The weather remains amazing all week and Ken and Kaarna try to enjoy every second.
Ken invites Hector and Mari over to spend a peaceful Midsummer Eve.
The dear old Melukylä is pretty quiet as people travel to countryside and their cottages.
This is the time of summer when home is better than camping in Herbert.
- All I need is pop corn, Kaarna giggles while she watches how Mari flirts with Hector.
Hector really can’t handle this type of situations at all. He looks like he’s about to escape any minute now.
Ken comes to rescue and asks if Hector would help with heating the sauna. He’s more than happy to do it!
- Has your new pile of fire wood been staying up? Hector asks.
- Partly, Ken replies and Hector doesn’t need to hear more.
- I’ll fix it, he says.
Sauna is too sacred for flirting, even Mari knows that and they can all bathe together.
The midsummer weekend is over and some very special guests are arriving now! Kaarna is not too excited about having strange people around once again, but she figures that she needs to finally get to know these people since they are very dear to Ken.
It’s Günter and Clothilde from Germany! They are spending the whole summer in Finland driving their mobile home around. And of course they will stay in Melukylä for some time.
What a joyful reunion it is!
Pretty soon Kaarna notices that she might even have something in common with them… the sense of humor maybe?
Günter and
Clothilde have travelled all over, but they say that despite of the
mosquitoes Finland is their favorite country. All the lakes and every
man’s rights make Finland differ so much from the rest of Europe.
The Germans have really stiff arms and Ken needs to help them to drink.
Clothilde can’t live without Coca Cola but Günter prefers German beer. Both of these drinks are insanely cheap in Germany compared to Finland.
These Germans enjoy the lakes to the fullest!
They appreciate all of Ken’s water toys too!
When Kaarna watches the Germans play in the water she misses Mari.
- Why the hell did she have to take that job in Kotka? Can we ever have a summer together?
Ken takes the Germans to see the sights of Melukylä.
The rapids look so good now,
when the water runs wildly for some weeks.
Ken wishes it would always be like this, but normally the dam is closed and the river bed is dry.
It’s Ken’s birthday and the Germans have taken over his kitchen!
Günter has cooked lunch and Clothilde baked a huge cake!
Günter and
Clothilde sing Happy Birthday in English and out of tune! Then everybody
eats way too much. These Germans always make tasty dishes.
Ken tells that he will take them to a real Finnish smoke sauna.
- Follow Herbert’s lead! It’s a fifteen minute drive.
The sauna is
crowded and Günter has trouble with sitting skin to skin with strangers.
And this might not even be the only difference between the Finnish and
German sauna culture. Surprisingly enough the German saunas are open for
all the genders (but not for children) and swim suits are not worn. In
Finland we go to public sauna naked only when it’s gender divided.
Kaarna and Ken would prefer the German way.
The smoke sauna is so much hotter than any of them has used to. Especially Günter! He says:
-
That crazy man kept throwing the water all the time! In Germany they
wait for ten minutes and then they put more water. And it’s the staff of
the sauna who does that, not the customers.
Even though all this is a bit too much for Günter, he is a brave man and he’s always interested in learning about the Finnish culture and experiencing new things.
After swimming and drinking some bubbly water he is ready to go
back in.
When Ken and Kaarna climb to the highest bench, a man says:
- What? Women on the pipe shelf?!
(Pipe shelf is how they call the top bench which in this sauna is extremely hot.)
The man keeps
on pouring water on the stove and Kaarna feels that her shoulders and
ears will actually burn. But she’s not going to give up until the last
person on the pipe shelf has left.
When Kaarna
finally wabbles down and outside, the world is going round and round.
She walks carefully to the cooling water and has to wait quite a while
until the spinning stops. Then back to the sauna!
An important part of the Finnish sauna culture is grilling sausages on an open fire.
Clothilde takes part in this activity after waiting in the mobile home
while the others were in the sauna.
When Ken hands the sausages to everybody, Günter asks:
- Where’s the bread?
- Bread?
- We always eat bread with Wurst in Germany.
Days go by
and everybody has a really good time together. But poor Clothilde! Her legs are
very weak and she can’t walk today. Günter however wants to continue the
sightseeing with Ken and to see the Saimaan Ympäriajo, which is a motorcade of old cars that passes
Melukylä.
Unfortunately Ken and Günter are late and they miss the oldest vehicles, and also the weather turns horrible. But luckily they still spot a lot of beautiful cars from the 60s and the 70s that they remember from their childhood.
When the men
are away, Kaarna tries to keep company to Clothilde, who doesn’t want to
taste Finnish sweets. Luckily she is well prepared for the summer, and
has filled all the cabinets of the motorhome with candies she bought
before they left Germany.
Clothilde has set the table ready for the boys.
Ken needs to run to the toilet before eating. Clothilde and Günter immediately take advantage of the situation.
- Oh, Clothilde! You have cheese in your hair! How did it end up there?
- Keine Ahnung!
The Germans have left Melukylä in the search of a sunny weather and Ken and Kaarna are beat. Kaarna says:
- How long did they stay here? Almost two weeks?! I mean… they really are super fun to be with, but enough is enough!
-
I agree… I bet also our neighbours were glad to see them going. We were
so loud together, all that insane laughing. And now I have so many
things to do… some paperwork, cleaning up the house, washing the rugs…
and work work work! Maybe this rainy weather is okay after all…
Hector comes for a surprise visit and asks ken to step outside.
- Happy belated birthday, here’s your birthday gift!
- Hector!!!! What a beautiful swing!!! Don’t tell me you built this yourself!!!
- I did. The paint took quite a time to dry up, that’s why I’m so late.
- It’s perfect!!!!
- Thank you so much. You always give the best gifts. You make me feel special.
- You are special, Ken.
- So are you. Don’t ever forget that.
After many
rainy days and heavy thunders, it’s wonderful to sit on the new swing
and enjoy a big mug of hot chocolate. Suddenly Kaarna comes out and
moans:
- I think I made the biggest mistake possible…
Kaarna confesses Ken that earlier this year she booked a gallery for next October.
-
It’s free for local artists and I had this idiotic moment of madness
when I thought my drawings would be worth hanging on the walls there…
and I’m turning 40 and it’s time to acchieve something.
- Yay!!!! Good for you!!!
-
No, not good at all!!! I want to back off! But the brochures are out
already and my name stands on the web site too! I have nothing ready and
the summer is almost over!!!! I’m an ARSCHLOCH!!!
(Kaarna has learned some useful new words from the German friends.)
Old steam boats of the Lake Saimaa arrive at the harbour of Imatra and open their cabin doors for the public. Ken is excited! These strong ships have made a long career in industry and now they are summer homes of today’s people. The oldest boats are from the 1890s. It’s a great event, but with the heat and tons of people, also exhausting.
Ken buys a milk shake from a gas station on his way home and decides that even if he has tons of things to do at home, it’s better to keep postponing them and drive Herbert to the bushes!
(Bush parking = wild camping with a mobile home, out in the nature and not in the official camping sites.)
Ken and Kaarna both miss last summer’s freedom: the endless roads to all the wonderful places of art, history and nature. To get a little taste of that they make a stop in Lappeenranta.
The Sand Castle is very nice this summer, with sculptures of fairy tales.
Kaarna laughs when she sees the pigs:
- What the hell is this fairytale? Once upon a time there was a big bad horny pig…
Next they go to a gallery to see the exhibition of doll houses and furniture.
It’s so hard not to touch everything.
Ken feels the strongest urge to buy something, but Kaarna doesn’t want him to do it:
- Keep your dirty hands in the pockets, Ken! There are way more important things to spend your money on!
- But all my doll houses are empty! I need furniture! I could only take this kitchen set!
- And after that? You need a living room set and a bedroom set and a chicken coop and a garage… it’s nothing but a road to damnation!
When they find a nice countryside beach near Lappeenranta, Kaarna can’t wait to get her own hands into Ken’s new doll house kit.
Ken tries to stop her:
- Don’t take the pieces off of the frame here! We’ll only lose them. Look, there’s also a free poster! Do we have enough wall space in the kitchen for this?
(All these wonderful tiny things are made by gepetto.fi)
What a perfect day it has been, just like last summer! After an evening swimming they crawl inside Herbert and fall asleep instantly. Happiness is right here, right now.
In the morning while Ken is hiking, Kaarna tries to paint something, but nature is not on her side. The wind keeps stealing her papers and brushes.
She decides:
- I give up! But let’s see if you can prevent me from eating this chocolate, stupid wind! Ha! Didn’t think so either!
- What a morning! Why do I only have time for hiking when I’m not at home? I have created a life way too busy. And still I ask Kaarna to start a business and make her own living… Why would she want to sacrifise her freedom like I have done…
- What! A flag pole in the middle of the forest? That makes no sense… but I really hope there’s a geocache up there!
And yes there is!
Kaarna has finally realized that she needs to start working to be able to pay Ken back the money she owes him. She starts to search for a cheap and easy web shop solution. The solar panel provides electricity for her good old MacBook.
Kaarna makes waffels to ease up the homecoming:
- These short trips are just too… short!
- I think so too. Maybe if we tried to work really hard during this coming winter, we could have a nomad summer next year.
- Sigh…
A messages beebs on Ken’s phone.
- Oh look! It’s Venla! She happens to be nearby, and wants to come over for an evening tea.
- You’ve got to be kidding me!!! What is this place these days? A motel? I’m out of here…
- You didn’t eat all the waffles, did you? I could serve the rest of them to Venla!
It’s always so nice to see Venla.
They have a lot to catch up and Venla has some big news... But unfortunately it’s a short visit this time.
- I hope to see you with less hurry next time, Ken says and hugs Venla for goodbye.
(If you don’t know Venla yet, you’d better start to follow @once_upon_a_time_in_finland )
- Oh no, I burned my Barbie shirt with the iron! Do you think everybody will notice?
- Yes, it looks like you have puked on yourself! Which is quite understandable when watching a movie about your ex girlfriend!
- I’ll cover it with a scarf… it would be nice if you came along to @biovuoksi though.
- It’s propably a lame ass wimp sissy movie like the Disney princess movies. I would literally vomit on your shirt. Plus the theater will be full of little girls. What a nightmare!
Ken had thought he would never ever get back in the box, but that’s what happens at BioVuoksi before The Barbie Movie begins.
The movie theater is really full and so many people are dressed up in pink.
The staff of the theater is also a sight for an old eye!
After the movie Ken runs to Kaarna and his excitement is uncontrollable!
- It was perfect! So many people wore pink! And everybody applauded in the end!!!! It was amazing! You will love Weird Barbie! And genitals were mentioned!!!! I’m so proud of Mattel for letting them make a movie like this! I want to tell you all about it, but I don’t want to spoil it from you, because you are so going to see it yourself!!!!
- Ken… your doll…
- I sewed my Barbie doll on my clothes. I am almost 50, I have already learned to take better care of my things. You know how I tend to lose stuff. Speaking of Barbie… she looked amazing on screen! Almost better than when we were dating!
- Plastic surgery definitely.
For the rest of July Ken and Kaarna concentrate on all the things that have been left undone. No guests, no car camping, no events for now. Just duties.