53 days before leaving...

We are all sourrounded by winners and loosers, it's true, some people just succeed in everything they start and some people fail, again and again. Two weeks ago I heard someone saying that the winners would, in front of a huge problem, try to divide it into to small, solvable problems while the looser would do the contrary - transform lots of small, solvable problems into a huge promblem without a solution...

I try to act like a winner, I try not to loose foot and advance slowly but surely. We are moving out of the house in the beginning of July. The container with the stuff we're bringing is leaving France at the end of June, furniture, machines etc, that are going to continue their lives at J's place are too, their trip will be shorter though.

This comming week I will have to start going through the children's toys, books, photos etc. I will also, most probably, end up knife threating my husband in order to make him sort out his tools, and throw away flexibles, old keyboards, his first cellphone etc that are kept in a furniture called "Knut" in the garage ( yes, it's IKEA)... He has aready tried the -"We're bringing Knut, we could just scotch the drawers... "

The man from the "Mover" cancelled our appointment and is supposed to come on Monday, the second is comming on Tuesday, I'll choose the cheapest.

One problem at a time, and not think about all as an overall picture...

We have entered a busy month, fortunately my "half" is comming for a few days with her children and husband, it will be a nice break and lots of fun. A last visit to Disney, Parc Asterix and barbecue evenings with a glass of cold rosé...

Chavoua tov all of you!

Good morning world!

Today on he radio, and also in the newspaper we learn that a marriage in the north of France has been cancelled because the bride wasn't virgin. According to the custom, the bride's and the groom's respective families where waiting downstairs when the groom went out from the bedroom saying the bride wasn't bleeding- there were no bloodstains on the sheets, the bride was immediately brought back to her father.

As the marriage was based on a lie, as the groom didn't want to marry a girl with a non existant hymen the French judge decided to cancel the marriage...

I didn't know women had to be pure by ( European) law when they get married, and I know, since I was 14 that lot's of women don't bleed the first time. In this particular case the young girl admitted that she actually have had sex before, she lied to her future husband which is never good but should that be a legal reason to cancel a marriage ?

I don't agree, I am not a feminist but this makes me out of my mind. Imagine how many marriages that will be cancelled in the future for the same reason. Should women who marry this kind of culture go through a medical control before their civil wedding, refunded by the social insurance, why not?

I hope this cas will provoke a reaction, this kind of decision should definately not be encouraged by French law!

Blonde thoughts...

Today at the supermarket in front of the toiletpaper I put he biggest pack in the caddy and then I thought- how many rolls do we really use a week? counted the days that are left, started to smile, put back the big pack and chose a smaller, still smiling.

Time goes so fast, I start to feel that we have lot's of things to do and not that much time.

I also feel like I'm saying goodbye to Paris. I see things in a different way. In Pigall the other day I went down Rue des Martyrs where I used to live and lot's of memories went trough my head, I remebered how it was to be 20 in Paris...it feels so far away, like another life. Paris has changed a lot the last ten years, a lot, or perhaps it's me...

I've spent 19 years in Sweden, 18 in France.

I hope that I will spend the rest of my life in Israel.

10 reasons...

So why do we really want to live in Israel? In spite of the fact that we think it's our country and that it is almost a duty to live there, here are the top ten reasons...

1. The natural style of the Israelis and their shameless curiosity.

2. The country is absolutely fascinating, historically speaking.

3. Mac Donald's is kosher ( I knoow, not all of them)

4. Shabat, people are not afraid that the neighbours will hear when they recite the kiddush, sometimes when you're walking on the street you can hear prayers through open windows or doors.

5. The mix of people, 80 languages are spoken in Israel!

6. The food, the chocolate cakes, the falafel, the humuss, the eggplantmayosalad, the limonana...

7. Jerusalem - there should be a law that oblige all human beings to go there once in their life!

8. We believe in the country, in the economic growth, in the Israeli's capacity of transforming a piece of sandy land into an eldorado.

9. The playgrounds, there are playgrounds everywhere, the place is a pradise for kids !

10. In Israel Hezbolla'h and Hamas are terrorist organizations and nothing else.

Go Boaz!

My Swedish roots are still there, for sure, I'm watching the Eurovision Song contest with a bowl of Ben and Jerry's... In Sweden newspapers have followed the event for a month now, making comments about the Swedih singer's concurrents and forecasting winners and loosers. No doubt, Sweden will win, like always. Tomorrow the newspapers will write racist comments about the eastern countries, like always, it's because of them Sweden doesn't win.It was much better when they didn't participate...
Well, I got the impression that it was quite a big thing in Israel too, even if I don't understand everyhing I could clearly and very often hear the word "Eurovison" on the radio.
Boaz is cute, he makes me regret my youth, and the song is nice, he deserves a vote!
Imagine he would win, half of the countries (at least) would boycott next years Eurovison song contest and start militating for Gaza to participate!
Chavoa tov!

There is still time to vote!

Back in France

and only a few hours of sleep. I feel strange to be back here again. The trip calmed me down a lot and gave me strenght. I now know that the only fear I need to have is money. Life in Israel is great, if it wasn't for gaza and hezbolla'h the place would be called paradise... If we manage to survive on our salaries life will be great!
I showed the pictures of the children's new school this morning, my elder son was just interested in where he could play football during the breaks! He doesn't seem to be worried about anything at the moment which is quite amazing to me. Son number two has spoken about the slides in Israel the whole morning, they are absolutely awesome... I will start my prepared, pedagogical speech once we're there, nobody is interested in language barriers, for the moment.
Only 64 days to go!

Paddeling on the Jordan river

Yesterday we took a break from IKEA and dirty kitchens and drove north. We had lunch at Tiberias, the city at the Kinneret lake. I haven't been there since 1996, it has changed a lot but I still don't like the place. I can't pu my finger on what's wrong, it's just not nice.

After lunch we continued north, passed Kafarnaum and took road 888 which I think leads to Golan if you continue, after just a kilometer to the left we stopped and rented a canoe. The Jordan river was quite shallow but there was enough to paddle.

It was forbidden to jump from the canoes into the river and we where not allowed to stop and swim on our way, the trip was about 3 km and at the end there was a bus waiting for us to get us back to the car. Since Israel is south of Belgium everyone jumped from the canoes into the water as soon as the instructors where out of sight. The water was perfect and there where little waterfalls all along we really, really enjoyed it! The place is called Beïtsaïda if someone wants to go there...

Before going back to the hotel we stopped at Zikhron Yacov and had dinner, the sun was going down, the sky was all pink and we had a nice bottle of wine in a resturant on the main street. A perfect end of a perfect day.

Today I'm back to reality cleaning the kitchen...

Monday

We have now an appartement almost furnished! Ikea delivered today and fortunately all did fit in the lift! They came exactly when they say they would and didn't break anything... My husband is afraid of hammers and screws and has managed to get someone to assemble the beds and warderobes for us next week, so hopefully it will be in order in July when we arrive.
We've visited the children's school, just accross the road, it's big, with 550 pupils, a huge playground, palmtrees and a lawn (!). The headmaster was young, very natural and relaxed, to me and my husband it seems to be a good choice. We were actually thinking of putting the children in another school further away until "K" pointed out to that it would be easier for the children to be in the same school as their neighbours.
We haven't put our name on the door yet but we have bought the mezouza and there is only the kitchen left to clean!
Jerusalem was as magic as always, tomorrow we're going north.

and this...

is our beach- and my shoes... only 25 minutes walk from the appartement...

our new flat... here it is!

We've had a wonderful week. We've been fixing with the waterbills, taxes, gazbills, bankaccounts etc. All that is usually v e r y boring but when you change country it becomes fascinating. In all I think people are very helpful and kind, if you compare with the French administration they're much faster! The woman at the city hall of Netanya said welcome home and wished us good luck before we left, maybe she did her aliyah a few years ago, who knows...

Little by little we start realizing that this is our new home, we're going to put up our name on the door, on the letter box etc, it may sound silly but it means a lot for us.

Tomorrow we're leaving for to Jerusalem early in the morning, we are going to show the Kottel for our second child and see some family.

Oh, I almost forgot, I had dinner with Kala ( see blogs I like on the left) in Rehovot with 2 other Swedish girls, it was great to meet again and it's even greater to think that I already have 3 nice friends here!

We came, we saw, we found!

We have found an appartement! It's big, light, without a balcony-but who cares. The standard is Israeli, with loose receptacles and rough but new-painted white walls.
We are so happy, to be honest I cried when we signed the contract, it is exactly where we wanted and I think it's a reasonable rent to pay. There are palmtrees everywhere and a big playground close to the house, school is just across the road!
We will now have to buy furniture at IKEA and find some help to assemble them. The girl at the real estate agency said she may know someone.
We're getting closer and closer to our dream.

Nervousness

Shabat is almost ready, the salads are done and I just have to prepare the rice for the chicken. We're leaving for Israel on Sunday! My middle son is shaking of excitement. He has been hearing about Israel as long as he can remember and now he is finally going to discover this land which is so important for us! He will be able to taste a haburger at Mac Donald's for the first time in his life isn't that a thing to remeber? I am nervous, this is the last time we're going there before leaving.
This morning I called my Israeli bank to ask if the money we've "swifted" had arrived.
- Non cherie, not yet! answered the French-speaking lady. I smiled and wondred if there is another country in the world where they call you darling when you call the bank...
Shabat shalom!

If you will it, it is no dream. T. Herzl

From yesterday's moaning of lost soldiers the trasition is abrubt. Today we cry of proud and joy for our little piece of land! From sorrow to happiness in the blink of an eye, that is the force and according to me the reason we're still here and not extermined.
May peace soon come, may our existance be accepted and no longer questioned.
Happy Birthday Israel, we love you!
AM ISRAEL HAÏ!

Yom Hazikaron

Memorial day.

Today we remember and honor all soldiers killed in the war, all young men and women who died for Israel's right to exist. When you watch the video and look at photos of fallen soldiers you find it hard to connect the faces of all these young people, plenty of life, to the European articles about the "barbarian" Israeli army. 65 soldiers, young students with their life in front od them died last year, just because some people don't want us to exist, don't want us to have this little piece of land.
Let us hope they didn't die for nothing, let us hope that one day there will be peace.

July 24th!!

We are leaving ( beezrat hashem) the 24th of July! Its magic, fantastic, a dream comming true...
Karin, Jenny and Katarina, please come to the airport and share this unforgettable moment with us!
From me to you, a French version of Hatikva ( The hope)

Stupid sayings...

Last week we spent a day picnicing at a volcanic lake ( look at the picture). The weather was beautiful and there were lots of people. In front of us a typical French family, 3 generations, drinking wine, eating cheese, ham and other things to bring on a picnick. The older men wore strawhats, they spoke a fancy French and I couldn't help listening to them, they were quoting poems, talking politics, singing...

They kept all the food on plates on the blanket and suddenly one of the women said with a loud voice to another - Why do you keep the cheese "in Jew" ("en juif") like that?

A few years ago, when I worked in a French company outside Paris, I heard this horrible and quite common expression for the first time.

When I asked what it meant to keep or eat something "in Jew". The man kindly explained that it means you're hiding a good thing for others in order to keep it for yourself, just like the Jews, they are very stingy, they don't share things you see...

Fortunately my children didn't hear the woman, I think those kind of things are difficult to explain and would lend to increase the gap between "us" and "them".

It also shows how bad they know Jewish families. We're always eating and making food for at least 3 more people than expected, because we never know who's going to show up for dinner and I have never heard of a family sending the neighbour's kid home ( the Swedes reading my blog probably smile now, remebering their childhood, waiting alone in a room while their best friend was having dinner with her or his parents) because they're eating, the table is set for everyone in the house no matter who they are! To "eat in Swede" would actually be more apropriate, but as you all know the Swedes already have their reputation and it has absolutley nothing to do with food., I guess we Jews will have to continue being stingy and greedy...

Today I'm going to the Jewish Agency with the last documents to complete our Aliyah file and I think I'll sneak in at H & M at the Opera too, I deserve it!

7 days

You never change.
When I was younger I used to think that something happened after 30, that I was going to change, become more mature without any effort...
Almost 3 weeks of holidays without a hebrew lesson, here we are, two hours before leaving, doing our homework in the last minute, just as if we where 16 again...
The reason why we haven't done our homework has changed though, We didn't spend the days having coffee with friends or the evenings drinking Gin tonic in trendy bars...it's been more like cooking, cleaning and admiring sheep.
We're leaving for Israel in a week, "Yad2" is empty, no appartements in Poleg at all, not even one without a balcony...
I feel like I'm carrying a huge stone in my stomach.
Actually I emptied my head of all stress in Auvergne, back to normal all worries are invading me again and I feel exhausted.
I keep repeating that I'm not leaving Israel without an apartement to rent and my husband keeps on saying - yes darling, of course darling...just a matter of time before he'll tell me to shut up...

Sound of (Palestinian) Music

Today we've been driving around the " Puy de Dôme " it's really beautiful, almost unreal, have you seen Sound of music? Rememeber the last scene when the whole family is running down a green hill? That's it!

We had dinner in a an ugly resturant with only one employee, and a dog. We couldn't eat any of the specialities ( not kosher) but he made us the tastiest omelette we have ever had, really, I'm not exaggerating!

We spent the afternoon in Mont Dore, a village in the mountains.

There, at a café, I saw two young girls having a coffee with their mum, both with a "keffieh" , a Palestinian scarf.

We should really ask the Palestinians for PR advice, they've done a marvellous job!

It makes me sick passing by young girls and boys with a Palestinian scarf around their neck. I wonder if they really know what it stands for and how their parents can allow them to go out like that!

It is pure propaganda, and it works! Wherever you turn your head, even in the smallest village far from the crowd, there is always someone to remind you of who you are and that you're not desired.