Name: Tanja

Surname: Mertens

Birthday: November 3rd (2^nd year Senior)

Parents: Julius and Hannah Mertens

Haircolor: Brown

Height: 150 cm (5 ft.)

Background:

Bio and joining Oaks and Pines:

Tanja was born in Hamburg, Germany as the single child of Julius and Hannah Mertens.

She went to a “normal”, government paid elementary school, finishing with very good marks.

Her parents then decided it would serve her better to visit a private boarding school, “Ganztagsschule Falkenberg” (Falkenberg boarding school).

Falkenberg kept a strict discipline, including corporal punishments. This was not a full boarding school, Tanja left at 6pm each day.

Tanjas parents work in the upper management of a large construction company based in Hamburg.

As they have been asked to move to Namibia to oversee and manage the construction of port facilities, they were looking for a full boarding school that would continue Tanja’s education and found O&P the perfect fit.

Tanja was very eager to join O&P – not because she appreciates this kind of education, but because the alternative (as presented by her father) was to go with her parents to Africa. That would probably mean no Piano, no Organ, no further musical education.

That thought (whether justified or not) frightened her to no end so she made every effort to make a good impression.

Discipline/punishments:

Obviously, she hates it. On the other hand, she has become somewhat used to corporal punishment over the years, as not only Falkenberg, but also her parents were quite strict.

She has sort of accepted it as part of her live – if she screws up, she will be punished. She learned that playing by the rules is the best course of action (although she doesn’t always succeed). While some may see that as positive, it has made Tanja somewhat cynical.

The hands:

Tanja has a medical issue regarding her hands. It’s a very rare variant of the “brittle bone disease” (osteogenesis imperfecta or OI), that is confined to her hands. In practice this means that the bones in her hands and fingers are very fragile. Any pressure above roughly 15 kg will cause multiple fractures. As such, Tanja is unable to climb or lift heavy.

A teacher at Falkenberg disregarded her medical file and used a cane on her hands for punishment. This nearly crippled Tanja for life, leaving her with a serious trauma and PTSD, which will never completely vanish, but has been treated about as successfully as possible.

Mentality:

Tanja is rather shy and introverted (being very petite certainly contributed to that).

But if she really believes something is unfair and not justified, she will speak out (which has put her in quite some trouble at times). While she is able to keep an open mind on matters, once she is convinced of an issue, she can be incredibly stubborn, past the the point of reason.

Tanja dislikes “normal” parties, too many people in one place make her uncomfortable, but she loves going out with friends for a nice dinner.

On the other hand, she is a very nice girl that tries (and usually succeeds) to get along with everyone.

Her greatest fear is not being able to make music anymore.

Music:

Her one big passion, the centre of her life, is music – mostly classical, but also some modern music and traditional folk.

When playing she sometimes completely loses herself in the music, failing to notice anything going on around her. A great trait on stage to combat nervousness, a bad trait in a school strict on punctuality.

Tanja’s talent for music is mostly intuitive. She is able to pick up almost every instrument and play it decently, but concentrates on the Violin, Piano and the Flute, in that order.

While Tanja’s musical level may fall short of the “child star” status, there is no question that making a good living as a musician will not be a problem for her.

Tanja’s most priced possession is her violin. It is a very good, old (and expensive) violin, built early in the 17^th century by master luthier Nicola Amati, Stradivari’s mentor. To her eternal delight, she got the instrument as a present on her 15th birthday from her parents.

Other hobbies :

Music is of course front and centre. Otherwise she enjoys reading, non-fiction as well as fiction (curiously mostly science-fiction and some fantasy). She is not a movie fan, much preferring books. As she is introverted and shy, she rarely “hangs out” with the crowd, but if asked questions or someone else just strikes up a conversation she WILL talk. A lot.