The peripatetic Julia Heidemann

By Marconi Calindas
Reporter

Recalling her first day in Manila after a six-year term as Philippine consul general to Saipan, Julia Heidemann said she had woken up and immediately recognized the ceiling—she was inside her very own bedroom in Manila. She was finally home. That was when she realized that she didn’t have to go to work. Instead of relaxing her, however, this only prompted her to go over a cascade of plans of what she wanted to do.

Despite having already retired, this ever-active woman still can’t seem to settle down. When she was asked about her retirement, “To me it’s just a comma,” she laughed. “I think I’m hyper.”

When asked if she has plans of resting, she asked: “What is rest? When I’m at rest my mind is full!” She said that when she is not doing anything, her mind comes up with ideas, which she sounds out on her husband, Richard. “What do you think of this project?” she would ask him. More often than not, he would just give her an indulgent smile.

Apparently, resting is not in Heidemann’s vocabulary. True enough, after leaving Saipan, she became a Department of Foreign Affairs spokesperson for a year. When she left that job, she went on a lecture series in schools and other learning institutions in her country, at the same time managing her own company, while remaining active in the Philippine government.

Heidemann and her husband were on Saipan last week for personal and business reasons. The couple has since returned to Manila.

She said, though, that she could not help but feel sad when she left Saipan in 2003. What she misses most about the island is the warmth of the people. She said people she meets on the streets of Saipan would greet her, whereas in Manila her own neighbors would not even notice if she leaves. She also misses the clean air here and the continuous flow of traffic. “Here [on Saipan] if I want to go to a place, I could say I’d be there in five minutes,” she said.

When time hangs heavy on her hands, Heidemann said she would cook. She has always been a great cook—at least that’s what her husband and her family claims, she said, laughing. Her husband Richard adores her “sinigang.” Her husband also gets the cravings every time she brings out all her cookbooks.

“We do a lot of reading,” she said, when asked what she and her husband do as a couple most of the time. She also owned up to passion for writing.

“I love to write,” she said, explaining why she took the post at DFA handling the diplomatic press corps.

Heidemann is also taking time to learn how to play golf by joining her husband on trips out of the city. “Now that I have retired I have more things to do, than when I was working,” she said. She said she couldn’t say no to offers such as volunteer work, joining a committee and others.

If there is any place that she loves to visit, it would be Honolulu, Hawaii. “For sentimental reasons,” she said, adding that that is where she and husband met, apart from the reason that her only son lives there, too. “We also have a lot of friends there,” she said.

When asked if she already got everything she wanted out of life, she said, “There’s still the best to come. I can’t say this is the best, was the best or was the highlight of my life. I should say there’s something else, too.”

Richard added: “We all know what we have accomplished but we don’t know what life will take us in the future. And that’s how we live our lives.”

One piece of advice? “Love your job. Material things will not matter in the future. As long as you know what you want and you are happy, money will not matter anymore,” she said.