Monday Feb 16. An offer you can’t refuse

Written by Jack van Ommen on February 16th, 2015

I would like to be in Amsterdam from around April 20 till May 7th. The 70th anniversary of the end of WW II and of the liberation of concentration camp Dachau will be commemorated. In a theater performance on May 4th, in the program “Names instead of Numbers” http://www.comiteinternationaldachau.com/en/archive/32-names-instead-of-numbers   one of the German students will present her story about our mother’s experience in Dachau. Willemijn Petroff-van Gurp  one of the last surviving survivors will be there with her two biographer students. We met and became friends in 2013. See my blog for the 2013 Dachau commemoration at: https://cometosea.us/?m=201304.

Jop Bruin, Willemijn and Jelle Braaksma (of omgekeerd, maar de langste moet de Fries zijn)

Jop Bruin, Willemijn and Jelle Braaksma

There is a good chance that I will have the Dutch version of “Soloman” ready for presentation at that time and this would give me a chance for the promotion of it.

The cheapest airfare I find is over $ 1,000 and that is not in my Social Security budget. From 2007 until 2010 my dear friend Judy provided me with buddy passes to fly home from and to where the boat was and a winter respite in Indochina. I often ended up in business class. This ended when United merged with Continental. I can get the occasional buddy pass to the East Coast on the domestic carrier where my ex-wife retired from. I am looking for an International carrier employee, that can get me to Amsterdam.

The OFFER is Marriage or Adoption or a Favor.(preferably in reverse order) The best husband, son, friend you could ever have wished for.  

I know the routine, I’ll never be in jeans or ask dumb questions or throw a tantrum fit when space is not available. If you want to see the real Amsterdam I’ll be your guide, interpreter, bodyguard. I speak four European languages fluently and Spanish and Italian reasonably.

 

 

3 Comments so far ↓

  1. billhotaling@gmail.com says:

    I cannot help with a buddy pass, but if you put a donate button on your site, I am sure some folks would contribute 🙂 I don’t know what donate button will work for you, paypal, Dwolla etc. I know there are mixed feelings about bloggers doing that, but in today’s society I am pretty sure it is acceptable. Good luck, and I do enjoy reading of your travels. You are an inspiration. Seems our paths come close again, you were in NYC a bit back, I live in Albany NY just a few hours north. You will be in Amsterdam, I will leave early April from there. Anyway, if there is a way to contribute to you let me know. God speed to you. Bill H.

  2. Thanks, Bill, I will keep that in mind. Looking forward to cross your path. Since we are both moving targets, it’s bound to happen.

  3. billhotaling@gmail.com says:

    Jack, I was hoping to butter you up a bit as to solicit some advice or assis. I dont have your email so I am using the comments though I hope you will consider not posting this there 🙂 I am headed to Germany to visit my wife’s family and a few other places as well. I would like to head up to Netherlands specifically Amersfoort, and Nijkirk. I have a family Genealogy that takes us to a man named Ryckert Claese born there in 1634 and immigrated to America. I am not a genealogist by any means. But, I would like to go there and see what I might find regarding where he came from. There are conflicting versions that he was either a farmer or an orphan. The way families named children then leads to that belief. And if nothing else I would like to walk in the area where my ancestors came from. They were Dutch, and today I am the last of the Dutch line in the Dutch reformed Church locally here save for my mother. Her name is VanVranken and we know that that name most likely came from van, from, and vranken or Frankenland a farming area. I give you this information as a teaser to see if I can peek your interest. Understand that you are not obligated in any way what so ever, and feel free to simply ignore this if you like. I realize I might be coming across as a crack pot or the like. I have in my possession the entire genealogy from that man leading to me and some of the other lines, but have always been curious about getting more history going back from Ryckert. According to the file I have, there was a man named Dr Henry Peers, a professional genealogist in the Netherlands whom located Ryckert’s records, or rather he gathered some information. I dont have a copy of the information he obtained and there are uncertainties there as well. Again I am not versed on any of this type of stuff. It is curiosity. There is a copy of the ship manifest including him on the ship called Gelderse Blom and landed in Albany NY July of 1651. From there they grew 🙂 I suppose what I am looking for is more on Rychert, who was he, where did he come from and who were his people etc etc. Was he an orphan or was he a contracted farm hand on Frankenland or other. So whilst in Germany and when I head up I have something to dig for. Thank you for taking a moment to read this, and if you are interested in pointing me in some sort of direction I am grateful. Otherwise safe travels.

    Bill H.