Saying goodbye
The new year 2001 started with a sad event, the mother of Willem died. Later in the year we also had to say goodby to our flat in Tenerife
Willem´s mother died in February 2001
Willem´s mother had suffered some years before a heart attack which had weakened the functioning of her heart and made her often very nervous, especially during the nights. Then, she woke up her husband with the consequence that he also could not sleep anymore. Different solutions and medications were tried out. At some point in time she was taking so many medecine that she had to go to a hospital to reduce this amount in a safe surrounding. Being recovered, she had to go back to her house or to a nursing home where she would be taken care off. The dilemma was that Willem´s father was afraid that he could not sleep again if his wife would be there as happened before. In that situation she insisted that she wanted to stay in the nursing home. But we thought that she had the right to go to her own home, no matter what her husband thought . He could also go to a an old people's home if he wanted too. However she insisted that she would go to the nursing home and that is what happened.
At the moment that we had to go back to Barcelona to arrange things for the new apartment, we went to Willem's mother in the nursing home to say good bye for the time being. We found out that she was very unhappy there but we did not say anything about it to Willems´ father. We went to Barcelona and a few days later, on the evening that we would go to the Requiem of Verdi in the Palau de la Musica, we received the message that Willem´s mother had died. We were very sad but couldn´t arrange an immediate flight back. So we went to the performance of the requiem. That requiem is like an opera and we could not stand it at that moment and went away at the break. The next day we flew back to Amsterdam. The funeral was a very sad event and we were not very positive about the behavior of Willem´s father.
For ourselves we have decided, in this corona time, if one of us gets ill, we don´t let us separated by entering in a hospital. We will stay together in our home and wait and see what will happen.
Willem´s mother died in February 2001
Willem´s mother had suffered some years before a heart attack which had weakened the functioning of her heart and made her often very nervous, especially during the nights. Then, she woke up her husband with the consequence that he also could not sleep anymore. Different solutions and medications were tried out. At some point in time she was taking so many medecine that she had to go to a hospital to reduce this amount in a safe surrounding. Being recovered, she had to go back to her house or to a nursing home where she would be taken care off. The dilemma was that Willem´s father was afraid that he could not sleep again if his wife would be there as happened before. In that situation she insisted that she wanted to stay in the nursing home. But we thought that she had the right to go to her own home, no matter what her husband thought . He could also go to a an old people's home if he wanted too. However she insisted that she would go to the nursing home and that is what happened.
At the moment that we had to go back to Barcelona to arrange things for the new apartment, we went to Willem's mother in the nursing home to say good bye for the time being. We found out that she was very unhappy there but we did not say anything about it to Willems´ father. We went to Barcelona and a few days later, on the evening that we would go to the Requiem of Verdi in the Palau de la Musica, we received the message that Willem´s mother had died. We were very sad but couldn´t arrange an immediate flight back. So we went to the performance of the requiem. That requiem is like an opera and we could not stand it at that moment and went away at the break. The next day we flew back to Amsterdam. The funeral was a very sad event and we were not very positive about the behavior of Willem´s father.
For ourselves we have decided, in this corona time, if one of us gets ill, we don´t let us separated by entering in a hospital. We will stay together in our home and wait and see what will happen.
Saying goodbye to Tenerife
After these sad days we returned to Tenerife because we had to sell our flat in order to pay the flat we had bought in Barcelona. We expected that this was possibly the last time we would be on Tenerife and in our apartment. Therefore Willem made a movie of the flat, the "barrancos" , the Teide and the surroundings of our apartment in the Playa de Las Americas. Looking at the video one wonders why we left there. However life goes on. Later it turned out to be a good decision because we started a new life in Barcelona.
After these sad days we returned to Tenerife because we had to sell our flat in order to pay the flat we had bought in Barcelona. We expected that this was possibly the last time we would be on Tenerife and in our apartment. Therefore Willem made a movie of the flat, the "barrancos" , the Teide and the surroundings of our apartment in the Playa de Las Americas. Looking at the video one wonders why we left there. However life goes on. Later it turned out to be a good decision because we started a new life in Barcelona.
Our experience with notaries in the Netherlands was already very special but in Tenerife it was even worse. In order to sell the flat to the new owner we had to specify a price of the flat. If the price specified for the sale would have been higher than for the purchase, one had to pay tax. So the manager of the sale' s office specified the same price as for the purchase although this was of course not true after 5 years. The price was approximately 30.000 euros higher. The notary didn´t check anything. He was only there to sign the contract and to get his honorary. It was not a problem to put most of the money on a bank account in Tenerife, but when we arrived in Barcelona with 4000 euros for further expenses and tried to open a bank account, it was a problem. We went to the Deutsche Bank in the center of Barcelona to avoid possible language problems but there nobody spoke german and it was not possible to open an account. Only with the help of Mercedes, the wife of Joan Manuel, who is an architect, it was possible to open an account in the bank where she also had an account. Later this bank was very helpful with all our financial transactions.