Vienna, December 2016
Dear all,
It’s the time of the year again that I’m sitting down with a cup of tea and thinking of the great times that we’ve experienced in 2016. I am writing this letter just after my second knee surgery this year. I was lucky, as I went in for a major surgery on my knee, in which the professor wanted to change the position of my lower leg (tibia) due to severe arthritis in my knee. When he started with the ACL (cross ligament), he could see that this pulled my knee straight and therefore the second part of the surgery (sowing my lower leg in two and screwing it together again) wasn’t necessary anymore. Hopefully I’ll be up and about in a short matter of time. I’m still teaching English, which I really like doing and as I see it my students are all very happy as well. I’ve also started a second job. I am now Strongbow Promotion Champion! I organize tastings for Strongbow, an apple cider, which is owned by Heineken. I go to the coolest pubs, bars, and resturants in Vienna for my job!
This year we’ve had two graduates in the family; Noa (20) has her IB diploma in the pocket! We are so very proud of her. She is studying business administration in Canada (BC) in Kamloops at Thompson Rivers University. She’s enjoying every minute of it, sometimes a bit too much fun. She already went snowboarding this season in Sun Peak.
Robin (23) finished her Bachelor in Business Administration in Aalborg - Denmark. She graduated with an honours degree after three years. She’s now in Innsbruck doing her master study in strategic management. She lives in a nice apartment in the city, we decorated it, and she’s settled well. Hugo went to see Robin during his autumn break and stayed a few days. They hiked through the mountains near Innsbruck, which is just wonderful! She already had snow at end of October! And she has the best view on the mountains you can imagine.
2017 will be the “The Boys Year”; Jack (21) and Hugo (18) will graduate in the summer of 2017. Jack is planning for his masters study the following year, which might be; Stockholm, London, Paris or in another continent. He’s busy with fencing and he’s the VP of the Economic Society.
Hugo is looking for universities in the UK, Canada, and the Netherlands. He aims to study PPE; Politics, Philosophy & Economics. He has had a busy year; deadlines after deadlines following one another. Soon he will hopefully have his IB diploma. He enjoys his time at VIS ski team and got the Leadership Award for this last May.
Noa has received two awards this year; MVP (most value player) of the basketball team and Leadership Award from the softball team. She tried to get into the university ladies basketball team in Kamloops, but you won’t believe it, she was by far the smallest in height as in width! It’s a pity that she didn’t make it into the team.
She had an amazing graduation in June. It is a time where you celebrate the fact the students are done with school, they didn’t know their IB results yet, but they get their high school diploma. In Vienna we do it the Viennese way, with the debutants opening the ball at the Rathaus! This was a very proud and an emotional moment for the family. This was not the only highlight of the evening as also Piet (84) and Willy (83 and blind) danced after 25 years again, which was moving to see. Also it was truly a beautiful sight to see Hugo and Jack dance with their Granny/oma, and Loes.
Rob has been working as always hard but this year but he really enjoys it in Brau Union. It’s a back-breaking amount of work and I think it is this year really extreme what he is doing but we as his family are proud of him. Rob is having a tough time with his next SAP project, but he’s not worried (yet ;-). His hand and foot are doing just fine, nothing broken this year so far, but due to the extreme long days there is no time left to do any sports which is a pity.
We had a nice holiday in stunning Canada together after bringing Noa to her new home, her 8thcountry in the meantime! And what a great country! We fell in love with Canada! We visited Vancouver, Kamloops, Whistler, Vancouver Island and Victoria.
Hawaii was the incredible destination for Jack and Noa this summer! They’ve been saving their money for the last three years to pay their three week trip. It has been wonderful for us parents to see the children grow up. Their bonds strengthen as time goes by despite the distance
Robin donated her hair to a charitable organization that makes wigs for cancer patients. It has been a win-win situation, her short hair suits her well and she’s helping others! We’re very proud of her.
How will we look back on 2016?So many ‘greats’ have gone; David Bowie, Alan Rickman, Leonard Cohen, Mohammed Ali, but also many parents are passing away. We have friends who are loosing their beloved ones or who are seriously ill. We don’t know what 2017will bring but we have to count our blessings and we will make the best of it.
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Rob & Viv, Robin, Jack, Noa, Hugo en Sammy.