Germany
I’ve been away on a little adventure in the North of Europe with my Oma* (fathers mother)! We were invited to stay with Omas sister Helga in Hamburg, Germany for a few days. We decided that the best way to getthere would be by train, so Oma bought tickets for us and after almost a year of planning we finally went!!
It was a lovely trip! I thought it would be a nightmare to travel through all of Denmark by train, go by boat from Rödby to Puttgarden and the continue one by train to Hamburg. I was dead wrong! Oma and I had so much to talk about that we even forgot to eat, when the train after almost three hours drove onboard the boat Oma said “oh, we must eat”! So, of we went to the canteen and bought ourselves one of the most German dishes there are; schnitzel with türkish vegetable mix and French fries- it was delicious!
When the boat reached Germany it was only an 1½ hour ride to our destination- Hamburg! And on the train station waited Helga, Omas sister, and her son Pierre! It was lovely to see them!!!
Oma and Helga
The holiday in Germany was rather short, as I don’t have the energy to be on the go for to long and as…my Oma isn’t a youngster anymore! Lord, she is turning 78 and the most fabulous grandmother you can ever think of! She’s like a tornado, even if she has a body that doesn’t really agree with her.
We went shopping for two days and Oma bought more clothes than I!! She bought colourful tops, a bright and striped jacket and loads of youthful things! I’m so proud of her! She managed much more than I did; I did need a rest every now and then while Oma ran around like mad!
My Oma hails from Germany, or what was once Germany but is today Königsberg. She came had to leave when the red army invaded Ost Germany. She did then, after many horrible adventures, coma to Copenhagen and after that to West Germany where she meet my Opa*. Opa got a job in Sweden, so Oma and Opa moved to Sweden and got married. They got two sons and one of these sons; Detlev, is my father.
Both Oma and I miss Germany a lot. My father have lived there back and forth all my life, dads wife is from Germany and German is on of my mother tongues. I have missed the language, the people, the food, the cakes and the sweets- hihi! Oma and I did both buy a lot of food to bring back to Sweden. I have missed a bread spreed that is called “Schwibbel metwurst”, it’s like minced meat but not really. I did also buy kaba banan which is a powder that you mix with milk- it tastes lovely! Of course, I did also buy loads and loads of different kinds of sweets, that’s me.
On our shopping tour I bought gifts for my mother, birthday present for my brother and loads of other things! Oh, I bought a very nice black hat as well! Hopefully you’ll see a picture soon, with the hat on.
Sweden is a country with only 9 million citizens. That means we don’t have, not even close, the assortments of things that you can buy in Sweden! In a shopping centre in Sweden you might find two brands of towels- in Germany twenty-two! Oma and I bought quite a lot of towels and washcloths, pillowcases and socks. Things that you can buy in Sweden but not at all in the quality and colours that you can buy in Germany. You should have seen Omas and my suitcases!!! Lord, we are lucky we didn’t have any weight limit on our bags…That would have been quite a problem- hihi!!
We did also visit relatives! One of the relatives are a senator and picked us up with his limousine and private driver- that’s something you don’t experience everyday!! The driver opened the doors and the whole shebang! Wow!!!
The driver drove us to Omas nice Carmen, her husband (the senator) and their 8 year old daughter Merle. They had invited us to a bbq and we had a lovely time! I haven’t seen Carmen (who is +45) in about 18 years! The evening was wonderful, and I made a new friend in little Merle.
Unfortunately there’s an end to all holidays and I’m back home again! I do already miss the lovely moments I had with Oma, the food, our relatives and being away from my everyday life.
Now it’s time to return to reality. I must admit that I’m not at all keen on going back to all the hospital appointments, chemo injections and….ugh. I just want to be free, feeling well and enjoying life with Louis! I’m dreading the injection on Tuesday; the feeling sick, tummy problems and the fatigue. My soul and brain wants so much more than my body wants….
One day at the time, one step at the time! Life is what we make it and I refuse to let KT and arthritis beat me! I want to live as long as I can and I want to have a life with as high quality as I possibly can.
The odds are never pretty,
but I wont let that take over my life! I will live my life to the fullest!
Well, at least after I’ve done my laundry
* Oma is the German word for Grandmother
* Opa is the German word for Grandfather
