Argentina part III

Where was I? I can´t remember when was the last time I posted, or rather, I can´t remember where I was the last time I posted something. Was I in Cordoba? Oh, yeah, we just arrived to Mendoza from Cordoba. So I can tell you a bit about Mendoza and the Andes, and then about what we´ve done in the last week.

Mendoza is a tricky city. It´s not the nicest one, but around it there´s a lot to do. We got there on new year´s eve, and in the evening we tried to find a nice restaurant to have dinner in, but since the Argentines, just like the Spanish, eat dinner on that evening with their families and then, after midnight, go out and party all night, there was maybe one restaurant open where we could eat. So we ate and then wondered the very empty streets of town, and then sat in one of the Plazas and watched the fireworks. It was nice, and we were already tired, so we didn´t stay in town to party, and just went back to our B&B (which was really not the best one in town).

On the first day of this year we got up late and then we went white water rafting. It was really great!!! This time, since we did that in Austria as well, I was really not nervus or afraid of falling into the water, although there were a lot more rapids than when we were in Austria, coz I knew what I have to do to get along. It was really fun! The river is really fast and brown from the soil there, and the mountains around it are all brown and dry, since it´s in the middle of the desert.

The next day we did a little trip with a group to the wineries around Mendoza, and we met two nice guys to spend the day with. The wine was nice, and we also visited an olive oil factory.

The last day in Mendoza we took another trip with a group and went towards the mountains, to see some known spots, and above all to see the Aconcagua, the highest mountain in the Americas. It was a great day and a great trip, really worth it. The views were amazing, we went up to 3100 meters above see level, and altough in the middle of the desert, on the Chilian border in summer- it was really chilly.

After that we took a night bus to Bariloche, in Patagonia. The view change a lot on the way. At night, from the bus we saw an amazing thunder storm from far, and millions of stars.
Bariloche is a really nice town, with lots of good chocolate and ice cream and local beer. We spent the night in a really nice hostel on the lake, and the next day took our own car and drove around it all over the national park Nahuel Huapi. The amount of water around here is unbelievable, and the views are simply divine. So much green, and so much just nature.

On the next day, after driving around the whole park almost, we went for a hike on a peninsula, that took us the whole day. It was really nice walking in the woods on a half island.

I gotta go, so I´ll continue another time, promise!!!

Have a nice weekend!

Argentina Part II

Hello again!
or shall I say Hola?

anyway, hello to you from Mendoza in Argentina, right next to the Andes.
We arrived here this morning, after a 10 hour bus ride from Cordoba. I slept 8 hours of it of course :-)
In the last few days we travelled around with a car in the Cordoba province which is in the Sierras. It was fantastic! So many beautiful sights, mountains of all kinds, animalls (Condors!), lovely little restaurants and a nice small B&B. The views were amazing, and we were really glad that we took a car for these days. The first day we had a walk in a national park for a few hours, was really really nice, although we both got a sun burn on our necks. We´re both red necked now. LOL
On the second day we wanted to go to some natural swimming pools, but the weather at night and in the early morning wasn´t the best for that. So we took the car and drove around the little towns there. Was worth it for sure. Long roads, big mountains on the one side, small hills on the other, everything here is amaizingly GREEN, everywhere. Totally looks like the promissed land.
Argentina has unbelievably nice landscapes and really nice people. Oh and of course, the food is great.
Today we´re having an easy day, and tomorrow we´re going white water rafting. I´ll let you know how it all went again in a few days.

Till then, have a happy new year you all, I wish you success and health in 2010.

Adios!

Argentina part I

Hello you all!

I´m posting this from Cordoba, Argentina. The weather is great! it´s about 25 degrees here and it´s so cool to wear summer clothes in December!

We landed in Buenos Aires on Friday night, and spent Saturday there. The city is huge, so we didn´t get to see much, but we have another 3 days there in the end of our trip.

Today we flew to Cordoba, a nice city in the Sierras of Argentina. We saw some of the city today, which has a lot of cultural things to offer, and tomorrow we´ll do the same and just have fun and relax.

While walking the streets of Cordoba we bumped into a friend of Rob´s from Sweden, which was totally funny. We´re having dinner with him and his friends tonight.

It´s my first time on this side of the planet, so I´m excited about the fact that the water in the toilet flush swirling against the clock. hahaha

anyway, I´ll continue having fun, you take care

cheers!

Wasserburg am Inn

On one of the last Saturdays we went to a lovely little town called Wasserburg am Inn (= Wasserburg on the river Inn). It is known for it's x-mas market so we went to check it out.

The town itself is a typical German little town, with nice houses and a river.
We parked next to the old train station, just in the entrance of the town, and walked in. I was sitting in the car for so long, not moving, that I really almost froze when we went out.
But after a walk through the really small but nice x-mas market, I warmed up a bit.

After looking around and seeing what's up, we stopped for lunch. We saw a fish stand, and had the most amazing fish sandwich I've ever eaten. I had a lightly fried trout in a baguette, with horse radish and cream spread and one lettuce leaf. Rob ate a Saibling tartar (it's a mouse from a kind of fish that is quite common here, in English it has two names that I don't really know: Fingerling & Samlet) and he also had the smoked salmon. The guy that sold it to us told us that he breeds the fish on his own, and also cooks them and everything. I wish I could eat at his stand every day. Yes. It was that good.

After that we were thirsty and went to the next stand that sells mulled wine and hot apple cider. We chose the cider. We got it in the most cute cup I've ever seen. It was a typicall blue glazed ceramic cup, but it looked like a little shoe! It looks like this one, but in blue with x-mas and snow painting on it: http://www.hood.de/img/thumbs/1828/18283360.jpg
I liked it so much, that I insisted on asking the lady if we could take it with us, in exchange of not getting the diposite back. I knew she's probably going to want a bit more for the cup, since it is such a nice one, and so she asked for an extra Euro and that's how I got the cuttest cup that ever entred my house.

That day ended in a really nice cafe, in the old city hall. We had the German Kaffee und Kuchen (coffee and cake) and then we went back home.

I really recomend a stroll in this x-mas market if you're in the area :-)

So here are a few pictures from there:

and a closer look:

NEW

We got our couch!!!

It's actually a sofa-bed, but it's great. It's comfortable as a couch and as a bed (well, not from our own experience, but was the most comfortable one we tried in the stores). It's red and it's really nice! It's so nice to own your own couch, you can't believe it. We haven't had one since we were in China, there we had a really bad and ugly Ikea (we think) couch that used to sink in the middle, where ppl sat on it most of the time.

And what else is new?

We got tickets to Argentina!

We're going for a honeymoon there for 3 weeks! I'm so excited!
Now all we have to do is decide what we wanna see there and what we'll have to leave for the future, hoping we'll be back there at some point in our lives, coz Argentina is huge and seems like there's way too much to do there! Any tips will be appreciated.

So that's really nice, I wish you all a great week!

The return

Hey!
Last night we got back from a 9 day visit in Israel, in which we had a big wedding celebration. The evening went really well, it was short and fun.
The week after that we spent with Rob's family traveling around Israel.
In the first few days the weather was just shit. really. It didn't stop raining, and the temperatures were really low for the season. I couldn't believe it. We were there on the only 4 days that it rained in this month. It was warm and sunny before and after we were there. That was really annoying.
At least we got about 2 nice days, and spent them on the dead sea and in Tel-Aviv.
We both feel like this visit was too short, and that we didn't get to do what we like doing when we're there. We were basically tour guides, and went from one place to another very often.
We were so busy all the time, it felt like we don't get to see or do anything. I would have loved to stay there for another few days, just in Haifa and in Tel-Aviv, enjoy the sun, the people, the food and all. But we had to go back home...
Hopefully we'll have a nice visit next time, which will really be considered as a holiday...

and to something totally different:

I have really happy news,

I passed the exam!!!

But since I already missed this semester, I guess I'll have to sign up to the next one and start one semester later than I wanted. On the one had I feel like it's a serious waste of time, and on the other hand I feel like it's going to be good for me to have a semester off of studying hard after a year like that. So I'll try to get the most out of this free semester.

Next week we're getting our new sofa bed, which we ordered more than 2 months ago. Everything takes ages in this country. really.

So have a great week you all,

it's always weird going back to work after so long that I haven't been there.

long time

Wow it's been more than a month since last time I wrote here.
I guess that it means that life is boring :-)

There's really nothing new in my life. Well I signed up at a cheap gym,
and I hope that I'll be able to go there twice a week, on top of the once I go to Yoga classes.
Other than that I was a bit ill this weekend, but now I feel a bit better,
and since I'm not the only one at work that is ill- I'll go today for a few hours to help out.

Tomorrow is Rob's birthday! Can't tell you what I bought coz he might read it before ;-)

We're planning the wedding celebration in Israel, and the trip with Rob's family there.
Most of the stuff is already organized.

So just came in for a quick hello and to say that really, life is all the same and therefore there's no news!

Have a nice week everyone!

The world after the exam

Yesterday I had my exam. Hopefully the last one on my way to a Masters... I have a good feeling about it, but you never know how petty people are about the answers, so I guess I'll just have to wait and see... I only need a bit more than 50% to pass it, and now I'm crossing my fingers, hoping I did...

Right now I'm so tired, so exhausted, I think I haven't felt so tired in months really... All the pressure of the wedding and this exam just comes out as if it were Lava from a volcano...
Tomorrow I plan on sleeping in as long as I want, since I'm only working in the evening. I hope that will be the solution to this tiredness.

Now we have to start taking care of things that we left for after my exam. Like writing thank you cards for all the people who came to celebrate our wedding and party with us, like planning the wedding party in Israel, which is getting closer and closer, like maybe even printing a small wedding album, like helping Rob's family plan their trip to Israel and so on... The list doesn't end.

So I'm still alive, didn't go anywhere :-)

Now that I have time (and went shopping and bought myself some after-exam-nice-clothes) I really feel like cooking and baking!!! The Jewish holidays are coming, and I hope I have someone to host here and cook for. After a few experiences of doing such holidays at Jewish communities, I realized that I prefer doing it with a small group of ppl, whom I love and enjoy being with, and I totally enjoy home made food better than the kind that ppl make in masses for a big holiday dinner at the community.

Anyone up for a Gefüllte Fish?

Mini honeymoon in Austria

On Monday evening we came back from our little honeymoon weekend, which was GREAT!!!

We drove south on Friday afternoon, taking the old road (Roßfeldstraße) that used to connect Germany with Austria. Some of that road goes on the mountain range right on today's border. The views from there are amazing, really breathtaking.

On the way to Austria

You basically cross the border in a village called Halein, which some of it's houses are in Germany and some in Austria. Totally cool, but also a bit funny... Imagine that your neighbors that live just across from you live in a different country. Today with the EU there is no real border in between, but there used to be a check point there.

Bumblebee!

So we drove down to Salzburg (the region not the city) and ended up next to Abtenau (a small town), in a nice B&B that Rob's siblings booked for us as a wedding present. The B&B was really in the middle of a very small not-even-a-village, and the view from our balcony was so beautiful, it was nice just to sit there and stare.

The view from our balcony

The next day we went to some gorge in the area, and had a nice walk in it, next to the river Lammer. It was a really nice one and a half hour walk, very easy and pretty.

Lammerklamm

The Lammer

After that we drove to a lake (Halstättersee), and did a bicycle tour around it. Of course I was all tired when we had to go up hill (sometimes the path next to the lake went on the hills) and had to push my bike up...

Halstättersee

I managed to ride around 3/4 of the lake, and then we sat down on a nice beach and got a little bit of a tan.

Halstättersee

Rob went to get the car from where we left it, and we drove back to the B&B. In the evening we went to the "Big Festival" of Abtenau, only to see that a big festival in their eyes is the small pedestrian when it's full of ppl, and the choise between saussage and chicken in the food stands. It was really nice though, and we sat most of the time with the daughter of the owner of the B&B and her friends.

On Sunday Rob went up the Postalm (a mountain nearby) with his bicycle, and I met him afterwords in the parking lot (I came with the car).

On the Post alm

View from the Post alm

We walked up the mountain, had lunch on top, ran away from mad cows, went down and drove to a really nice lake to swim and catch a bit more tan.

View to Wolfgangsee

The weather in these few days was so amazing, the sun was always shining, and everything looked so clear that it was so tempting to take more and more pictures. I promise to add them to this post later, but now I don't have time to download them- and apperantely also no space on my hardrive...

On Monday morning we went white water rafting, which was also a part of the present from Rob's siblings. It was so much fun!!! I, of course, was a bit worried and afraid before that, but it was really not as chalanging as I thought it'll be, and I really enjoyed it.
After that we had lunch in Abtenau, and then we went to a Summerslide (which is actually called a Toboggan in English), we waited on top of the mountain for more than an hour in the sun, and in the end we both thought that it wasn't quite worth it. Anyway - it was a nice experience for me, since I never took one before...

We came home tired but really happy, we got to see so much in such little time, and also got to relax and really get away for 3 days. One really nice surprise that awaited us in our room in the B&B was a bottle of champagne with two glasses, on each the initials of one of our names. That was aranged by Rob's family of course, and was really really cool.

So, that's it- I really promise to put here some pictures as soon as I solve the capacity problem. I guess I'll have to start using my external hardrive only, when it comes to downloading pictured... bummer...

Wish you all a nice end of the week,

I have to continue studying now (exam in 2.5 weeks)...

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!