Blog post 10: Biography

The life of Helga Abild

Wanting to have a peaceful and memorable end to is probably the best goal you can have towards the end of your life. Especially if you have had such an adventurous and exciting life. Helga Abild was brought into this world on the 9^th of November, 1939 shortly before the war broke out. She was born in Madiun, Java as an only child. Helga’s father worked at a sugar factory in Purwodadi, a place near Madiun. Her mother was a housewife who looked after her.

Helga was born with quite an interesting mix of cultures. Her mother was German, her father was Danish and she was born in Indonesia. She grew up playing with Dutch and Javanese friends until the age of 6. Weekends were spent in a land rover or jeep driving up the mountains with her parents, where it was nice and cool.  Everything was good until the war came.

In the year 1945, war broke out in Indonesia. The Japanese came and took over, forcing Helga and her mum into a concentration camp, getting split up from her father. They were occupied there for quite some time until they were finally released when war with the Japanese ended. During the war time, there was not much food and not much to play with. So the only toy children had was the company of each other, so Helga had to play with friends. After the war ended everyone was free to go back to Europe. Which the Abild family did.

4 generations of one family in a picture. 

They travelled to Denmark, a whole new experience for such a little girl. She had to learn the Danish language there. They had time to recuperate from such a terrible time. Her parents had no job, but then eventually her father got a job in Denmark thanks to his family there. After some time in Europe, Helga’s father got homesick. Helga’s father really was in love with Java so for that reason, they moved back to Java. This time to Malang, where Helga stayed with her mother, whilst her father went back to Purwodadi to help rebuild the sugar factory.

Helga with Alexandra

There Helga attended a Dutch school from the age of 13 to 15. Then in the year 1954 all the Europeans had to leave Indonesia again. The Abild family went to Holland by cruise ship, which was quite an interesting experience for a 16 year old girl in a time like that!

Helga stayed in Holland and continued on with life there. She met her first husband there, Max Vos. She met him while she was working as a secretary in a contracting company in Gouda. They eventually got married and Helga had one child, Alexandra Vos at the age of 24. They had a long marriage until some less good events caused a divorce. He passed away a while later.

Helga on the left, Alexandra in the middle and Max on the right

Helga is now almost 75 years old and living a happy life in Holland sharing moments with friends and family. She has a positive outlook on the world and says that “Everybody makes mistakes in life, but hopefully in the end they may be forgiven”. Helga has had a very interesting life, and hopes that someday she can have a peaceful ending to her life.

Blog post 9: My autobiography

I don't remember getting introduced into the world, but then again I don't think anyone does. I only know my life started on the 10^th of July 1999 in Gouda, Holland. Instead of my parents being blessed with just me, they also had a second child. That was my twin brother Thom, who saw life for the first time 2 minutes after me. Being a twin is really cool, and I couldn’t imagine living as a single child. It is nice to know there is someone for you when you need them, and having a twin makes that easier. Life in general as young children was really good. We lived in a house on the Veurselaan Street in Voorburg which was a friendly neighborhood.

School was good and I had lots of friends that I would play with at their houses. All us neighbor kids always played out on the street with everyone else and occasionally my dad, Thom and I would go out to the big grass field in front of our house. Playing hockey on the field or playing with a ball was quite a regular every day activity. Life was good there apart from the fact that we would hardly ever see our dad because he worked from morning until night. That was enough of a reason for my parents to decide we needed to change our life. That was the start of a new beginning. 

My parents found some land on the island of Bali in Indonesia.  They had been to Bali before on their world trip, so they knew the island already. They bought the land and then packed up our things in Holland. That was when we had to say goodbye to everything we had there, including friends and family. So there we were, on a plane, travelling to the other ends of the world. At such a young age I couldn’t really understand what was going on and why we were leaving. I think that made it easier to say goodbye and leave everything behind.

Thom, my grandma and I at the Holland
Airport on the day we were leaving to Bali

My brother and I started attending the Australian International School in 2006. We had to learn a new language, English. It was like being a baby again, having to learn all the words from scratch. Since we were so young we actually learned the language quite quickly. Attending the AIS Bali school is one of the best decisions my parents made in my perspective. Starting school there has led me to meet 2 of my favourite people in the world; my 2 best friends. Also without AIS I wouldn’t have had these sporting opportunities I have had and the ones that have yet to come.

Moving to Bali has definitely shaped who I am it has given me the attitude I have and all my interests. Life in Bali is good and couldn’t be any better. I have everything a teenage girl could ask for. Without that I would not be the person I am today.

Blog post 8: Timeline of my life

My street where I lived in Holland,
with the big field in front of it

• Born in Gouda, Netherlands, 10^th of July 1999
• My twin brother Thom was born 2 minutes later.
• Almost died when I was a couple of weeks old. 
• Lived in a house in Voorburg on the Veurselaan street that had a grass sports field in front of it.
• I remember playing on the street with all the kids who lived in the street, and going over to the field to play hockey. I also went ice skating in winter on a little river that flowed in front of the field.

• Had my first accident when I was about 5, when I fell of a bike and hit my chin on the pavement. Had to go to hospital to glue it back together.
• When I was 6 just before we moved to Bali my grandfather died. That was the first death of someone close to me that I experienced.
• Moved to Bali in 2006 when I just turned 7.
• Started attending the Australian International school in October 2006.
• Certified for my Open water dive course in April 2012.
• Went to the AISA games in Singapore to play basketball and soccer.
• Currently living life to the fullest!

My 2 grandpa's with Thom and I.
Grandpa on the left passed away when I was 6.

Blog post 7: How to hit a tennis forehand

This post is to show you how to hit a tennis forehand in 5 steps.

What you will need:

• A tennis racket
• A tennis ball (or maybe a few to make it easier)
• A space big enough so you can hit a ball, preferably a court of some sort
• And someone that can help throw a ball at you (It's not necessary but would make things a lot easier)

Step 1: 

Find a space that's big enough for you to play in. Get ready in your ready pose with both hands on the racket (right hand on the bottom if you are right handed and left hand on the bottom if you are left handed) and bent knees so you are ready to hit any ball.

Step 2: 

Get someone to stand opposite of you so they can bounce a ball at you. Before you hit the ball you must move so that the ball is to the right of your body and not right in front of you. Your right hand (or your left if you are left handed) must go back quite far so you will have enough power to hit it. You also have to put your left foot in front and bend your knees. That along with the backwards arm motion must be done at the same time. To get the perfect touch and timing your hand must already be behind you before the ball bounces.

Step 3: 

Now, since the ball is coming at you and you are ready with your arm behind you and bent knees you can start bringing your arm forward and keeping the racket angled so that the ball wont go straight up but nicely over the net. Make sure to keep bending your knees! For the ball to absorb the power from your arm you must make sure you hit the ball in the middle of the tennis racket. You can also use your other free hand to point at the ball or if you find that helpful.

Have the racket angled when hitting the ball

Hit the ball right in the
middle of the racket

Step 4:

After you have hit the ball it is still not the end. You must still follow through. Your hitting arm should end up over your neck. When you finish the hit your right leg will also probably come forward so you are standing in the ready pose which is ok, because that will just help put more weight into the shot.

Step 5: 

Practice that quite a lot of times and just find a rhythm for hitting the ball. As long as you remember these steps you will be able to hit a forehand ball in no time! 

If you think you have mastered that try asking your partner to throw it further away from you so you have to move more.

Good luck and I hope you found this easy to follow!

Here is also a video to help you out:

Click here to watch a video on how to learn the tennis forehand