Dear all, please enjoy our annual yearly Christmas letter of the Kleinjan clan,
January: We started celebrating New Year with the Hickin’s, Zuill’s and the van der Mey(sjes) in Selva Italy. We were with 11 children and 8 adults, what a fabulous week we’ve had.
Rob injured his thumb in November and was in a cast for a while before the orthopaedist decided that he needed surgery. His thumb dislocated constantly and therefore he’s got some screws in it, our “mighty screwer”! Frank sang this song on his 50th birthday the year before! He’s much better now, but the mobility isn’t quiet back yet.
February: We’ve had two Balls in one weekend at the romantic Hofburg, where you can feel the history around you. Noa was working as a hostess at the Wiener Kaffee Sieder Ball. She looked very impressive and I got tears in my eyes when she danced with Rob after her duty. The very next day Maureen and Wayne invited us to the IAEA ball, which was great too. Here I met Kellan and Sandy, and we’ve lots of fun together ever since! We had a short ski break of only three days in Bad Gastein because Rob’s hand was still in a cast.
March: At the beginning of March Rob went sailing the St Maarten Regattawith 5 colleagues from Brau Union. He had a fantastic experience although he couldn’t do much due to his hand. His hand had just been without a cast for two days. So Rob was responsible for the alcohol and took that job very seriously!
April: We went to the Netherlands to inhale some Dutch air and load up the car full of Dutch food on the way back. Jack broke his arm while he was having a great time with his other family in Belgium. Poor Naheed spent the whole Sunday afternoon in hospital. Luckily or should I say unfortunately Jack is very experienced and handled it all really well! He managed his shoelaces with one hand! ;-)
May: May 1st I had a girl’s weekend in Dublin, we all know each other from our Warsaw years. It was a fabulous Weekend but I had never ever experienced so much rain as I did that Saturday in Dublin. We walked through the city in our purple ponchos provided by the hotel! We looked so ridiculously stupid, but giggled all the way!
May was good too for another reason. I worked for the Eurovision Song Contest. OMG what an amazing experience this has been! I was team leader of 18 people and we were responsible for all of the delegations, 40 in total, from the minute they stepped out of the bus, until they left the Wiener Stadtshalle again. We showed them their changing rooms and brought them back stage or to make-up stationary, etc. We were also the info desk for the commentators which is how I met Cornald Maas and Jan Smit, Robin’s favourite Dutch singer. So I met all the artists and cherish all the good memories and the crazy parties after work. As long as I live I will never forget this experience.
June: On June 5th we went to Rock in Vienna at the Donau Insel. Rob went earlier with Hugo. I was picking Piet and Willy up from the airport, when Rob suddenly called me to say that his foot was hurting. To make a long story short, he broke his foot but “walked” around with it for two months. A week before his birthday another sharp pain appeared but on another spot in the same foot. Geraldine came to see us for Rob’s birthday and she immediately said “it’s broken it’s a stress fracture”. Three days later when he was back in Vienna he had a MRI scan plus an X-ray and you could so clearly see the two broken bones in his foot! Poor man! It’s not his best year!
The Grand Prix took place in Austria half of June and so Rob went there on both days. The first day was with Hugo and the second one with Robin. It was an amazing weekend and a great experience to be so close to Max Verstappen and to be able to be in the Pit Lane.
This year's Sports Award Night at the VIS was a very productive one for Noa. She received two awards, most valuable player for both the Varsity girls’ basketball team and for the Varsity girls’ softball team. Great job. We’re so proud of her!
The last assembly was a big surprise for Hugo, as he received the 10th grade Students Leader Award. This award is not necessarily presented to a student with the highest grades but it has more to do with attitude, personality and matching an IB profile. So proud!
July: We went to the beautiful-relaxing-no-money-Rhodes in Greece. Hugo was following all of the news on BBC world channel and it looked like a soap. Nevertheless we had a fabulous time and had no troubles whatsoever. (Except for a hurting foot).
Noa went to summer school in Sweden, the country she might go study next year.
Jack was travelling through the Amazon and did charity work in Ecuador. He was teaching English to Spanish speaking children and redecorating that school. He had a fantastic experience and will do it again!
He also worked for Heineken Financein Zoeterwoude/Netherlands, while Robin worked for Brau Unionin Linz/Austria. Robin has seen some of the different sections in the company, like controlling, accounting and she worked at a brewery too. She’s very enthusiastic; she knows she’s doing the right study in Denmark. Half a year to go and she’s ready with her Bachelor diploma. Then she’ll come to Linz to start her masters in the summer of 2016.
August: Now Hugo went up north to see his friends from Finland. He had a great time and even went to school for a day!
We arrived back in Vienna half of August after a fabulous stunning weekend with Robin, Noa Hugo and Rob at Area47 in Solden. We did many fun outdoor activities like rafting, cannoying, high ropes, caving and blobbing. Amazingly cool activities but poor Rob couldn’t do anything due to his foot in a cast! At the end of this month Noa and Hugo went back to school at VIS. They’re now a junior and senior. (11th and 12thgrade)
September: September 1st 1990 - September 1st 2015 - we had our 25th wedding anniversary! The children had a huge surprise; they gave us a weekend away in the mountains near Obertauern. It was booked for the weekend of the 18th of September. The little booklet we’ve got with beautiful pictures of the resort ended on the last page with “enjoy and don’t worry we will take good care of the house” and PARTY!!!!!!!!!!!
Hugo went to see his buddy from our Munich years, Angus Zuill that weekend. It took him 7,5 hours instead of 4 to get into Munich by train due to the refugees. Same story for the reverse journey due to border controls!
I didn’t mention yet that I’m working again. I did a lot of things over the years, but this is a proper paid job. I’m teaching business English at companies. At the moment it’s about 6 hours per week and I need at least double the time for preparation, but who cares? I love it!
October: October 2nd we drove to Munich, knowing that it took Hugo forever to get there by train. We went to the best party of the year; THE OKTOBERFEST.
This year the turnout was over 30 persons, Hugo came along as well, but he left on time to go see Angus again. The girls were with us, which was very special indeed. They had an exciting evening; they loved it.
Robin turned 22 on October 8th and that day she spoke to oma Joep, my mum. Later that day my mum fell, broke her hip and was brought to a hospital.
She didn’t want a surgery; “this is it” she said, "I have no more wishes, so I say no to a surgey"
She got more morphine and no more food or drinks unless she asked for it, which she didn’t. Rob organised that all the children including himself flew as quickly as possible to the Netherlands and I was so relieved that they were all there in time.
Sunday October 11th13.17 with Robin and Dirk-Jan, my brother, both holding her hand and Hugo on her side too, she gave her last breath and left us. I spent the last night with her and had a few small conversations with her. In the morning there was a stunning sunrise visible from her room, but she wasn’t responding anymore.
It was intense, sad, and beautiful at the same time, but we will miss her terribly.
Two days after I returned from this sad farewell we were in hospital again, this time for Hugo. He needed a surgery on his jaws. They broke them and put plates and screws in. It was necessary because he’s missing two adult teeth and would have needed implants in the future, now he won’t need this and the whole orthodontist treatment will be much shorter. You can imagine how painful and awkward this surgery is. We are so proud of our Hugo how he coped with it. In less than two weeks he went back to school again!
November: Piet and Willy came over again and we had a great time together! It’s unbelievable how much Piet can walk with Willy in her wheelchair. He’s 83 years old but with so much energy, it’s so lovely to see!
Many more friends and family know where to find us in beautiful stunning vibrant Vienna! We love it here. It has brought us many cool experiences and it’s been voted the most liveable place in the world for the 6thtime in a row! And I couldn’t agree less!
December: wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy Healthy and Prosperous New Year!
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Rob & Viv, Robin, Jack, Noa, Hugo en Sammy.