CYPRUS, TEL AVIV, AND VIENNA

I’ve been asked to write a piece about my sister who will be turning half a century old. Commemorate her for the person who she was, is and will be. I’ve discovered that this is difficult because people are like chameleons in some ways, in that they adapt and change to their environment, and that they are different to each of us: the child to my mother, the sister to me and my brother, the parent to Dexter and Kaj, the Aunt to Niels, the friend to so many and the wife to Michael.

Marlene and I have been close and ferocious enemies all at the same time. Sharing a room all our life (until she finally left for University) we fought for every centimetre of the room, dividing it meticulously. We have also shared secrets, danced wildly dressed in our bright blue and screaming red disco pants and singing loudly to everything from Abba, Duran Duran and the songs played by the British Army radio station in Cyprus – Camouflage, I shall say no more. We have protected each other from complete sleezebags at beaches in Tel Aviv and Larnaca, to name just two memorable beaches. We have helped each other out when it counted, actually me more than her, as I’ve always been the more mature, perhaps even a bit boring of the two of us – let me just say Ellen Court, central heating, warm shower and soft bed and Billund plane ticket – you still owe me. Over the years we have been more apart than together, each on different continents. While I still lead the nomadic life of a new country every 4-5 years,

GOOD KARMA CHAMELEON

Marlene has certainly embraced New Orleans more than any other place in the world that she has been to, and she has been to quite a few. For me, that has been very strange to witness. Nonetheless there is one characteristic that she has maintained, for good or for bad, throughout these years and I can’t find the word to adequately describe it, so I will give you two examples, one in which it annoyed me, and another where I just loved it. This summer we only had one week together and I would have given anything for just one spontaneous evening with her, not pre-planned and organised, who is cooking and what, where to be at what time, who we (brother, husbands and kids) should visit etc. Just an impromptu evening with nobody but us, but with Marlene, this one week was filled with daily activities and planned visits to extended family. It was so annoying. The other example is my bridal shower. Marlene was at that time living in San Francisco, so I know that she had help from my friends in Vienna, but that’s not the point. We had a great dinner, there were great speeches, plenty of champagne, good wines and then

our favourite bars were visited culminating in American Bar which served some of the best and most expensive cocktails in town. Now Marlene and I have friends from all over and some flew in just for the wedding, Friday evening would be the only time I would really be able to see them, but what to do, when traditionally the women go out in one group and the men in another group? Simple, ignore traditions. Marlene doesn’t care about sexist traditions; she cares about friends and family. So that’s what she planned, we ended up everyone together at the American Bar and Pierre and I had the chance to be with all our friends, regardless of their sex, before they left town on the Sunday flights. We had many cocktails and at the right time, Marlene gathered us girls and we left the bar, leaving the boys to pay the hefty tab. That’s who she is, a person who’s dedication to friends and family is beyond words.

– ULLA FRIIS, TOKYO, JAPAN