@globustrotterin

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It isn’t a typical love story I guarantee, because it didn’t begin with the love itself. I didn’t know that the day where I met Dave would 
lead to the day when I said ‘’I do, ‘til death do us apart.’’ No, seriously. If you have read my previous posts, you might notice that I didn’t own my own room in Poland. I shared a room, and I loved the time that I shared with my roomie. We had our cute moments and so on, but still, as a normal human being, one needs some fresh air and alone time some time in the moment. That moment was the time that I decided to sit in front of my laptop and booked a ticket to Germany to visit my uncle.

I took the bus and endured the 14 hours ride. Without any expectation, I just came here, to Hamburg, packing my stuff out and arranging my sleeping stuff. This was only for a short time being, for an air changing weekend. Yay. I didn’t mind staying at home, trying my Aunt’s awesome cooking, chit-chatting with my uncle, as well as watching some German TV programs without any single understanding of the words that I heard. It was enough for me. Until the third day, my uncle asked me why I have only been hanging out in the flat and not going out at all. Well, there are things that apparently don’t occur to him. 

One, I was a student, meaning that I didn’t have much to spend, which led to the point number two, Poland doesn’t use Euro as its currency. 1 EUR worth 4 PLZ, and 1 EUR in Poland in Germany isn’t the same. You can get something more there, rather than in Germany. Third, I spoke no German nor understood. And the last point, the most crucial part, I knew nobody except my Uncle and Aunt and the family. Plus, my mobile phone didn’t work in Germany and I was dependent on wifi. Explaining this situation, my aunt had this terrific idea to take me to church with her to meet some Indonesians. 

Being in the chilly vibe and not so churchy mood, I didn’t seem to take the idea quite well, and decided to make a different approach. I downloaded a dating App. Yes, I belong to the new generation after all. Not knowing how it works, I casually swept right twice. Apparently right means yes and left means no. It turned out I got two dates. Without any romantic interest, I went out on the first date. T was a nice guy, works at a famous company here, and apparently already interested in visiting my home country and meeting my parents. It was too intense, considering this was our first meeting especially. He also said that his family is very culturally open-minded, since his cousin married a black woman and moved away to somewhere exotic to build a family. It was our first and last meeting… 

I felt a bit bad that I declined the second meeting, but I wasn’t interested in romance. I just wanted a companion to spend my time in unfamiliar Germany. I needed a friend. If I was being honest with myself, the trip, why I was there was because I was feeling low. I was travelling to Venice with Trang on Christmas, and my long distance boyfriend, yep from Indonesia, decided to break up with me. It was based on different perspectives, well, me being thirsty, wanting to explore my opportunities, broadening up my horizon, and not wanting to settle down vs. him, wanting the opposites. I understood that he can’t move because he has a lot to take care of at home, being the prime breadwinner and stuff. But, me, was I wrong for not wanting the best for me, which happens to be pursuing my degree and finding a better job which is away from home? I am a strong believer that a good chance doesn’t come twice. 

The next date, still I had no expectations. This guy, Dave texted me. He has always been cute from the start. His text was, ‘’Hey, Helen. Yoshi asked (his profile picture was Yoshi from Super Mario), When can we meet?’’ I wonder how many girls have fallen with this line. We agreed to meet at the nearest metro station from my uncle. He was late, eleven minutes to be exact. I wasn’t mad, but I was holding my pee the whole time. Actually I could go back to my uncle, since it’s only about 400m away. But I wanted to avoid questions and awkwardness. I was paying attention to the bulletin board in front of me, comparing how the words in English and German are actually quite similar, then I felt a poke on my shoulder. ‘’Helen?’’ he asked. I looked at his smiley eyes and red nose. The weather was quite cold. ‘’Dave? Hi! Btw I need to go to the toilet asap’’ I replied. He looked at me, a bit confused, and smiled, ‘’Come. Let’s find you a toilet. Btw I am sorry I am late, the metro was delayed.’’ And the night officially started.