111

111 out of 120!!!

That's how much I scored on the Toefl test.

YEY!!!


SO HAPPY!!!

It was worth doing it!

Yoga!!!

Signed up for Yoga today!!! In a really nice place, a place only for Yoga, it looks like a million dollars, and I got a fair price (they even gave me a discount coz I'm a student, even though I didn't ask for one). I just finished one class, and it was great, I understood almost everything the teacher said- which was really nice too, gave me a boost and a smile about my German...

Really happy about it!!!

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!!!

Leseratte

As I wrote here yesterday, I made bookmarks for my Chinese classmates (I actually made enough for everyone in the class coz the Chinese are already more than half...), and coz M had asked to see pictures- here are they in all their glory:

On this side it says:
'Leseratte'.
Which means in German:
Bookworm,
but literally it means:
Reading rat.

On this side
(sorry for the bad quality picture)
it says:
新 年快乐
(xin nian kuai le)
which means in Chinese:
Happy new year.

I hope they like it!!!

Writers block

Well I don't really have a block... or do I? Anyways, I just don't feel like writing...

In short- last weekend we were at Rob's parents, to see a concert that his little brother was a part of. It was a really cool concert, of his school big band (121 ppl on stage), they played all instruments, and all kinds of new music. It was really fun to watch and to hear.

We took one of the cars to Dresden, coz on Friday- my mom and sis are coming!!! They're landing in Berlin, we're gonna be there with them for 3 really busy days, (I'm also taking a Toefl test that day, wish me luck), they're gonna meet Rob's parents (everybody is quite indifferent about it except for Rob's father- who can't stop talking about it), and then we're gonna drive back to Dresden for another 3 days of tourism and fun!

I really need this break from the studies, it's not harder now, but it's too monotonous, we keep training the same things (which is exactly the purpose of this course) and I'm getting tired of it.

Rob and I started today a new thing: German Mondays. We decided that every Monday we only speak German with each other- and so far (it's close to midnight) it worked very well.

This week it's Chinese new year, I'm making something cute for the 5 ppl in my class who celebrate it (a book mark in the shape of a Rat - the animal of the new Chinese year. It fits perfectly to the German word for "book worm" - Leseratte = a reading rat).

Ok, getting too late for me, hope I'll get to write again soon, before my mom and sis are here,
if not- I promise a full report in less than 2 weeks!

Inscapism

I went to the movies last night with my German friend. It was an Israeli movie called: "The Bubble". I don't wanna tell you exactly what it is about, but in short it's about love between a Jewish Israeli man and a Palestinian man. It's about impossible love. Politically and Socially. It was a good film, not the best I ever watched, but a good one that makes you think. Well... It makes ppl that are not Israeli's think. Me? I just got depressed.
Usually ppl who go to the movies want their good nice piece of escapism. They want to run away for 2 hours. Get away from normal life. This movie for me, as an Israeli, especially one that lives abroad, was a lot more inscapism than escapism. It totally drew me back to the problems there. Took me there by force, like there was a vacuum there that just sucked me back in. I tried to resist but it just didn't work, the force was much stronger than me. It pulled me in like a black hole, and really, there was nothing I could do. It started taking me back to the sad reality. It was worse than reading the news. I can't stop thinking about it. I went to sleep thinking about it. The first thing that crossed my mind when I opened my eyes this morning- was the ending of the movie. Again- I don't wanna spoil it for you- but I'll just say that I got so depressed. The whole day in school today I couldn't think about anything else. And it's not like there's not nice and happy things going on in the movie. There are! But the sad things... And these sad things- they're not even that realistic (to my opinion) they are a bit exaggerated, but still, they made their point. And it did it's job- it made me sad.
The last thing someone says in the movie is something like:

"Maybe one day ppl will see that fighting in wars is so stupid, and loving is so much better.

Nahhh.... No one will."







And on this happy note-
I'll just wish a happy birthday to my cute brother Daniel: he's 7 years old today!!!

Arts & Crafts

Hello you all!
Last Friday I got the results to my exam. As I expected, I passed, I even got a "2" which is like the American "B" (well, kind of). I'm happy with it, and now I started the second course (with the same teachers and except for 3 ppl- the same students). My Chilean friend passed as well- and now she's in my class, and I'm really happy for her, coz she used to be in my old class, and as you already know- it sucked. Not surprisingly, most of the ppl who didn't pass the exam were from that class. I really feel bad for them coz I know it's mainly the fault of their pathetic bad teachers... Oh well, being a real Israeli (who fights for her rights) did pay off!

I finally finished the baby blanket I made for Adi's baby
(who looks so cute in the pictures she sends me),
it took me a few months to knit it, and here are the results:

Baby blanket - over view


Baby blanket - closeup 1


Baby blanket - closeup2

Baby blanket - closeup 3

I'm going to send it to her tomorrow via post, and since she doesn't have any time to read my blog nowadays (having a baby might do that to you...) I feel free to put the pictures here before she even gets it.

P.S Liya! you see? I made it bigger, babies, as you mentioned, do grow fast!!!

Till next time!

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,

American History - the south park version

A dark fairy tale

The next pictures were taken in the little forest

on the hill close to where Rob's parents live.
We took a walk there on x-mas eve,
in the early afternoon.
Because of the frost on the trees
(it's not snow!)
everything looked as if it froze while growing,
as if time stopped,
and it gave the feeling of being in a dark fairy tale.
If you look really close-
you might see the white witch...
(you can click the pictures to make them larger)

The next picture was taken on a frozen lake,
we wanted to ice skate
but there were no more skates for rent in the shop.


In this one you can see me standing on my skies,
waiting for Rob to take my picture,
not noticing he already did...
Look at the nice view,
and what beautiful days we had.



And here is one picture of the x-mas tree,
with most of the presents around it.