Anna

Packing your Passion

‘Anna, please give me a call. I would like to take you with me as a surprise for Mama. She’s my mother-in-law, and it would be great if you could speak Dutch with her.’ That’s what a woman said to me after ordering another gin and tonic while I was working behind a bar in Hobart. I gave the tipsy lady a piece of paper and said she could write her number down. ‘I’m not sure if I’m going to call you…’, was what I was thinking.

Later that week I wanted some adventure and I had never been ‘a surprise’ for someone, so I decided to ring the woman. I drove to her house and she introduced me to Fransje (90).

When I introduced myself in Dutch Fransje got really excited, because she didn’t speak in her mother tongue for ten years. We chatted away while drinking coffee. She told me about the six-week boat trip to Australia which she made with her husband and three children after World War II. All other women on the ship took their stoves and vacuum cleaners with them. Fransje didn’t, she took her books with her because ‘Wherever I am going, when I have my books with me I can be happy.’ We have a love for reading in common. It’s always interesting to see which books other people have on their shelves, so soon we stood in front of Fransje’s bookcase. There were Dutch and English novels and poetry on the shelves. She gave me a beautiful edition of the Camera Obscura (1839) of Dutch author Nicolaas Beets. ‘I’m at the end of my life and you’re at the beginning, so the book is in a better place with you.’, she said.

At the end of this great afternoon, Fransje gave me some ‘kruidkoek’, Dutch cake, for on the way home. While driving away I realized you can feel at home everywhere, if you take your passion with you.