Looking back

Dear friends and family,

This past year has been a good one for us! This was a nice change from 2014, when things were not looking so good for friends and family. Your good wishes for a happy 2015 have come true!

Sheila’s health has been stable all year. The medication has kept the disease at bay. No reason to doubt her continued good health in the near future.

We went to Bangkok in March to participate in the Wharton Global Forum. Wharton is one of the top 3 business schools in the world.

yearreport 2015 photos

Sheila is a member of the organizing committee in Amsterdam (as a Penn alumn) which is hosting the Wharton Global Forum in june 2016 in the Beurs of Berlage, the old Amsterdam Stock Exchange. We joined the cooking school Blue Elephant as part of the program in Bangkok. The three days there were spectacular. Besides learning a lot, we heard the Thai prime minister speak in Thai and watched fireworks. After Bangkok, we went to Penang to visit our friend Bommy and then visited Sheila’s father Dr, Deva Ghosh. He is over 75, but still active als full-time professor seismophysics at the Technical University of Petronas, in Ipoh, Malaysia.

Sheila also visited Bruges this year with her mom and spent five days in New York visiting her sister Nancy. Our dog Jaap took us out to the woods or the moors to play with the ball. End of august we joined a fantastic cruise gemaakt to Norway. We highly recommend this trip, since you see the fjords and nature up close. (Also, we got very spoiled in those 10 days)! The pictures on the other side show our travel.

Sheila has several longer assignments as an independent consultant (‘Business/IT architect’) for the Dutch government and for a government health care agency. Victor has expanded his legal company with new clients. He has followed several courses to keep his tax law credentials up to date (he is a registered tax law specialist).

Victor is also busy with his hobbies. He visited mr Nigel Webb in the UK for an exclusive Mark I event, traveling in his 1958 Jaguar Mark I with his brothers and our neighbor Rob and his son. het Brooklands museum. Nigel hosted more than 200 guests with a bbq and live jazz music. Victor also drove a few classic car rally’s with friends, including the yearly Lions Rally in Blaricum. Victor has played a few concerts and recently joined Bruce Skinner’s big band as drummer. This requires weekly practice and study!

Sheila is planning to work on a PhD in the area of Health & ICT, focusing on improving patient experiences. This is thanks to encouragement from uncle Frans and aunt Annemieke Alting von Geusau. Uncle Frans is professor emeritus in international law and wants to be informed of Sheila’s progress. Victor has to keep her focused! ‘Time is setting priorities’, according to uncle Frans. We visited them to see the 1816 diploma of the knighthood of the family. This is part of a family project to create a family book. Victor’s cousin Alix in Austria is working on this and is organizing the family reunion sometime next year, to celebrate the 900-year old Von Geusau family.

The ‘kids’ are now adults and doing well. Eldest son Sebastian has a great girlfriend (Irene) and has found his passion: he is studying to be a teacher at the teacher’s academy in Groningen. In addition he worked at a callcenter and in a bar. Irene is studying medicine and doing her internschip in a hospital in Deventer. Daughter Henriëtte (22) is enjoying student life as a member of the UVSV-sorority in Utrecht. She is studying culture and communication and works at a pharmacy. Son Valentijn has started as a first year Psychology major. He is very motivated and getting high scores on his exams. He works as a waiter in a restaurant in Utrecht (Broers). Daughter Barbara (18) has a great boyfriend Luuk who is smart and a good trumpet player. She is in her last year of high school and will take her exams in May. She is also taking singing lessons from Claudia Streza, who first gave her lessons when Barbara was 9. Luuk passed his exams (Gymnasium) last year and has a jazzband with his two brothers. Barbara wants to study medicine and sing with Luuk’s band. She also works in the Albert Heijn ( a nice grocery store) where Luuk is teamleader. Of course all of us, including their mom Annet, are very proud of these wonderful young adults!

Finally, we are planning to spend our Christmas with Sheila’s family. Her aunt Nivedita, and cousins Rahki and Payal are traveling all the way from California to join us, Nancy, and Sheila’s mom Ellen this Christmas. We’re so happy to see them.

We wish you a great Christmas and a very happy 2016! Focus on the things that matter most to you and make you happy!

Lots of love and happiness,

Sheila en Victor