A little peek into the life of a woman who followed her heart around the world, and found herself living in a country she'd never imagined living in.
Welcome to my world: Israel-China-Germany-France
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!
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!!!
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
(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.
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!
