10/08

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I hope this update will reflect the big things that are happening in my life at the moment, and they are big as you will soon read. Of course you will get the full update about the Inn's progress but I hope to start sharing my observation about what was happening so far and not just my "to do list"

Are you ready?
Ok I will open with the greatest news of all and it's that we (Shlomit & I, that's how we say it now days) are pregnant and will be parents in the beginning of 2006. Shlomit is feeling good most of the time, it is now the 17th week to the pregnancy and it's going to be a boy.
We are both very happy and excited about the whole thing and can't wait till the baby come.
I must say that the first few weeks of the pregnancy weren't so easy. With the new Inn in Nazareth, Shlomit working in T.A it all was confusing and a bit frightening. We plan the get pregnant but didn't though that it will happen so fast (10 years…) and the same with the Inn, which I open just 3 month after coming back to Israel.

You can understand how busy, excited and happy we are with all the new things happening at once and we are doing our best to make the best of everything. We are running a double life at the moment.

We are living with S mom in Qiriat Uno, a Tel-Aviv's suburbs and, I'm running the Inn in Nazareth which is 90 minutes drive or 2 and half hours by car. I'm trying to support S as much as possible and in the same time make as much progress with the Inn.

I confess that it's all very challenging but there is now other place or situation that I prefer to be in at the moment. I'm feeling very satisfied and happy to start a family with Shlomit and sure that it's going to be a great new step in our long time relationship.
With the Inn, I start to see the results of the energy that I put in the place and to see the first signs that my vision is becoming into reality. I hope you can share this feeling with me. The other day I took the night bus from Nazareth to TA and was thinking that I don't want to be in any other place in that moment. Though sitting in the night bus I was on my way from my vision to the women I love and I felt very lucky.

I think the last few updates weren’t too good. I think I know why and I'm trying to make this one better. One major problem is that I don't have time to think about what I'm going to write. Exactly the opposite from me trail journal when I had hours of hiking to think about the next update, now I've got so much on my mind that it's almost to much to handle. I am trying to make this one better.

I'm in Qiriat Uno, now. Its Sunday noon and I took a day off to relax and be with Shlomit. Sunday is a weekday in Israel which means that Shlomit is working, but in Nazareth, the only place in Israel, it's Sunday like most of you know. The market is closed, the roads are empty and not much is happening.

I got 7 guests at the moment. American family with 3 children that came for a week, a French girl which is her 4th nigh and a guy from Upper Nazareth who is a friend of a friend. On Wednesday there is a 14 people group from Holland coming for 10 days, I'm not sure yet if I've got enough beds for them all. I'm going to be extremely busy tomorrow.

A couple that is originally my parents friends, Benny & Lella are also coming on Wednesday to help me with the renovation. We have become good friend last year on a tour that I joined my father's friends and they were on my mail list for the last year. I'm very happy that we are able to bridge over age, background and to share the same ideas and feeling.

The coming baby is a trigger to more good news. We are going to Cyprus next month to get married and in September 6th we are celebrating our 10th anniversary. The marriage is not a too big thing as you can understand because we both believe in a daily basis commitment. Never the less we will have a civilian marriage ceremony in Cyprus.

The alternative wedding party is going to take place in The Fauzi Azar Inn on October 7th. We are going to celebrate 10 years of friendship and love, the pregnancy and the new business that we opened. So we have a lot to do and enough to keep us busy for the next 2 month.

If it wasn't enough and in case you skip the last update, I'm getting ready to accommodate 30 people group that will conduct a week seminar at the Inn. Since I open only 4 rooms I'm now in the process of renovating 3 more rooms, adding showers & toilets and preparing the courtyard. One room will be ready by the end of this week and I'm waiting for the architect to hand me the design for the rest of the works. I hope I'll have it soon and than I plan to have a "contractors Day". The one who will give me the best offer concerning to timetable and budget is the one I'm going to take. Everything should be read by September 17th, when the big group is due to come.

Another reason why the last update weren't good is that I didn't make a list of all the things that I want to write about. This time I did make a list and hope that it will make the update more courante and readable. The problem is that I got to many items on the list and not all of them are connected… It's not necessarily bed because it will empyesis and gives you the idea of with many things I need to deal with at the moment.

So far I'm very happy with the guests that are coming and hope it is a sign for the future. Many are with Christian background, and I start working on my New Testament collection… I actually started to read the first book and with not getting to deep to the subject now, many of the ideas and opinion are universal and make a lot of sense, but I'll write more on the subject when I finish reading.

I'm working very hard on the Inn's public relation. There is an article in El-Al (the Israeli air carrier) about the place, or that's what I was told, because I haven't seen it yet. I'm supposed to get a copy tomorrow and I'll put it in the website.
The biggest women magazine in Israel is going to publish a big article about me life… (From the childhood in the kibbutz till Nazareth, I'm sure it's going to be funny) and about the Inn.
I'm going to host a reporter from a food magazine for a weekend, and am in contact with other media companies.

You can all see the work I'm putting on the website, the gallery, translation and there is more to come.

Well, that's a bout all I wanted to say this time. I'll finish with something that I learned about having your own business: "It's very easy to take money out of your pocket, but a nightmare to get it back in"

Never the less I'm investing about 20,000 US$ now to make the place ready for 30 people groups and am very confident that it's a good investment and now after 2 month in the business I know that I have a good product and with the feedback that I'm receiving from my guests I'm sure the vision of Nazareth and The Fauzi Azar Inn as a center for the Independence travelers, is closer than ever.

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