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!

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

Breathe in, breathe out

I guess that if I tell you that organizing a wedding is not the most fun thing in the world, I wont be telling you anything you haven't already heard.

But really- IT'S NO FUN AT ALL!!!

I find myself thinking if I'd even enjoy that day.

I'm more looking forward to the party we're organizing before the wedding, to which a lot more ppl are invited. A lot of friends I haven't seen in a while are coming to this party.

Unfortunately, since my grandpa died exactly 30 days before the wedding, my dad and his wife and my 3 brothers can't come to that event, but they're coming to the wedding itself- which makes me really happy.

My friends from Israel? only one couple is coming and even they said they might not be there for the first event. They might be traveling around the area with her parents instead. I mean. WTF?! they're coming to Germany especially for our wedding, and they're gonna be in the area on the date of that party, but they're not gonna come?! I sent them an e-mail saying that it's important for me that they're there. I hope they get the message.

I keep feeling like this wedding has nothing to do with me. All the ideas on how to do things and what to do weren't mine. I feel like I lost it somewhere and it became other ppl's event.

nowadays I'm doing my best to bring these little things that will make the difference, the ones I thought about- to make it come closer to how I imagined it to be. A bit more of "me" and "us" into this wedding, for the balance.

I really don't know who might be reading this- but I had the urge to spill it all out.

I want to feel comfortable on that day. I wanna feel like myself. I want to hear only music I like on that day, or that I chose. I want to be able to spend time with whoever I want whenever I want. I want to feel in my own skin, to be happy and relaxed, not to think all the time if the 30 ppl around me get along with each other...

I'll be glad when it's behind me and went well.

...

I don't have a title for this post.

My grandpa past away this morning.

Just felt a real urge to post this.

Especially because I'm here and my whole family is there.

My dad and sister told me both that I really shouldn't come, or more accurate- there's no need for me to come to Israel now. As my dad said loving him from afar is the same as loving him from home. It still doesn't feel as if it's the right decision to make. But I guess that's the way it is. I'll have to deal with my sorrow here.

I can't tell you how sad I am. Losing such a grandpa is a real lost.

My grandpa.... Here I want to write "is". I guess I'll have to get used to saying "was".

A man who seemed to catch languages as if from the air. A man who accepted the people he loved with a big hug and no judgments. A man who believed that work is all we have and without work a man is not a man. A man who told me in our last conversation on the phone, that a husband is a present one should be thankful for... An old fashioned man, with a huge heart and a lot of life wisdom. A man who never stopped learning. A man who was never afraid of telling me that he loves me. A man who took care of his wife although it was already hard for him as well. A man who was modest and generous at the same time. A man who never got stuck in the past, and learned from his life experiences. A very beloved man and a very special grandpa to his 7 grandchildren and 1 great-granddaughter.

I will never forget the times we went to visit him as kids. Going to my grandpa always meant being treated like birthday girls, no matter the time of the year. He loved sweets, and always gave us birthday bags with sweets and candy in them as we left his apartment. His wife would cook the most delicious food for us. The kind of food one yearns for. Visiting my grandpa was always a celebration.

He used to always have Mentos candy in his car.

When we came to his shop he would urge us to take with us more and more clothes.

Every time I was there, in his shop, there would be somebody coming in, trying something on and saying later that they can't pay for it. My grandpa would write down in his little notebook the amount and name and let the person pay whenever they could.

He had a small bag of money in a drawer, with just a few coins in it. It was there to give to the beggars and religious guys coming to collect donations. He always gave a Shekel or two. He said the reason he has this little bag is that this way they can't see all the money he has in his cashier.

He would let women take mans pants with them home to let their sons and husbands try it for free at home and bring it back if the size was wrong.

He could always put himself in other peoples shoes.

I already miss him.

Praying for my grandpa....

I'm lying in bed, Rob is holding me tight, pressing my head to his chest, stroking my hair with his hand and letting me know that it's ok that I'm crying. The tears fall spontaneously down on my cheeks, and drop down slowly, one by one on the pillow.
It's late and I should already be sleeping but I can't. Every night the image of my grandpa lying in a hospital bed, connected to machines and being vulnerable and helpless, makes me sad really deep inside.
My grandpa is the most independent person I know. Just until about a month ago he still went to his clothing shop to work every day. He's 81 years old.
And then in bed, I close my eyes and imagine a long long ray of warm light coming out of my heart and beaming itself all the way to my grandpa in Israel. This ray of light, of energy that I send, is supposed to make him feel how much I love and appreciate him.
I tell him quietly: Be strong! we know you are strong. Show us all how strong you are! and I repeat these words till I fall asleep.

Birthday cake

Yesterday was my birthday!

So I baked myself a cake (filled with wild berries) and got up early to celebrate it with Rob before he went to work :-) I got all kinds of cool presents as well!

So, now I've officially started the 30th year of my life, or like Goni my friend told me on the phone yesterday: from now on you can start saying that your next birthday is your 30th.

scary!

I also spent the day shopping with a new cool friend that I met here lately- and we get along really well (always nice to meet ppl that understand what you want to say before you opened your mouth) and then went for Sushi after work. Was a really nice day!

So! till next time!

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!

Bestanden

That means: "Passed".


I passed the exam!!!!


YAY!!!!


Now it means that I have to start studying for my next one.... oh well....