- Have you been to Germany before? Ken ask.
- No.
- Me neither! I’m so excited about going!
- It’ll be horrible. Cold and rainy. And we won’t have enough warm clothes because of the tiny luggage.
- But luckily you’re our own Ms. Sunshine.
- Shut your mouth. I’m nervous. Hector
gives Ken and Kaarna a lift to the airport. Kaarna wants to nag about a
convertible, but manages to hold her tongue. Better to freeze in this
stupid car than to be left behind. They need one flight to Berlin and another one to Düsseldorf. Both
planes are half empty and they get a whole row of seats for themselves!
This is the maximum comfort that a cheap airline can offer! It's late when they arrive at Heinsberg. Ken´s friends have arranged their own motorhome as the accommodation of the travelers.
- I hope it’s not molded, Kaarna says and adds:
- This is so much better than a hotel room in any case. The
next morning Ken walks to his friends’ house and is amazed by this
idyllic village. Everything is so clean, tidy, well taken care of.
Houses are cute and every person says ”Hallo! Guten Morgen!” when they
see Ken. While
Ken spends the day with his German friends, Kaarna walks around.
Everything is so green! Everything is blooming! It's overwhelming to see all this all of the sudden. Kaarna hasn’t seen colors in the nature in seven
months. It’s been a long time of brown, gray, black and white.
The
swimming season is officially open! At least for Finns in Germany and
for the German geese. Water is cold enough but not too cold. So it’s
perfect.
Ken
spends his days having a lot of laughs with Clothilde and Günter and
gets to feed their fish in a pond.
He enjoys every moment with these
dear friends, but is very uncomfortable with the habit of keeping shoes
on inside the house.
Ken’s
friends live really close to the border of the Netherlands. Clothilde
is stressed about the wedding so she wants to buy her special medicine
that helps her relax. It’s legal in Holland. Ken only buys normal
painkillers, because they are really cheap - and pink! He
helps Günter and Clothilde to organize the wedding party at their
home. They carry everything out of the living room and put rented tables
and chairs in. It’s a lot of work, but Clothilde’s stress has
disappeared like a smoke in the air. Literally.
Kaarna
climbs on the hill, where she can sketch a little. On the hill there’s a
church and old castle ruins. There are thousands of both in Germany.
She doesn’t want to meet Ken’s friends and prefers her own time.
It’s
the wedding day! Ken watches this beautiful ceremony on the balcony of
the amazing Aachen cathedral. Clothilde and Günter look so happy. They
really are a perfect couple and clearly made for each other. Ken feels a tiny bit sad, thinking
about his own fairytale marriage that went all wrong. He also wonders about Kaarna and Mari... he has a bad feeling about that. Ken
waits for the newly weds outside of the church and wonders what’s
keeping them so long.
Eventually they arrive and everybody can
congratulate them. Günther seem to have lost his other shoe though.
Maybe it´s still in the dark candle room of the church…
Kaarna
loves the motorhome. It’s a million times more comfortable than
Herbert. But she doesn’t love the motohome area where dozens and dozens
of other vehicles are parked side by side. Germany is so populated, that
it’s not as easy to find a quiet place for free camping as in Finland. - So! How was the party? Did you get drunk?
-
I only had a few shots of Baileys and egg liqueur! Everything was nice
and the food was delicious. I ate three portions of every dessert.
Nobody spoke English, so I had to use my Siansaksa all the time.
(Siansaksa is literally translated Pig’s German, and it means a
blabbered language that doesn’t actually mean anything.) Now Ken is finally able to spend time with Kaarna. But it’s
Sunday and everything is closed, even the grocery stores. And it’s a
cloudy day too, which makes Kaarna angry.
- I knew we would freeze to death here.
- It’s still better than home! Hector just sent me a photo, it’s snowing over there! Sadly Ken
has to say goodbye to Günther and Clothilde.
He always speaks English
with Clothilde and tries to speak German with Günter. That makes all
the languages mix up in his mouth. When he tries to say a simple ”yes”
it comes out like this:
- Sí! Da! Nein nein! Ja!!!
But trying to speak German is a lot of fun. Ken fills the empty spots with English, Spanish or Swedish very easily:
-
Ich would sprechen fluent Deutch after spending zwei oder drei semanas
aquí! Aber ich will come back lite senare, vielleicht en septiembre.
Vielen Dank für alles!
After
spending a sweaty night in a cheap, dirty hotel near Berlin, Ken and Kaarna
walk to a supermarket to buy something to eat. They don’t want to waste
money on meals at the airport or in the plane. The last moments of warmth before flying back home.
- I wonder if there’s still snow… Kaarna mumbles.
- I hope not. Are you happy to go home?
- I hate the idea of the grayness and coldness. But I miss Mari terribly. Ken spots a cool Barbie motor home at the duty free.
- I really don’t need this… he says realistically.
But Kaarna (who has already eaten a big box of chocolate filled with egg liquour) is the little devil on his shoulder:
- It’s too great to leave behind. You will regret, if you don’t buy it now. Your dolls need it.
Egg liquour... what a great reason to return to Germany as soon as possible!
When Ken unpacks his stuff at home, he finds a 200 euro bill and a letter in the pocket of his bag. The letter says:
“We
want to give you this for your next flight ticket to Germany. Please
visit us again, when we are not this busy with the wedding!”
Clothilde and Günter are the most generous people ever and Ken is deeply touched.
