A bunch of kids

Teresa Jane is married with Mihai Reinhardt. Together they have five children: Andrzej, Drina, Nadya, Mireli and Hanzi.

#### Andrzej

Andrzej (17) is the eldest of the siblings and the most responsible one. Patricia fondly remembers Teresa’s first baby. He was so small and so cute. She was only seventeen when he was born, but she helped out whenever she could. She spend her whole summer before university with them in Germany.

Andrzej is serious for his age. His first priority is his family, he will always take care of his smaller siblings. The other four know that they can depend on him, if they are in trouble, or with simple things like a flat tire on their bike. Teresa and Mihai trust him to take care of himself and the others as well. Though he does not mind others asking him for assistance, he himself really hates to ask for help, even if he needs it.

Andrzej appreciates the finer things in life, especially art. Patricia has encouraged this from a young age. When he was a toddler and she a poor medical student, the two sisters took Andrzej to the free musea in London whenever Teresa had a chance to visit her sister. Patricia fondly remembers the first time she was earning enough to take him to Paris, to the Louvre, when he was 12. It cemented his decision to start training to become an antiques dealer. Since he is clever and has a nose for business, this should work out well for him. At the moment he is considering doing a bachelor in the history of art in Paris, but he does not want to leave his siblings behind yet.

Andrzej has black hair and prefers to dress a little alternatively, like an artist. He favours waistcoats and hats.

#### Drina

Only a year after Andrzej, Drina (16) was born. While her brother was an easy baby, Drina was his opposite. She grew up to be an energetic and independent young lady. When she wants something, she is determined to do whatever she can to get it. Whether it is a colourful candystick at age 5, acceptance to an arts and crafts school at age 12 or a cute boy at age 16.

Whether going to this arts and crafts school was the best idea, nobody knows. Drina likes to work with her hands, and she is resourceful and inventive especially when it concerns practical things. So academically she is a good fit. However, socially it is difficult for her. She is self-conscious in new situations, so she did not have a great start all on her own. She is not diplomatic, she speaks way too candidly. She also overlooks the little personal considerations and attentions that foster understanding and companionship with others. So making friends is not something she does easily. However, she is very loyal to the few friends she has, almost as loyal is she is to her family.

Her talent to work with her hands also has other perks. From a young age, she was the best pickpocket of the family. It was a fun outdoor family activity she loved. She still likes it, but she is more aware of the risks now. Especially since she cannot talk herself out of trouble if something goes wrong. Aunt Patricia has trained her a little extra because of that. After all, if you don’t get caught, there is no problem. Drina fondly remembers the practice sessions in the beautiful train station of Antwerp. Still, for security reasons she prefers not to work a crowd on her own.

Drina is also already a not too bad restorator of artwork. Which coincidentally also makes her an acceptable forger. Andrzej for now sells her copies as copies for a little extra pocket money, but who knows what the future will bring. Drina plans to assist Andrzej’s antiques business, as a restorator and perhaps as a forger.

#### Nadya

The middle child, Nadya (15), is a social butterfly. She is friendly and likeable, she loves to meet new people and she finds it easy to get along with everybody. Drina sometimes is jealous of these traits. However Nadya always notices when someone feels sad or is troubled and makes sure to help as much as she can. This sometimes leads to problems. Nadya also has a quick temper. So, if some boy hurts a friend of her, the boy better not be in her vicinity.

Nadya has found out that helping others is not always appreciated. She is often disappointed when she gets ignored after she has selflessly given assistance to someone in need.

She excels in artistic, dramatic and musical expression, and like her eldest brother she has a desire for the finer things in life. She dreams of being an actress, or a singer, or a musician. She is doing well performing on fairs already. Unfortunately, she doesn’t have the resolve to put in the necessary effort to become world class. She wants to audition for The Voice, but is not yet allowed by her parents.

Nadya hates school. She only goes because her friends are there and does the bare minimum to be able to keep up with them. She thinks about going to music or acting school after high school, but she does not wish to practice that much. Mihai and Teresa coach her now, and she improves as long as they maintain a strict discipline. At school, a stricter discipline would also work. Patricia has suggested a traditional British boarding school, like the one she attended. Perhaps Nadya is interested in an exchange year if her younger sister does so too.

Nady is not good at pickpocketing like her big sister is, but she is very good at telling sob stories and begging for money. Who would leave a scared young girl stranded on a train station? Only aunt Patricia, cause she knows the girl will get enough money to buy herself a ticket to a theatre or the movies. Patricia also taught her how to dress to appear more desperate, trustworthy, or whatever she wants to appear like to get what she wants.

#### Mireli

The youngest girl, Mireli (13) is the diplomat of the family. She wants everybody around her to be happy. Like Nadya, she loves to mingle and socialize with people. She is spontaneous and expressive and is able to meet new situations with ease.

Since she is blessed with a quick and active mind and a love for many different subjects and hobbies, from math and science to singing and dancing, she should have an easy time at school. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The girl cannot stand things that are boring. If the work is too repetitive, she simply refuses to do it. Even worse, she will not keep quiet about the reason why. Mireli simply refuses to accept nonsensical rules like having to make homework that you already understand or appropriate dress. Since she is also a born debater and loves to discuss things, the less traditional teachers love her. But the strict ones are a problem. If nonsensical rules become unfair in her eyes, she will get angry and fight back. And arguments like: I am the teacher are unfair in her eyes. Her parents have been called to school multiple times because of a heated discussion in the classroom. With a little help of Patricia they managed to get her into some more interesting classes.

Even though Mireli refuses to do boring repetitions of schoolwork herself, she will help a slower classmate with the same repetitions with as much patience as she can master. She is generous to those who are less fortunate than her. Andrzej has found that out when Teresa started to wonder why she always was so hungry after school. It turned out she gave her lunch to the beggar near the school. Mihai and Andrzej gently convinced the professional beggar to take up another spot. And the whole family started to train Mireli how to scam and steal. That was a failure, she hates doing that because it feels wrong. But at least she learned how to recognize a scam. She does love to use the techniques for fun, for practical jokes and magic shows, and for a 13-year-old she is quite talented.

Like Nadya, Mireli cares about her appearance. Both girls want to look good and have trendy clothes and makeup. Mireli has somehow decided to become the family’s fashion designer. She loves shopping with Nadya and sketching ideas for dresses or coats with Drina. Drina actually has made several pieces of clothing for herself and Mireli out of these designs. Mireli would like to dress up Hanzi as well, but he just wants to wear jeans and shirts. Teresa enjoys that her youngest girl manages to coordinate the clothes for the whole family when they do something together. It’s mainly the hats though. Mireli has a fondness for hats, and has convinced all the others that they are amazing. Andrzej feels distinguished, Drina feels like an artist, Nadya feels fashionable and even practical little Hanzi likes a hat, because it keeps the sun and the rain out of his eyes. It does make the five of them stand out if they are together. As a bonus, when they do not want to draw attention, the hats and unique jackets disappear quickly.

Her parents and aunt are not sure of her future. Neither is she. Teresa and Mihai are considering her request to go an an exchange, a year boarding school in the UK or high school in the USA. Perhaps an exchange in France. Her requests for an exchange with an Indian or Ghanese student have been denied. There is a lot of promise in her, when she has found her calling. For now, the adults just try to make learning as much fun as possible.

#### Hanzi

The benjamin of the family is little Hanzi (10). Despite his young age, he is independent, practical and patient. That one time Nadya forgot to pick him up from school when he was 8, he waited for an hour, and then simply took the bus home. He had never been on a bus alone before. Afterwards, after some discussion with his mother, he was allowed to go to school alone. After all, he showed her he could, why wouldn’t she let him? This of course lead to a very worried teacher, but Teresa managed to convince her that Hanzi could take care of himself.

Hanzi likes school. He is good in math and natural sciences. He is not very gifted artistically. He cannot perform or sing well. After school, he prefers to help his dad with fixing whatever is broken, like the car, or his bike, or testing out new fireworks or mirror arrangements for magic tricks. He is of course not allowed to do firework on his own. Playing computer games with his friends is his second favorite pastime. .

He is a little perfectionist. Which works really well in his math classes and with setting up firework, but a little less when he tries to fix his bike or needs to write an essay. He also would never praise himself.

He is loyal to his friends and family, but his communication is at times stilted, too straightforward and blunt.

He is too young to have serious plans for his future, but Patricia can’t help but see a budding little Void Engineer. She is going to make sure he will attend a high school that allows him every opportunity for focussing on science.

During the weekends and school holidays, the family tends to travel around to all kinds of local fairs, playgrounds and sometimes even a circus. Mihai and Teresa alternate their performances during schoolweeks. But when the whole family is free, they love to perform an excellent magic show to together. Mihai, Teresa, Andrzej and Mireli do tricks, Nadya, Teresa and Mireli play music or dance and Nadya plays an excellent magician’s assistant. Drina makes the sets and the tricks, with help from Mihai. Mireli shows a lot of promise in designing new tricks as well. Mihai and Hanzi set up the tricks. Hanzi especially loves the ones with smoke or firework.

When you see the set of five together, they stand out. A 17 year old boy with a hat and vest, two raven haired girls with hats and colourful flowy coats or dresses and one brown haired girl in practical and unique jeanswear. And Hanzi of course, grumpily accepting he had to comb his hair. Oddly, when there is police around, the hats and unique coats disappear quickly, and they look like average teens.