by Dr. Iain
Corness
Andrea Zapla is a good looking, green eyed, blonde who
likes clothes, has several dogs, fifteen hundred fish and a law degree!
She might agree that blondes have more fun, but this one also speaks four
languages and certainly isn’t dumb!
She was born in Erlangen in Germany, the younger
daughter of an antique furniture restorer and a bookbinder. Her sister is
19 years her elder so she grew up more like an ‘only child’.
She was a good student, and showed a liking of
languages, "But I had a dream of being an archaeologist."
However, that remained a dream and she went to university enrolling in a
Bachelor of Arts degree course, with the view to being a teacher. By the
end of the first year, Andrea knew this was not for her and she
transferred to the Law School.
During the four and a half year full-time course she
worked in a variety of part-time and vacation jobs, including photographic
modelling, being a disc jockey (jockette?) and co-wrote a computer manual.
This gave her enough money to live independently, buy a car and to be able
to travel.
By the time she had finished university and collected
her law degree, she had also collected a fiancé (and now her husband)
Gregor Zapla, who had gone to Spain to start an engineering consulting
company in Barcelona. She left her law books and joined him there.
To get the fledgling company up and running properly,
Andrea joined the office staff, but to do this properly she needed to
learn Spanish - in a hurry. With her gift of languages she enrolled in
Spanish classes. "I got out of school and went straight back to
school!" She devoted much time to the development of the business,
including being the gracious hostess for business dinners. "I enjoyed
it a lot, and I had to learn to cook but my mother and mother-in-law both
helped me." During this five year stay in Spain, she and Gregor also
took the time to have a holiday in Las Vegas, and got married there as
well.
With a weakening in the Spanish economy, they shifted
across the border to Lisbon in Portugal to set up the consulting business
again, but after a short while, General Motors recruited Gregor and Andrea
found herself out of a job and now a "company wife."
While some women have troubles adjusting to this type
of lifestyle, it posed no problems for Andrea. "Life becomes easier.
You don’t have to worry about so many things any more. I kept myself
busy. I enjoyed it and I learned so much."
What she did to keep herself busy included golf, deep
sea fishing, keeping several dogs (sometimes as many as seven) and working
her hobby farm on which she grew grapes and even made her own wine, a
pursuit she would like to explore further one day.
With the contract coming to an end in Portugal, they
were given options, of which Thailand was on the list. "We came for a
quick ‘look-see’ and said yes." Apart from the attractions of
climate, palm trees and seaside, Andrea looked upon life in Thailand as a
new challenge, and on that word alone you can gain an insight into this
extraordinary woman’s character, because Andrea Zapla is extremely
competitive.
She admits readily to this side of her nature. It was
what drove her at school to succeed academically and in sport. That
competition streak (with trophies to prove it) has drawn her into many
sports - athletics, ice skating, swimming, water skiing, diving and even T’ai
Chi and karate, adding the rider, "I’ve only got a green belt so I’m
not really dangerous, but I can yell." Another of her current sports
is mountain bike riding, with 75 kays being an easily attained target.
When the Pattaya Mail’s biking correspondent incorrectly reported
that Andrea had fallen off her two wheeled racer during the Jesters
Charity Bike Ride, this brought an indignant retort from someone with as
strong a competitive urge as Andrea. Not only had she not fallen off, but
she had beaten all the men in her team, including husband Gregor. There is
nothing in the committed sportsman’s creed that says that wives should
follow their husbands, especially if their name is Mrs. Zapla!
While here in Pattaya, Andrea keeps herself busy with
keeping fit, reading both fact and fiction, sport, meditation and internet
communications and is a voluntary counsellor in a self-help internet
website. She still enjoys wining and dining, entertaining and cooking, and
looking after her dogs. "I couldn’t picture life without an
animal."
Her concept of success is being at ease with oneself.
"You have to like yourself, being happy with what you are. It’s not
just money." This does not mean that she has reached the zenith and
has settled back to relax. Far from it. She continues to make sure she is
at her physical best and this means five sessions of two and a half hours
at the gym every week.
However, she is no pumped-up, steroid enhanced fitness
freak. She is very much a woman, and one who enjoys being a woman. Clothes
are a collectible in the way that books, stamps or motor cars can be, and
she bridles at her interest in fashion being labelled
"superficial".
Amongst her ambitions is a desire to able to look back
and feel that she has enjoyed a very full life, experienced much that
others only dream of and been to places that others have only read about.
With her inner drive, this will certainly be an ambition easily made
reality.
Not amongst her ambitions is motherhood, she and Gregor having no
children, "By design. We are happy with the way things are." In
fact, you get the impression talking to Andrea that she is very happy and
content - as long as she is winning! And she will make sure she continues
to be up there. Believe me!
