在周五，我收到了一个真正令人惊喜的礼物，它是一条出乎意料的 WhatsApp 消息。
On Friday, I got a real surprise parcel in the shape of a totally unexpected WhatsApp message.
即使是我最亲密的朋友也认为我有点奇怪，因为我仍然认为我们能在这个完美的地点创建中国欧洲家庭绿洲。 在今年春天的时候，我们与房子新主人取得了联系，但现在已经到了夏天，我们没有取得任何相关的进展
Even our closest friends consider me a bit weird because I still think that we will be able to create the China European Family Oasis at this amazing location. This spring, we finally got in touch with the new owner, but it is summer now and nothing has moved forward since.
我们不得不让期待在法国露营的青少年失望，因为今年我们无法举办夏令营。
We even had to disappoint teenagers because we could not carry out summer camps this year.
我仍在坚持我们明年要在法国举办夏令营，这让人们像在看街上自言自语的老人一样看我。
My insistence that the coming year we start in France, really makes people look at me the same way that they look at the old guy on the street who keeps mumbling to himself.
在周五下午 16:30分，我在 WhatsApp 上收到了一个消息。
And then, on Friday afternoon at 16:30, I received a message on WhatsApp.
WhatsApp 消息的开头令人感到不安。
The WhatsApp message started very ominously.
“我的律师与你的律师谈过了”，它这么写着， 我惊呆了。 在我的印象中，我连律师都没有。 那么这是关于什么的呢？
It started with “My lawyer spoke to your lawyer“. I am flabbergasted. In my impression, I don’t even have a lawyer. So what is this about?
但后来关于法国房子的消息继续出现，我意识到我确实有律师。瑞士的一名律师。 一位与房子新主人保持着联系的律师，她在尽力为我们争取到这栋豪宅（老读者都知道，他还没有入住他三年多前买的房子）。
But then the message continued about the house in France, and I realise that I do have a lawyer. One in Switzerland, where the new owner lives. A lawyer who is doing her best to arrange the house for us by keeping friendly contact with the new owner (who, as regular readers know, has still not entered the house that he bought over 3 years ago).
WhatsApp 消息继续显示着，“您仍然对大庄园感兴趣吗？”。
The WhatsApp message continues with “Are you still interested in the large estate?“.
这是在周五的下午，工作周即将结束准备放松的下午，这一条消息让我完全清醒，我的心跳开始加快，我想掐一下我的手臂以保证我不在梦中。
It might be Friday afternoon, at the end of the workweek, but suddenly I am wide awake, my heart starts beating faster and I want to pinch my arm to feel that I am awake.
现在的我已经完全清醒了。 由于新主人还没有全额支付豪宅的付款，前主人的律师和我的律师在三年后取消了对他的出售，并将准备将房产卖给鹭燕和我。
Of course, I am wide awake now. Because the new owner has still not fully paid for the mansion, the lawyer of the previous owner and my lawyer have, after 3 years, found a way to cancel the sale to him and sell the estate to Linda and me.
新主人在是在曼谷旅游时联系我的（有钱人的生活方式与我们这些工作党不同 😉 ）。 在我告诉他我对他的消息感到高兴并且告诉他我们仍对房子有兴趣时，他告诉我他一回到荷兰就会与我联系。 当我告诉他我的惊讶时，他告诉我：“这个世界有时就是这样运转的”。
It is the previous owner who contacted me while he is in Bangkok (rich people have a different lifestyle than us, daily workers 😉 ). After I tell him that I am delighted with his message and that we are very interested, he tells me that he will contact me as soon as he is back in the Netherlands. Upon my surprise about his message, he replies: “Well, that is how the world sometimes turns“.
现在看来我们仍有机会，而且在我们还有在年底完成中欧家庭绿洲的机会。。
It now looks like we are still in the game, and that we might end this year in the China European family Oasis after all.
希望下一步行动和下一篇文章不会有和此次相同时间长度的等待。
Let’s hope that the next step, and the next article, don’t have the same waiting time as this one.
PS (post scriptum):
Surprises are the greatest gift which life can give us.
Boris Pasternak, Russian poet, novelist and composer (1890-1960)
惊喜是生活给予我们最好的礼物。
鲍里斯·帕斯捷尔纳克，俄罗斯诗人、小说家和作曲家（1890-1960）