from you. It can help bring it out, but it'll never happen if you're not really interested in it. And one more thing: Those beaches there can be very deceiving: it's all so beautiful, and almost virgin, and so mesmerizing, but the Bedouin culture, once you're not just a tourist there, and you are exposed to all they're ways, is very complicated and very very chauvinistic. I think I couldn't live in such a culture, coming from where I do.
Tuesday morning we drove back to Israel, I bought the same glasses (but different color) in Eilat (might wanna go change the color here, if they'll have it), and we drove to TLV to drop my sister off. Got home really tired, but still went to meet Yifat who came to Haifa today (needed to have a nice night out in civilization!).
Tonight is the Jewish new years eve- that we celebrate having a big dinner with our family (how can we celebrate something without food??? we're Jewish), and we're spending it at my aunts house.
Everybody: have a SHANA TOVA! (which means- a good year in Hebrew)

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!!!

When you can't say the word "Degrees" (plural) - it means it is COLD

The "Hanukia" I made by myself - just like in kindergarten...

Last Friday I invited some friends for a Hanukkah dinner. Out of the 5 of us we were 2 Jewish ppl that really knew what this is about, and in the end- we had a really nice evening. I made the special food for it, and we lit up the candles. I always enjoy indoor parties and dinners a lot. Sometimes I would defiantly prefer them over going out to a club or pub.
This last weekend had blue skies and less than 5°c... In the evenings it got down to 1°c - which is very freezing for me- especially when the sun is not out and there's a wind... But today it's a bit better, I try to wear more clothes (I'm becoming Chinese in another way- wearing another layer under my pants...) and then I feel rather fine... As long as it doesn't get colder than this (from my experience it doesn't get a lot colder) I'll be fine. The thing is that the houses and buildings are really not isolated - and the AC's really don't help in these low temperatures. We often turn both our AC's on for hours- and last Friday Rob and I were shopping for dinner - and he bought "me" my Hanukkah present- a small fan look alike radiator heater (it's the cutest thing- and it really warms you up- but you have to be kinda close to it).

***

This Saturday evening I talked to my family over Skype- and saw them in the web cam. I know it's no big deal, Rob and I had a whole relationship based on that for more than a year, but when I saw my grandma and my little brother - that was really cool. Apparently until they fixed the Skype on my dad's computer, and installed the web cam in it - My little bro Daniel was so excited and couldn't wait to see me on the screen. When they finally called, and they could see me and hear me- he was totally hyperactive and didn't stop telling me: "I love you, I love you!!!" (he's not even six...). My other brother Gil (who's almost 4) was already asleep- and I hope that I'll be able to see him next weekend... I asked Daniel if he wants to call me the next morning too (they have a Hanukkah vacation) since it's Sunday here- and on Sundays we don't work or study (as apposed to Israel- there Sunday is the first day of the week) he said: "OK, but it CAN NOT take so long as today!!! I'm going to the vacation's activities in kindergarten and I have to leave the house early!!!" LOL I laughed so much... He's such a clever kid - talking to him is so interesting, I can almost talk to him about anything.
I'll try to give more of he's pearls if I have some in the future... It's unbelievable how much I miss my siblings. A LOT.

***

Rob's leaving tomorrow night - going home for Christmas. I'm gonna have 10 days alone in which I don't have school for 3 days, and 1 weekend and one Saturday- meaning out of the 10 days alone- I don't have school for 6 days. I hope I won't bore myself to death... All of my friends here are gone for the holiday - and I seriously do not know what I'll do with that time (did someone say study? NO WAY come on - do you know me at all???)

Back to normal life at last

Rob's family left on Saturday morning. His dad left here on Tuesday already. I spent almost everyday with them- wondering the streets of Shanghai- was really nice walking in places I've seen so many times- but this time listening to his mom tell us all about the buildings and history(reading from her book- I made her leave it here so Rob and I can actually be tourists too). When you live in a place- you usually don't really look at it like a tourist does- you usually don't see things that for someone new are really interesting. Of course I've seen Shanghai in these eyes the first time I've arrived here almost 2 years ago- but I haven't spent so much time touring it then- and after a while I got so used to the scenery that it never looked so interesting and strange to me anymore. This time I could really see it and learn. Rob and I have seen more of and walked more in the streets and spots of Shanghai than we ever did and it actually felt really really nice. On Friday we both spent the day with them- he took a day off- and I just skipped school (bad girl!)- and we went to ZhuJiaJiao- a little Chinese town almost an hour to the west (an hour with traffic). It's very touristic but it was really nice to see how a real old Chinese town looked like. The fact that they actually charge you for the entrance to the town might seem weird at first- but then you see how rather clean it is (compared to Chinese standards) so you forget about it and just enjoy. Rob's mom and sis spent most of their time shopping - buying all kinds of Chinese souvenirs - nice stuff- but the stopping at every store was exhausting. In the end I think they left with a nice collection of Chinese stuff. I have these kind of things since I'm a little girl, and obviously I have a lot of these things from my last stay here- so it's not so easy to excite me with them...
I promise I'll put some pictures soon- as soon as I collect them all from everybody's cameras...
Starting a normal week now... Wish me luck