by Dr. Iain
Corness
The
managing director of Ursula’s Antiques and Ursula’s Boutique is Ursula
Rothstein, a tall, silver-blond haired, svelte German lady. She is no
newcomer to Thailand, and has lived in Pattaya for the past eight years.
Despite her obvious sophistication today, she spent much of her life as a
‘rebel without a cause’ or even perhaps a square peg in a round hole!
She was born in Germany, and her parents were rather
judgmental and autocratic, but it would appear that right from the outset
her parents had problems making their young daughter fit the
pre-determined parental model. For starters she was a tomboy who climbed
trees and played football with the boys (and still has the scars on her
shins to prove it!).
However, there was another side to the young Ursula,
and that was a definite leaning towards art and music. When she finished
her secondary education and wanted to pursue that side as her future, this
was denied by her parents who did not believe anything in the ‘arts’
line could be thought of as a ‘serious’ profession.
As very much a second choice she went to university to
study languages, with a view to becoming an interpreter. Towards this end
she studied her native German, French, English, Italian and Swiss German
for the next three years.
During this time, and again after her course at
university, she began to travel, to experience the languages in the native
countries, immersion being the best way to gain complete proficiency in
any foreign language. During this period of her life she travelled widely,
including France, the UK and Morocco, and another country that was to
become a central point for her – Thailand! “I fell in love with
Thailand even then. I’ll never forget the smell. It was 1975 and I loved
it!” said Ursula, echoing what so many of us have done on first visit to
Thailand on holidays.
She was also showing that rebellious streak, after
freeing herself from the parental shackles. She was part of the ‘arty’
scene, but still did not really know her real direction in life. She loved
art exhibitions, she dabbled in painting and adored beautiful objects
d’art, “But with these pursuits people don’t take you seriously,”
said Ursula. The psychologists would call this the time when she was still
being influenced by her parental ‘tapes’ being replayed in her head.
However, that was all going to change in Hanover at a trade exposition!
To help out a friend, she was working on a stand as a
PR/interpreter and she met another exhibitor, a Georges Rothstein. There
was an immediate chemistry between them, Georges being someone who also
appreciated art, but he was more than that. “Georges was the first
person who accepted this (need for art and beauty) in me. Before then I
always did what other people wanted me to do. This was the first time I
could do what I wanted.”
This marriage of like souls did not mean that Ursula
could now sit back and pick up her palette and poster paints while they
lived in a country manor in Europe. Quite the contrary. With Georges being
a supplier of equipment for the construction industry, their life was
going to trade shows and expositions. Ursula did the PR and interpreting,
while Georges was the marketing expert. “We lived in planes and hotel
rooms,” said Ursula. “We did this for 15 years.”
However, many of the planes were headed towards
Thailand as they would come over as often as possible for their holidays.
Thailand was very important for Ursula. “I knew my life’s partner had
to be someone who liked Thailand and Thai food,” said Ursula, continuing
quickly with, “This was not a joke. I mean it!”
Fortunately Georges also shared her passion for SE Asia
(and the Thai food) and by 1994 they decided that since they were coming
over so often, they should buy themselves a holiday home in Pattaya.
Two years later they decided it was time to come here
full time, with Georges soon being involved as a consultant to the
building industry, while Ursula became involved in painting again and in
singing, but this was not to last too long. “I was getting very
frustrated,” said Ursula and she knew she had to do something else –
but what?
Ursula then revealed one of her precepts for life these
days saying, “When you want to do something badly enough, it will
happen.” Not knowing what the ‘something’ was would be daunting, but
not for Ursula. She opened the paper one day and saw that a Bangkok
antiques company wanted to open a branch in Pattaya and she knew that was
what she wanted.
She opened the Pattaya branch and realized just how
much she enjoyed the artistic side of it all, but the rebel who didn’t
want to be told what to do came to the fore, and it was not long before
she had opened her first outlet, Ursula’s Antiques, where she could sell
items she had personally selected, not somebody else.
The range of goods needed to expand, and so she went on
a buying spree and came back to Pattaya with too many small items, “So I
opened a second shop!” said Ursula with a laugh. This is Ursula’s
Boutique, for some different from the run of the mill boutique items.
Now busy, she is no longer feeling frustrated, but does
not have as much time for hobbies as she would perhaps like. She has given
up painting and now channels her artistic outlets into photography. She
keeps fit in the gym every day and reads books in several languages, and
wanting to drive a husky dog team across Sweden is an unfulfilled
ambition!
It appears the square peg may have found the square hole after all this
time, and she puts this down to being in Thailand and her husband’s
influence. “Georges is like a rock,” said Ursula simply.
