"Wo ist die Bodensee?"
This weekend, while Meghan continued her L48 Summer Tour (CO, CT, WI), I hosted a friend of a friend on his way home from Kodiak to Germany. Sebastian had been visiting our friend Missy in Kodiak for the last month. Many years ago Missy's family hosted Sebastian as a foreign exchange student. Before Meghan left Kodiak Sebastian asked her if he could stay with me in Anchorage before flying "over the pole" to Germany. Sebastian arrived on Thursday night and I did what any worthwhile American host would do, I took him to a 24 hour diner. Over sandwiches and fries I asked Sebastian about his exchange experience as a high schooler in Kentucky. With candor, Sebastian related several awkward stories of a European attempting to navigate the social labyrinth of an American high school - like asking the most popular girl in school to be his date for homecoming. His unabashed excitement, accent and the syllables that he stressed brought to mind my cousins in the Czech Republic. We hit it off immediately. Over the next few days we discussed everything from dachshunds (Ger., teckel) to the historic moments before the fall of the Berlin Wall. And, due to the close-knit nature of Kodiak, Sebastian shared my excitement when our friends Dirk and Jennifer called Saturday morning to arrange a get-together before meeting their parents at the airport in Anchorage (Sebastian had been to their house and paddled with Dirk). After catching up with Dirk and Jennifer we packed up Rebel and headed out to the Eklutna Lake Trailhead for a leisurely hike. Along the way Sebastian was able to snap a few pics of a moose and her two calves. On Sunday morning I dropped him at the Unc (Anchorage Airport) for his direct flight to Frankfurt (known as the "salmon bomber" as it is full of German fishermen) with a box full of Kodiak fillets. I hope that our path cross again soon.
Der Eklutnasee
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