9th to 11th of August, 2021.
At the border (which border?), there is no checking at all, nobody asking to see my Vaccination Certificate. Are we really entering Germany? I thought this guys were strict! I ask the nice guy driving me to stop at the McDonalds. I get directions of where to hitchhike and then go to buy some food (and a delicious, big coffee, for only 1 Euro!) in Kaufland. After a lovely breakfast, I am picked up pretty fast by Peter. He is a very nice guy and drive me to the next town, Lahn.
Soon enough a really charming guy, Damian, in a suit and with a cute German accent when speaking English, picks me up. Lucky me! Unfortunately the ride to Freiburg is quite short. But it is enough for us to have a nice conversation. He drops me next to the central station because I know how to get to Myriam’s apartment from there.
My dear Myriam is a gem for my eyes. I thought I remember how nice she was but the truth is that she is even better! I only think the world is a better place because of people like her. Only if there were more Myriams… I am staying two days with her in the shared apartment from the University where she lives.
Even though she is quite busy with her thesis, we have a great time together! I love to talk with Myriam and listen to someone who makes sense in this almost gone world. We cook together and she even prepared some traditional German dish. Yummy! We go to see some of the dancing places, in the streets, where people are gathering together to dance, in public, different rhythms. It is so cute! I wish everywhere in the world people were doing something like these. There is so much happiness in the air when people are dancing. There is something really special about dancing. Myriam has been learning my beloved Brazilian rhythm Forró for a few years now.
When Myriam is working on her thesis, I go to explore Freiburg. It is a cute small town, very ecological, full of projects (and people) to make the world a better and more sustainable place, like food sharing, or people dropping things they don’t need anymore just outside their houses, so anyone who need can grab it. It is amazing!
One funny thing about Freiburg is how they call themselves The little Venice of Germany, because of these little streams which are crossing town. I cannot contain my laugh when Myriam tells me. I do not mean to offend the citizens, but is super funny.
I also meet Myryam’s boyfriend and it just makes sense that they are together. He is a super nice and friendly person, also engaged in green plans to save the planet. I love the idea of two wonderful people together as a couple!
In one of our conversations about what is better for the planet, we talk about my water bottle, a normal plastic one. I do refill with normal water, not buying a new one all the time, which makes it a bit better because I can use the same one for a few months, but of course it is not the best alternative. So he shows me his Klean Kanteen aluminium bottle, and he tells me he has it for 10 years now. What? And it is much lighter than I fought. So I am determined to buy one as soon as I can. Later on, during my travels in Germany, I found an envelope hidden in my backpack, with the amount of money I needed to buy that bottle. Outside the envelope, Myriam’s handwriting kind words, bring tears of happiness to my eyes.