Ani ga-ra ba Tel Aviv!

I’m happy.

I’m sitting in my new living room, in my new life, listening to amazing jazz on the radio.

I have a slightly allusive new cat, who is slightly too far from me for my affectionate cat standards, but nevertheless, Kush-Kush is gorgeous! (and he came back)…

Tel Aviv is full of alley cats… many of whom would die for a home, somewhere safe and warm, with cuddles and attention… and of course food! It did not surprise me that on our first night in our flat we adopted a 6 month old black kitty kat… and named him kush kush (kinda like cuitie) and Kushy is like the Hebrew version of ‘black person’… so appropriate (OR NOT?) for a black cat.

So he freaks out on the first night, settles down on the second day and now he is a very happy and curious cat, every day becoming more and more comfortable in his environment.

I have started my Ulpan (Hebrew language course) and day 1 : success!

Now, what do I do with the rest of my day?

There are 2 things in particular that I want to pursue - arts and crafts & cooking...

Being the Domestic Goddess that I am, and having the ha Carmel Shuk (Tel Aviv’s market) close by, where veg is less then half the price then in any other shop on the street (especially on my ‘greenwich village’ that is Sheinkin, I have successfully hosted 2 Kabbalat Shabbat dinner parties.

After this, I will peruse my recipe books for some inspiration… we made the conscious decision a couple of years ago to become vegetarians at home… eat less meat is better for the world… and growing your own veg is best of all… and it makes those burgers and hotdogs when you are out (and probably drunk) so much tastier!

And now, my crafty project… I think first I will finally make my shell picture frame… it something I’m sure I did when I was young too… In Zanzibar, whilst on our honeymoon, I collected shells from the picture perfect beach. We have many gorgeous pictures from when we were there… I will marry the 2 and it will be our first photo to go up on our new walls…

And so… Yalla! Lets do it!

Back to India!

Well, here i am, back in the dirty back alleyways of Pahar Gang, Delhi.
It's been 2.5 years since i was here last... not much has changed... things have gone up only a bit in price, but then, so has the aussie dollar! (it used to 33 rupees to the dollar - now it's 41!). However, the british pound has gone down - used to be 85, now its only 72. We will be spending a mixture of both currencies, so it will all end out the same in the end i guess.

It's cold. Very cold. Not like frozen England cold... but then again, there is no heating here and you are always outside... so you get me..?

We have been trying to sort out our business for the summer here the past few days... We are going to have a shisha cafe tent at UK festivals and are sourcing all our stuff here. It great that we are getting a custom tent made here, however - just sending it to England is going to cost almost as much!

So tomorrow we go to Goa... where its 30 degrees... bring it on!
I will get started with my hair wraps and other jewellery making and Arnon will find us gigs...
It's never a complete holiday for us... we always find some entreprenural thing to do!

For anyone who's interested to see what we did in Africa - check out Arnon's blog: www.arnonmusic.com/news

Cheers!

east coast shenadigans

I know we have hardly written on this blog - SORRY!
so a brief sum up of our trip thus far -
Fishing - i have caught our dinner twice - bream... just big enough really... AND Arnon caught his first fish off the pier at Harvey Bay! A small reef fish that kinda looks like a bream.
On two occasions we have been visited by passing dolphins whilst fishing... nice.

4wding - after spending some time with Uncle Peter & Aunty Sue and cousin James at Sandbar, we were in the world's slowest vehicle fall... thats right... Peter's new ex swiss army truck fell on its side... very exciting, no harm done. The on Fraser Island we went on a self drive camping trip and Arnon being the best and most experience driver we totally kicked ass through deep soft sand and never got stuck. I also had a real go and absolutely loved it! I wanna land cruiser!

Wildlife - After Arnon may have injured a possum baby by shining a light on it, we have seen loads of kangaroos/wallabies. Also Goannas, blue tongues and waterdragon lizards. We Sammy the spider living in our camper and we went on a dolphin & wale watching cruise, where a humpback and its calf came very close to our boat... nice
We went to Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo and saw pretty much everything else but also got to feed kangaroos and pat koalas. Then last night in the Euongella National Park we saw loads of platapus, turtles, a brush tailed possum and a gigantic huntsman spider devouring a cockroach aswell and spotting a cane toad of which the ranger took to 'relocate'. (Cane toads = BAD)
Oh, and the hundreds of different birdlife that we have been spotting with our identification book).

We love northern NSW - lushious green hills and great wilderness and alternative vibe...
Lake Mackenzie on Fraser Island is the best beach thus far...

And now... on to the Whitsundays...
Going on a sailing trip tomorrow on an ex racing sail boat... maybe photos will follw some day...?

Oh, and the burgers from country towns cafes kick ass...
Until next time x

First stop: Israel

Helllooooooo,
so we got married in East Sussex on Thursday 3rd September at Buxted Park. It was divine. Unfortuanately it was on and off raining and rather chilly outside, so i reluctantly agreed 1 hour before the wedding to have it inside :(

The whole way through the ceremony i was looking over the rabbi's shoulder to the sun drenched lawn, wishing it was out there... but nonetheless, it was fantastic.
We had the most fantastic photographer, Rob, of Shootinghip.com and th results speak for themselves:
http://www.shootinghip.com/blog/index.php/2009/09/buxted-park-wedding-photography-chrissy-and-arnon/

So then we had a killer farewell party at our place in East London.

Feeling rather tender, we left London with our family to fly to Israel.
The first (of hopefully many) upgrades was granted on the flight. This is now my mission... to be upgraded as newly weds on our honeymoon for the next year... as we have many flights and it is our honeymoon. :)

The holy land is hot. Its great. We had our first rain of the season last night. Not sure if it cooled anything down though...

The Israeli wedding was great. The venue was a 'fairytale' as my family put it. I had 2 suprises, our friend, Guy's, band played whch was amazing (safadic folk music) and Arnon after saying some written vows, played a new song for me with the band that i had never heard! He actually wrote it whenever i was not around (which is never) and then taught it to Guy on skype! and had 1 semi rehersal with the whole band in 5 mins just before our guests arrived whilst i was chilling with my folks in the air-condition room!

AWESOME. i have a wonderful husband! And his parents put on a fantastic wedding party for us.

We went to Ceasaria for photos, am looking forward to getting them soon.

Oh yeah, and we went to Petra:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=311772&id=576550639&l=2a62164034

Shana Tova everyone!

x

Its been a while....

So… its been a long time since I have written on here… I guess because I'm not touring anymore . Its like now I have found my destination. no, actually I will have to disagree with myself there - I want to keep on 'touring', to keep the journey going. Perhaps now I don't clock so many kms up, but in a way, life has become more of a journey. Finding 'the one' is the most liberating thing that has ever happened to me. I miss the travelling - a lot. But I love being domestic, and knowing that someone thinks and cares about me more then anything is a wonderful feeling.
But talking of 'touring' - we are actually going in 2 weeks today to Thailand, to spend it with Arnon's family as a surprise for his father's 60th birthday… oooh how lovely that will be! Then we head on to Israel for the new year and big (official) birthday party.

Other travelling plans include a ski trip to Bulgaria in march and perhaps a trip to Morroco for a party in the Sahara in April, over Easter.
Then my hen's weekend in August- thinking yacht, thinking croatia…
Then - the biggest and best bit of the year ahead - our WEDDING WORLD TOUR!
Thursday 3rd September 2009 - Sussex, England
Saturday 12th September 2009 - Tel Aviv, Israel
Friday 2nd October 2009 - Newcastle, Australia

Ooh, its going to shape up to be a nice few months indeed!
After 2 weeks in Israel, we'll spend about 1 month in Australia, then onto Kenya, Tanzania & Uganda for our honeymoon with the animals!

So, looking back at it, I've still got the travelling spirit (as I could ever get rid of it!) and its going strong!

It's been a long time...

My friend Vanilla reminded me of this blog, so I thought i should write something...

SOMETHING. there.

I have started a new job working for a music licensing firm, mainly internet research and setting up new accounts. But this is non-eventful in my life really. So let me tell you about the things that are eventful... Travels - past and future - Went to Paris for a weekend in December, met Arnon's mum and sister & was totally spoilt. Then went to Borovets in Bulgaria skiing for a week over Christmas with a bunch of great friends... what a week that was! I was the only skiier in the group, the rest being beginner snowboarders - hence, i spent my time flying down the slopes, while they spent most of theirs on their ass. Will spend a few days over Easter in a country cottage in the lakes district - bunch of friends, the wilderness, log fire - can't wait! Then off to Israel in April for 2 weeks... this is the one that will be the good one...

Arnon has started recording a 6 track album and will continue throughout February, keeping him rather busy...

I saw 'The Kite Runner' at the cinema a couple of days ago. I never got around to reading the best selling novel, but perhaps i will now. This movie moved me deeply, and triggered my research into the Taliban... what a fucked up organisation. Seeing the problems around the world, and there are so many, leaves me a little dazed and confused. I feel both helpless in not knowing what more i can do, and in a way, happy that I don't have to deal with any of this.

I think about the charachters in the film, especially Baba, who was so strong in his beliefs, and willing to die for his ideals. I listen to Arnon who tells me that Israel is worth fighting for (worth risking your life for) and it makes me think, do i have the same passion for my ideals?
Do I have specific ideals?
I'm not sure, maybe its my lack of identity, my mother being English, my father Australian, my need to wander this earth and experience as much as possible... I respect and commend people like Baba in the film, but i would be like the boy, telling my father to sit down and shut-up, not to get himself killed. Survival of the Fittest. I want to survive. I don't like violence, war, fighting - i'm a pacifist. I see the beauty in every day things - I walk around smiling... I have been so blessed in life, and thank God for it.

Peace is Beautiful...

The Beautiful Autumn Colours of London...

Last week, went on a whirlwind trip in 24hrs to Amsterdam. And no, it wasn't to smoke drugs or eat mushrooms! Arnon's sister was there from Israel and it was her birthday, so we just got in the car and drove... 9hrs each way with a 2hr ferry ride over the channel from Dover.
Had a lovely, albeit delerious afternoon in Amsterdam and his sister was absolutely fab.

And to more recent events... A beautiful sunny Sunday led us to Kew Gardens this weekend. Gorgeous! Will upload some pics soon.
Unfortunately though, some bitch crashed into the back of us on the way home, and Arnon's car is now probably on it's way to car heaven.

Off to Brighton this weekend to party with Sebastian, my beautiful friend that i was in India with this time last year for a Halloween Party.

In December we're going to Paris for a weekend to join Arnon's sister and mother, before a week away to Bulgaria skiing for Christmas.

Looks like a promising end of year which I am thoroughly looking forward to. No more smashes though i hope - whiplash is not the most pleasent of injuries (like any injuries are pleasent?)