Right. Tonite I had a dream about my best childhood friend Anne, who I haven’t seen for over a year.
I saw her on the beach with her family and some friends. She didnt see me. I yelled, she couldnt hear me. There was a fence, a high fence. I climbed over it and went to her. We hugged til we cried and then she took me to all the places she had been to. She showed me what she's been doing and who she's been with all this time. I know, pretty gay ;-)
So Anne means the world to me and she is someone who can do anything she wants - anything! And boy oh boy we have done soooo many stupid things - we are practically insane! she is someone who is full of surprises (when Forrest becomes a skipper for bubba gump and lieutenant Dan sits on the pier because of the promise he made - you know where Im getting right, Im lieutenant Dan)... well, that's exactly my girl. Now she is a successful journalist and who would have thought. If there would be more people like her in this world there would be less worries and more happiness and excitement! This story Im about to write down is a dedication to my best friend of how much I love her and why..
"Thanks to both of our artistic skills, each provided with a scholarship we managed to get to Åland (an island that belongs to Finland, located between Finland and Sweden. Sort of like Tasmania to Australia
.. and not only did we have the whole trip paid for, but we also got to go during SCHOOLTIME!!! (fuck yeah)
We cruised with Viking line for about 8 hours. So on the ship by noon we had done karaoke, danced tango, proudly viewed our archipelago scenery and had drunk a few cosmopolitans (sex and the city was big things back then). We had just turned 18. How excited were we! And now we are going somewhere to paint.
After the tipsy ride supplied with drinks and chocolate when stepping off the terminal, we met up one of the teachers that was gonna take us to “Post tullhuset” about 30 mintues away from Mariehamn (Hobart). Could only think of one thing then.. Damn girl!! This place has roads man!...
//On the road again
Just can't wait to get on the road again
The life I love is makin' music with my friends
And I can't wait to get on the road again
On the road again
Goin' places that I've never been
Seein' things that I may never see again,
And I can't wait to get on the road again...//
A brief half an hour later we stepped out off the car. The wind embraced our faces and our hair. I could smell the fresh saltwater. The beautiful spring day looks over a rough coastline with dark blue water that for some reason turned wild at our arrival. The cold breeze was upon us suddenly.
Gathered with all the other lucky scholarship students and the eager teachers, we got guided to the “café lugn och ro”. Directly translated; “ café piece of mind”. There we got introduced to our new friends and teachers but also our chefs that for some awkward reason seemed really; 'calm'. Sitting there looking around the tables at the different people that I think were happy to be here cause they were gonna paint, not to be off school.
There was the big Swedish girl, the shy girl with glasses, the hindu chick, the vegetarian one and somebody in the crowd definately liked coconut. There was one with colourful gear marked with the hemp mark and rasta hair who preferred everything to be organic, even her shoes. Aaand there were the two giggling blond girls with alcohol breath, sleepy eyes, empty minds and grumbling over being hungry (sigh)…
After the elderly had spoken, we were still sitting there but weren’t really there. And one of the chefs started telling us about the history of this remote place…
The post customs house – (assuming what it would be called in English), was used during the 19th Century as an outpost, it was going to be a monumental entrance for the emperor. At this time the Scandinavians used the seaway to get to major cities like Helsingfors, Åbo, Stockholm, Viborg and St.P. And so did the post. Someone yells out; BOOORING!! The man continues:
As active as the postal service was at this time, the ruthless journeys the mail men had to go through no matter the weather, the mail needed to be signed, sealed, delivered! Hundreds of them ended their journey not even half way through.
He now started telling us about a man who was in love with this woman, and that you can hear him weeping at night. In the mansion!! Our ears pricked up!
Apparently it is haunting here at night. (Å död o pine!) A tragic love story had been lived inside the walls of the enormous mansion we all were gonna spend the two following nights in!
And now there is lying a grudge over this place. A force so strong it has lived on through a man’s soul as his greatest grief. An anxious energy for the loss of the love of his love – yikes…
After a delicious meal and an hour of intensive listening of ghost stories at “café piece of mind” we get back into the main house and start drawing, right oon! Its great fun! Everybody is waaaay weird and it is simply entertaining. (We are still drunk). We make ourselves drinks in our room and hide the bottles in the closet. (Like they’re not gonna find out :-P) Luckily we got the woofer with us and in no time we have Tina Turner yelling out our speakers and we are living the life of an idol. We are also lucky that one of our neighbor is an old lady who cant hear nothing. But then there’s “couple geek”, who has found the meaning of life at the wrong time at the wrong place: Books!! Well books my ass.. We are on holiday and even the ladies upstairs are rocking hard.
Second night we decided to knock on every door to see what the rest of the crew were up to. Enough of Tina Turner already :-S For some strange reason the rest of the girls didn't wanna hang out with us, except our old deaf lady who claimed she had heard the ghost the other night, hmmm… or the rasta (she liked everyone though), or the Swedish Hindu girl. But she again liked to hang around the big girl who certainly didn’t like us! Some sort of body image issue there I suppose. And certainly not "couple geek" either. We really tried to avoid Them. It was the ultimate "Private Benjamin" real-life occurrence. So instead we joined the ladies upstairs who introduced us to the fine, sophisticated wine society with the late night philosophic discussions and Tammy Wynette.
And did I tell you about the strange, passionate young man that was the son of our “Master”. That day we all were in our group room. And he started stripping!! “Wait til everybody hears about this” we laughed… For some reason everybody overheard us by the looks on their faces. Hope you are familiar with Marge’s two sisters; ‘cause that is exactly the only description of us two at that moment.
Then he splashed colour all over his chest, pink, and started running around the place jumping on massive screens that were placed all over the room. A bit bizarre, but boy oh boy I wish there would have been a warning sign; “please don’t try this at home”.. But there wasn’t. soo… after a few of them sophisticated glasses of wine and a duet of "stand by your man", we were in the same situation (without a crowd) and made some exclusive masterpieces still hanging on our walls back home, reminding us of that colourful night ;-)
When it was time to have a shower (which was in another building close to the main one), we decided to go together. (no dirty thoughts allowed here!! We were pink for Christ sake!) Simply because it was dark and late + we were both scared.
We stumbled over the cold gravel pitch and got into the cold dark building. The smell of attic hit our face and the showers were further in the endless long hallway, we were alone. By bringing up silly jokes and happy thoughts we managed to get into the showers not thinking about scary stuff. Well, at least we thought so. By the time we were washing our hair… a sound – somewhere in the hallway made us freeze. No talking what so ever, not even a second later both girls were running out the yard screaming with shampoo covered hair and… wait a second. Now that Im not quite certain, did we even have our towels?
Now after this so called incident – I don’t think there’s gonna be another shower while our stay in post och tullhuset. Arnie wouldn’t have a bath! Neither will we!
Stinky girls with weird looking hair not to mention the hang over on that Sunday morning when we had to do the packing and the cleaning. uff! Throw the bottles out the window, shuffle all the chips thats lying on the floor under the carpet and squeeze the gear in the backpacks - that's how you do it. YEAH! We are ready to hit the sea!
Goodbye so long you.. funny people..
Well settled in the bar on the boat we run into the Scottish troubadour - GIVER!! I also managed to bribe a male passenger to get me a bottle of absinthe (wasnt old enough to buy spirits, fair enough)... That was the first and last time I ever get myself one of 'em bottles! live and learn..
Oh yes, "couple geek" was on the cruise as well and to our surprise we got them to join us in a very baaad karaoke session. I think we changed their life :-) Cause they certainly changed ours.
No harm no done and poofing back home from Åbo harbour to our southern small town late at night had us ready with an excuse to come late to school the following day. As if ;-)"
I believe there’s a number of soul-mates out there. Once you are lucky enough to meet one, you will always share a connection stronger than anything else. I’ve met a few during my short period of life, one of them is Anne. And this story described above is only one tiny piece of what we have experienced together. More to come Im sure. That’s why we should live today as a day to remember forever. Just as the trip to Åland in 2004.
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