Christmas down under

20 years ago somewhere on the other side of the world

I visited my great-aunt Gerda in sunny Christmas Australia – Christmas in down under. Aunt Gerda had her birthday just before Christmas.

Aunt Gerda told me many family stories that would otherwise always be forgotten. Among other things, she told me stories of my mom and my own grandparents that I did not know.

Aunt Gerda originally came from Berlin before she moved to southern Lower Austria during World War II, where she met my great uncle of the second degree – Uncle Peter. Ultimately, Aunt Gerda with sack and pack, her three children and Uncle Peter emigrated to Australia in the 1950s, where they could build a new existence. She could not withstand the non-past management in Austria.

With much diligence and care, Aunt Gerda and Uncle Peter were able to create a new home for their children and give them a good school education.

I met Aunt Gerda in 1981 when she came to Vienna. Aunt Gerda traveled the world and visited as often as she could Good old Europeto see their numerous relatives and acquaintances again. She also wrote regularly.

I was happy every time one of her Aerograms To be able to hold hands and read news from the other side of the world. She was happy about mail, as was Uncle Peter. Uncle Peter collected stamps until his early death.

He cleanly detached the stamps from the envelopes and glued them into one of his numerous stamp albums until his untimely death. Uncle Peter fell ill with colon cancer even though he never smoked, drank alcohol and did not eat excessively. Uncle Peter had always been rank and slim.

Despite surgery and chemotherapy, unfortunately, any help came too late.

The medical treatment cost Aunt Gerda and her three children the common house and garden. How Albert Camus Sisyphos She kept Aunt Gerda unwavering contenance. Nothing could bring her out of peace or take away her joy of life. Aunt Gerda started a second time with nothing. Nevertheless, she was able to earn a modest prosperity until her pension.

At the end of her life, Aunt Gerda wanted to Retirement Village Stay near Brisbane. The Retiremant Village was located directly on the coast in a forest. The forest provided shade and a pinch of the sea provided additional cooling even on very hot days. Despite sometimes extremely high outside temperatures in Australia, no air conditioning was necessary in the houses in the Retiremant Village.

The Retirement Village also provided complete medical care, allowing the elderly to spend their retirement there until the end without having to move again – "being uprooted". In addition to a flexible Housekeeping service, who is looking for his peers, was also offered complete medical care: from medical consultations on demand to round-the-clock care in the connected nursing home and palliative care unit.

My aunt only had help cleaning the window from time to time and doing larger purchases. Otherwise, she drove regularly and several times a week by bus to the nearest village to make her purchases. When I first got on the bus, the bus driver knew – I think his name was Sam and had roots from Poland – already that I Grandson from Aunt Gerda from Europe was.