Another short update from our weekend

Today is my birthday :-) and I had a great two-piece party. Yesterday evening my best friend Rafi stopped by for a beer, some Citronella (I will explain this in a post later on) some games on his Playstation and some chitchat. I don’t know how well known the game Singstar is, but anyway, we tock a toll on our neighbors’ nerves with our karaoke performance…

After I got a hearty serenade in Polish (Klaudia’s and Rafi’s families are from there) and really nice presents, we continued the evening in the Essence Club in Essen.

Today we celebrated with our families. Klaudia had won a “Party special” from a small brewery (Dampfbierbrauerei) in our neighborhood which she donated. We had homemade beer, fried sausages, sauerkraut, roast potatoes, cordial and lard sandwiches. This typical German food was good as usual and we had a very pleasant afternoon with nice chats. On our way home we stopped at a fun-fair so that our niece Emily had a ride on the carousel.

This was a really nice birthday. Hopefully we will be able to celebrate my next one with all the family members, again. This all the more since we will be at least one person more: We came to know today that my sister Mareike and her husband Thomas are expecting her second child! All the best to you!

New techniques or two worlds collide

It isn’t easy for our families that we are going abroad. They are very proud of us and are of the opinion that it was a good decision and we are doing the right thing. We made our parents the present of a webcam to give them and us the possibility to communicate for free and to see each other regularly via the web.

Our fathers use the computer regularly and Sebastian’s mother is used to word-processing as well, but for my mother this item seems to be somewhat a closed book. By all means it is great to see how everyone is willing and enthusiastic to use this new technology.

My parents moved over from Poland to Germany 30 years ago. When they wanted to talk to their families abroad they had to apply for a telephone slot and arrange this call in the village because there was only one telephone for the settlement. And nowadays you switch on the computer and you can communicate with people all over the world quite easily.

For our parents this is strange but for our grandparents it is like two worlds are colliding.

Nevertheless we hope that the new way of information technology will help us to stay in close contact and make the short distance to Oxford even smaller! We’ll keep you posted ;-)

It's going on...

Our preparations for moving to Oxford proceed.

On Wednesday Klaudia's parents were kind enough helping us to relieve parts of the wall system in the living room.

Furthermore they painted parts of the bathroom since we had to "rebuild" a blue bordure Klaudia had applied to the walls.
There are a lot of things to do these days. Klaudia is preparing for her last day on work, which will be on Tuesday.
We plan to move most of our furniture from our flat to my parent's garage in two weeks, so everything has to be prepared by then. My plan for this morning is to get some of this chaos structured…

By the way: It's not our dog. Picco belongs to Klaudia's parents :-)

It is our choice.......we can decide ahead of time

Please allow me to share with you a heart warming story to brighten your week ...

A 92-year-old, petite, well-poised and proud man, who is fully dressed each morning by eight o'clock, with his hair fashionably coifed and shaved perfectly, even though he is legally blind, moved to a nursing home today. His wife of 70 years recently passed away, making the move necessary. After many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the nursing home, he smiled sweetly when told his room was ready. As he maneuvered his walker to the elevator, I provided a visual description of his tiny room, including the eyelet sheets that had been hung on his window. "I love it," he stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old having just been presented with a new puppy. "Mr. Jones, you haven't seen the room; just wait." " That doesn't have anything to do with it," he replied. "Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. Whether I like my room or not doesn't depend on how the furniture is arranged .. it's how I arrange my mind. I already decided to love it. "It's a decision I make every morning when I wake up. I have a choice; I can spend the day in bed recounting the difficulty I have with the parts of my body that no longer work, or get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that do. Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open, I'll focus on the new day and all the happy memories I've stored away. Just for this time in my life. Old age is like a bank account. You withdraw from what you've put in. So, my advice to you would be to deposit a lot of happiness in the bank account of memories! Thank you for your part in filling my Memory bank. I am still depositing."

Another important step on our removal to Oxford

This day started very early in the morning: We had to get up at 3.30 am to be at the airport on time.

London said “Hello” to us with a big amount of water, which came from heaven – is this the “British weather” that we hear about so often?

We decided to take the more expensive - but much faster - train from Stansted airport to Oxford which was scheduled to take only 2,5 hours compared to 4 hours with the bus. Well, the advantage SHOULD have been 1,5 hours… We realized that the trains are not delayed in Germany only but also in the UK. Because of signal problems on the Victoria Line in the area of Seven Sisters it took us nearly 4 hours with 3 changes to arrive in Oxford around noon. Oxford gave as a wet welcome as well with rain pouring down like during a tropical storm soaking our trousers and jackets within seconds. Wet and hungry we decided to visit the Jamfactory for a Burger and a Coke –

Thanks to the students that showed us this lovely place one month ago!

Today we are here in Oxford to view a flat that we have been offered three days ago. We liked the flat at Allan Bullock Close on Caroline Street and after a short discussion about pros and cons went to the Lands Agent’s and Accommodation Office to directly pay the deposit.

With that done the tiny two room flat will be our new home from September 7^th.

We are very happy now being able to plan the removal in detail! Another big step on our journey is done. With the happiness comes a little sadness since we have to cancel our plans of sharing a place with Mariah from the States. We keep our fingers crossed for her search and truly hope she will find a nice and best suiting place to stay.

Now we are sitting in a taxi back to Stansted. Yes in a taxi which is payed by National Express because we both were the only two travelers to the airport this afternoon – this convenience lets us forget the endless journey we made this morning.

Another funny detail: We will stay at the Holiday Inn Express at the Airport tonight since flying tomorrow morning is so much cheaper compared to going back late this evening, that even after paying the hotel, there is some money saved :-)

Tomorrow we are going to Frankfurt to meet Alexandra – a current MBA student.

You see our life isn´t boring at the moment. Although the last weeks were stressful and the next are going to be like the same we both enjoy this challenge!

Accommodation issue

Only six weeks left until our removal and there are many things to organize by then.
Yesterday we got an offer for university accommodation. The description sounds good but it is hard to make a decision on the basis of three pictures and five sentences. BUT we have to decide until Friday – so we booked yesterday two flights to London and also a hotel, arranged a viewing for Friday and we are hopeful that we can sign the contract for this flat.

Keep your fingers crossed!

Surprise

This morning I realized what one person can mean to you. I realize that people in your life are all that truly matters and that tittles can make your life brighter.

I received a wonderful bouquet. The sentence “Thank you for 100 months …” moved me to tears.
Ther are ups and downs but I´m sure we are doing the right step.

Isn't life really short… I mean... why would anybody let their fears stop them from just doing it...I feel so sad for people who don't pursue their dreams for this reason or go on their gut instinct.

Motivation

During the last 18 months our live was defined by one main topic: MBA and the last 6 month by MBA at SAID Business School in Oxford. – GMAT/TOEFL prep, GMAT/TOEFL test, MBA application forms, reference-letters, essays, interview, fund raising *G*, college application … (When I look at this list our days seem to have more than 24 hours)

I say OUR live here because the decision to do an MBA is something that both partners have to bear, even though only one will sit in the form. If this fact isn’t clear from the very beginning, the preps and the year on-site will be hard for the relationship.

The decision to go to university again at the age of 30 isn’t made out of a mood but rather a step which is well matured. At the first moment you leave everything behind – the livelihood, your job, your friends and your family – AND WHAT FOR?! For one year of little sleep, craming at the university and this all also in a foreign language?! This prospect comes across as a prison for some of our friends, our family and in a way for us as well.

But we regard the decision we made together at the beginning of 2006 as a challenge and huge opportunity to gain experience. It is going to be a year in which every one of us and mainly we both together will gain experience and unforgettable impressions, get to know new people and a new country. This will affect us and let us grow. This image of our near-term future allows us to look forward expectantly. It is comparable with a trip on a river during which you can see different things along the course and edge: Things you know, things you have never seen before, big things and fillips you would have never expected to see. The course of a river isn’t straight but rather diversified and that’s the fact which makes the journey enthralling.