Germany is calling, second try
We had some visitors last week in dublin
Alfons and Katharina travelled round Ireland and had a fantastic time!
That's the great thing about HU meetings, you make new friends
This is Róisín and Katharina, they have made plans to visit each other with their scout troops next year!
Hi Mide an the others,
this is Alfons, the big one of the "visitors".
You see Mide, even without a GS, a mobile or a facebook-account I succeeded to find you. Katharina said: " We don't think anymore, we google." And it works. You can never hide in this digitaly world.
But ONE and Zero are not the real world. There it needs only ONE look in a friendly pair of laughing eyes and there are ZERO resistences or prejustices for ever.
I think, you should have fun and share a good time with all the people you meet in the world. Talk to them, help them and laugh with them, have a smile even when you don't understand theire language. You have eyes, hands and feet and perhaps a mobile with a translater.
"It is not important to have the best cards in life but to do the best with the cards that was given you by life". And to close the cirle: " If you will do a long journey you have to do the first step". This are the main sences of the spirit of the HU meetings, I hope ( ha, ha, ha for Insiders). Katharina and I were the time at a HU meeting and this is one of my experiences. The meetings was nearly perfect organized, the food was very good, the location was fine and the people were great.
Katharina and I want to send greatings to: Jim (the only name I rememberd first), Gary, Gerard, Daithi, Aidan, Mark and the others. I am so sorry, that I can't remember all names but I am an old man and the cider, the whiskey and the Jägermeister gave me the rest. By the way: where is my bike?!
When I think on Kev I remember the European Song Contest and my score is: "Kev and the Lobster-Song for Ireland: 12 Points!!!"
Mide is right. It was a very fantastic journey that we had in 21 Days (only about 16 hours light rain or mist) with 5.800 km and 2.300 pictures through Luxembourg, Belgium, France, England, Wales to Ireland and the HU meeting and same way back. We enjoyed our trip very, very much but we haven't seen it all and next year, this is a warning, we will be back and bring with some more of our family.
And now it is the time to thank Mide and Kev for all that they give us. In this short time we really get friends and we hope, that we can soon give a little bit back to them. All you guys in whole Ireland and the british Islands: You are so lucky to have such lovely people in your neighborhood and perhaps sometimes in your house. I am proud to know them.
At the end (only for today) I will tell a short story from our journey to discribe my feelings.
Right in the middle of nowhere in The Burren at a fuelstation of a 5 houses village an old man, taking fuel behind me, asked me, where we are from. I said: Germany and he answered: I like Germany. I was at the Munich Bierfest and got lost, doublepints and i missed the bus. We laughed and he asked me: Do you like my country? I replied: No, I don't like it. You can't imagine his face in this moment. He nearly got tears in the eyes and was speechless. Then I continued: No Sir, I don't like your country, I love Ireland and its people. Then there was a smile from one ear to the other and he said: I was really disappointed and couldn't understand why a German doesn't like my country.
O boy, nobody will read such a long shit! But if someone did it, please give a reply, positiv or negativ, I will survive.
Best regards to all from Germany, the home of BMW, Bier and Jägermeister and a lot of shit (several high intelligent things)
Katharina and Alfons