The Sacrifices We Make / Posledice naših odločitev

When I was going through my blog today, I noticed that our adventure reads kind of romantic. Like something out of an adventure novel, but less interesting (otherwise somebody would have wrote a novel like our lives already – and even then it probably would not be a bestseller). Well the truth is sometimes less romantic, like real life often is. Because of our trip we had to make sacrifices. I want to dedicate a couple words about the hard choices we made and their cost.

Kara – our cat

She came to us no bigger than a tea cup. I could fit her into the palm of my hand (granted I do have big palms, but she was still very small). In the beginning she had hard time adjusting. She seemed wild and uncontrollable. Later she became a part of the family, although she still is wild. Mojca, my daughter absolutely adored her. Unfortunately in Germany most of apartments for rent do not allow house pets, not even cats that do not even leave the apartment. There was no other solution than to find her an alternative home. Luckily right across the hall in our apartment building lives a wonderful neighbor who is coincidentally a big cat lover. So we convinced her to take Kara in. She is our biggest sacrifice yet, even bigger than my job. For me it was kind of like leaving a family member behind.

My job

I already wrote about that, so no further words need to be wasted. I will definitely make every effort  be able to continue with some sort of career after we get back. Have to work hard on this, so it comes true. 🙂

Hobbies

For my entire life (well since I was seven years old) I have trained karate. It is a big part of my life. And leaving my club in Grosuplje, where I felt like part of a family was quite a big deal for me. Paula also left behind her numerous hobbies – volleyball, yoga, aerobics (I am probably forgetting a bunch, but sometimes it is hard to keep up).

But these are not real sacrifices, because I am going to search for a karate club in Bayreuth next week and Paula will undoubtedly be occupied with different activities I will not be able to remember very soon.

The bug – ah, men and their vehicles

I own a 1976 VW beetle. Before me it was owned by my grandfather for whom I had great respect. After he died, I bought the car of my aunt and for quite a while it was my only car. It has never quit on me and I was sure I will drive it forever. Again, as with so many things, I was wrong. Life is nothing if not full of surprises. I just hope it does not rust (too much) until we get back.

Kindergarten

One of the hardest things when our kids were leaving the Kindergarten was the realisation that they were saying goodbye from potential important first friendships. At least from my point of view, because I am still friends with some of my kindergarten buddies. But we are hoping they will make international friendships that will last a lifetime.

Family and Friends

I think we will “feel” this one a bit later on, when we`ll be yearning for a friendly or at least a familiar face in Bayreuth. Soon we will be missing that homely feeling, the Saturdays at the market, meeting our friends (or at least the proximity of our friends). This will be the time when I`ll cry when hearing Cheers theme song… (come on, you know: “Where everybody knows your name” and so on). Luckily modern technology allows us to be in contact quite often.

And we are hoping for visits… (right guys!?!)

Končno tudi v slovenščini:

Posledice naših odločitev – kar smo pustili za sabo

Ko sem danes prebiral svoj blog, se mi je zazdelo, da se naša dogodivščina bere zelo romantično. Vse skupaj izgleda kot kakšen pustolovski roman, vsekakor veliko manj zanimiv, če ne bi že kdo napisal kakšen roman o podobnem, pa še ta ne bi bil prodajna uspešnica. Razumljivo je resnica običajno manj romantična. Tako je pač pravo življenje. Zaradi najinih odločitev so nastale tudi posledice, stvari in ljudje, ki smo jih pustili za sabo. V nadaljevanju je tako nekaj besed, posvečenim posledicam najinih odločitev.

Kara – naša mačka

Ko sva jo dobila, je bila velika kot kakšna skodelica. Bila je tako majhna, da sem jo lahko dal v eno dlan (res pa imam velike dlani). V začetku je imela kar težave pri prilagajanju na naju s Paulo (takrat sva bila še sama), ampak se je s časom vnesla. Čeprav je postala del družne, je bila še vedno precej divja. Kljub temu jo je moja hčerka Mojca oboževala, je komaj čakala, da se bo Kara ponudila za božanje (ker je vedela, da jo bo Kara popraskala, če ne bo pripravljena za božanje). Na žalost pa je pri najemu stanovanja v Nemčiji tako, da načeloma ne pustijo domačih živali. Tudi mačk, ki sploh ne gredo iz stanovanja. Tako nisva imela druge možnosti, kot najti nadomestni dom za Karo. Na srečo nasproti hodnika najinega stanovanja v Ljubljani živi zelo prijazna gospa, ki je naključno tudi zelo velika ljubiteljica mačk. Nekako se nama je uspelo dogovoriti, da je Karo vzela k sebi. Kara je največja žrtev najinih odločitev, iz moje perspektive večja, kot izguba moje službe. Počutim sem se, kot da bi puščala za sabo družinskega člana.

Moja služba

O tem sem že pisal, zato ne bi več zgubljal besed. Vsekakor pa sem bom potrudil, da bom po zaključku našega potovanja lahko nadaljeval s svojo kariero v Sloveniji.

Hobiji

Že vse življenje (no, od svojega sedmega leta) se ukvarjam s karatejem, ki je velik del mojega življenja. Ko sem zapuščal svoj klub v Grosuplju, mi ni bilo vseeno. Prav tako je Paula pustila za sabo veliko svojih prostočasovnih dejavnosti kot so joga, odbojka, aerobika (uf, sigurno sem kakšnega izpustil, ampak pri njej je včasih zelo težko beležiti vse, s čimer se ukvarja).

Naštetega ne štejem med prave žrtve, saj bom že naslednji teden iskal klub v Bayreuthu, pri Pauli pa ne bo treba dolgo čakati in bom spet moral imeti plonkec, da si bom zapomnil vse njene dejavnosti.

Hrošč – ah, moški in njihova prevozna sredstva

Sem lastnik 1976 VW hrošča. Pred mano ga je imel moj dedi, ki sem ga izredno spoštoval. Ko je umrl, sem hrošča kupil od svoje tete. Zelo dolgo je bil moje edino prevozno sredstvo, ki me ni nikoli pustil na cedilu. Sem bil prepričan, da ga bom vozil večno. Vendar sem se zmotil, tako kot pri veliko drugih stvareh. Življenje je pač polno nepričakovanih obratov. Sedaj samo upam, da ne bo preveč zarjavel, preden pridemo nazaj.

Vrtec

Vsekakor ena težjih stvari za naju je bilo zavedanje, da se Mojca in Ambrož poslavljata od svojih prvih prijateljčkov. Predvsem meni, ki se še sedaj družim s prijatelji, ki sem jih spoznal v vrtcu, se je zdelo, da bi se lahko v bodoče med njimi stkale zelo pomembne prijateljske vezi. Upava, da bosta v tujini ustvarila mednarodna prijateljstva, ki ju bodo spremljala celo življenje.

Družina in prijatelji

Mislim, da bova pomanjkanje družbe začutila šele malce kasneje, ko bova hrepenela po kakšnem prijaznem ali vsaj znanem obrazu v Bayreuthu. Kmalu bova pogrešala tisti občutek, ko se pripelješ v domači kraj, pogrešala bova tržnico ob sobotah zjutraj, srečanja z najinimi prijatelji ali pa vsaj možnost, da bi se srečala z njimi. To bo obdobje, ko mi bo šlo na jok že, ko bom slišal naslovno pesem od Cheers (sej veste, tisto, kjer pojejo, da te vsak pozna – ali pa kakšna slovenska domotožna pesem, ki jih je cel kup 😀 ). Na srečo pa nam moderna tehnologija omogoča, da smo v stiku kar precej pogosto.

In upava, da nas bodo kaj prišli obiskat (a ne?!).