The years go by, faster than I can believe, but there is nothing we can do about that.
2023 has been a mixed bag:
We stayed in Greece until the beginning of April. I was fortunate that my patients know patience. I was able to carry on where I had left off. My patients are just delightful, and I do try to do the best I can. One patient died. It is very, very sad. She was only a little older than myself and a wonderful lady. May she rest in peace and may her loved ones find solace.
My dad has been very ill, and it was touch and go there for a while. Horst and Rachel did a fabulous job looking after him. Without their care, what would have happened? Now he lives back out in the Barossa, but he is still struggling with this health.
German politics made Achim’s job nearly impossible. The Kakogratos (terrible government) has caused so much upheaval that people have felt insecure about their heating systems. Nobody is quite sure what they had to or should do. Thankfully, things have eased up a bit, but the last few years have taken their tolls on his suppliers, too.
We travelled to Poland via the Czech Republic and made the best of it. We visited the town that Achim grandfather was evicted from, during or rather after the war. It was very interesting. Polish people were forced to move to the area after the Germans were kicked out, but it looks as if nobody dares to invest anything in the area to this very day. You can see that the place once was an absolute delight, but now everything is run down. The interesting part was, that while we were trying to decide whether to look for his relatives graves, we got talking to some locals and the lady told us that her grandmother had worked for Achim’s grandfather. Wow!
On the way back, we stopped in Brandenburg and made some preparations to fix up our house there so that one day we would be able to rent it out. The government of the area, however, does not seem to be prepared to apply the law and get rid of our squatter on the property. Still, at least we now have waste water hooked up.
Achim worked a lot on the buildings this year. He finally did the grouting (is that what you call it?) of the wall and put a rail on the balcony so that the kids won’t fall down. It looks fabulous – I think.
We had the kids as much as we could and tried to spend time with Florian and Nisha, too. It was fun taking the kids on a boat ride on the Lipno lake and watching them grow into lovely people.
Nisha is just about to finish her professional training course, while raising the two kids and having two sick in-laws. It’s quite a chore getting everything done, and 2024 will be very hard on the Stangl family. Now, however, Nisha and family are spending Christmas and the start of the New Year here with us, and we are delighted! Well, they did rent a place for themselves, as our house is just too small for 6 people.
I was in Zurich in September to give a talk to a group of oncologists and GPs who work with oncology, and it turned into a wonderful job. So, since December 1, I am working for RGCC laboratories, and I am getting paid to study. I have also enrolled into a Master degree at Uni Camillus in Rome and hope to finish it by the end of 2024, although I did get behind because of the new challenge and the time it demands.
We had good times, and we had bad. Over all, we are grateful that Nisha is still with us and that things haven’t got worse. There is cause to be cautiously optimistic. We are grateful that my dad survived, and is still with us. This Christmas marked 40 years since his father passed away.
We are shocked to have learnt, that two members of the family are gravely ill and there is little we can do. We hope they will pull through, so please pray for them. You know, prayer does help.
I wish you all a very happy, healthy and joyful 2024. May all your needs be taken care of always, and may you have peace in your hearts.
Lots of love Achim & Helena
