And I Say Thank You To The Internet
I started using the internet back in 1998. I was amazed by the things I found on the net back then and I believe that the internet will be very useful in the future. That is also one of the reasons why I took information technology for my bachelor degree and continue to dig deeper into the usage of the net.
After years of wandering around the net, I finally say a really big thank you to the internet because of the story I'll tell you next. In 2010, 12 years after my first use, the internet rewarded me nicely.
My father, Kurt Adalbert Emmerling, is the youngest of four, Bert, Erich, Ingeborg, and himself. He was born in Indonesia on June 29, 1938. He spent his childhood in Bogor, a city south of Jakarta famous for the Raffles Botanical garden. He was really close with his older brother, Erich. Now, just by reading the name, you can tell where I got my middle name from.
Around the late 1940s, my dad lived in a boarding house separated from his family. He went to school and then started working. In the late 1950s, his family decided to go back to the good ol' Germany and contacted him. He went and see them for the last time in 1958. My dad decided to go on and live in Indonesia.
He maintained contact with his brother Erich. They wrote letter to each other. The last correspondence address I knew was in Wolfsburg. Up to a point in time, my dad's letter was returned and so the contact between brothers stopped.
Back in 2006, I chat with a college friend of mine. She lived with her husband in Germany because her husband was sent there to study in one of the universities. During the chat, I asked her to call the operator and asked for my uncle, Erich Emmerling. From the info I got from her, my uncle already passed away in Munich in 2004. I was sad to hear the news and so was my dad.
So life goes on. One day around 2 months ago, I tried googling my name just to see the number of results shown on the screen. Something quickly caught my attention. There was the name Erich Emmerling shown on the screen and the result was from a german website. I used the google translate to view the page and found out that it was an information website for Erich Emmerling's contact. A phone number was listed and guess what, the address was in Wolfsburg, the last town I know my uncle lived in. Since my sister currently resides in Germany, I emailed her the contact details and asked her to check if that is uncle Erich. Her husband called the number and it turned out that the man was the Erich Emmerling we're looking for, my dad's big brother. We were really happy and my dad was really happy because after 52 years, contact was finally re-established.
When I found my uncle, I thank the internet for reuniting our family. No matter what negative item is out there on the net, it is still a very useful thing and I'll keep on trying to improve things you can do on the net.
Thank you internet!!!
-E-
follow @femmerling on twitter
After years of wandering around the net, I finally say a really big thank you to the internet because of the story I'll tell you next. In 2010, 12 years after my first use, the internet rewarded me nicely.
My father, Kurt Adalbert Emmerling, is the youngest of four, Bert, Erich, Ingeborg, and himself. He was born in Indonesia on June 29, 1938. He spent his childhood in Bogor, a city south of Jakarta famous for the Raffles Botanical garden. He was really close with his older brother, Erich. Now, just by reading the name, you can tell where I got my middle name from.
Around the late 1940s, my dad lived in a boarding house separated from his family. He went to school and then started working. In the late 1950s, his family decided to go back to the good ol' Germany and contacted him. He went and see them for the last time in 1958. My dad decided to go on and live in Indonesia.
He maintained contact with his brother Erich. They wrote letter to each other. The last correspondence address I knew was in Wolfsburg. Up to a point in time, my dad's letter was returned and so the contact between brothers stopped.
Back in 2006, I chat with a college friend of mine. She lived with her husband in Germany because her husband was sent there to study in one of the universities. During the chat, I asked her to call the operator and asked for my uncle, Erich Emmerling. From the info I got from her, my uncle already passed away in Munich in 2004. I was sad to hear the news and so was my dad.
So life goes on. One day around 2 months ago, I tried googling my name just to see the number of results shown on the screen. Something quickly caught my attention. There was the name Erich Emmerling shown on the screen and the result was from a german website. I used the google translate to view the page and found out that it was an information website for Erich Emmerling's contact. A phone number was listed and guess what, the address was in Wolfsburg, the last town I know my uncle lived in. Since my sister currently resides in Germany, I emailed her the contact details and asked her to check if that is uncle Erich. Her husband called the number and it turned out that the man was the Erich Emmerling we're looking for, my dad's big brother. We were really happy and my dad was really happy because after 52 years, contact was finally re-established.
When I found my uncle, I thank the internet for reuniting our family. No matter what negative item is out there on the net, it is still a very useful thing and I'll keep on trying to improve things you can do on the net.
Thank you internet!!!
-E-
follow @femmerling on twitter
Dedicated to my dad, Kurt A. Emmerling
Comments
Post a Comment