June 14: Auf Wiedersehen German Husbands
/June 14th was the last day with the German Husbands. Over the last ten days, Matza, Hannis, and Yannick had become wonderful friends. Matza, Yannick, and I drove to get some groceries on one of our first days together and since I was at the camp a few days before them I knew what the inside of that tiny fridge looked like. A huge mess. One of the main items that multiplied inside the small cold unit was butter. Tons and tons of various kinds of butter. Regular butter, butter with salt, butter without salt, butter with olive oil, low calorie butter, fake butter, and one other type that I could not distinguish.
When the boys and I were shopping, I saw Matza pick up a tub of butter.
“Matza, you put that butter pack!” I said in a funny but firm tone.
He looked at me bewildered.
“Why?”
“Because we have enough butter to feed a nation and in every possible form in flavor,” I replied.
“Do we have the kind with salt?”
“I promise you, we have it. You can eat all of mine if you want,” I told him.
His facial expression told me that he didn’t believe me but, he shuffled back to the diary aisle and replaced the butter.
Little did I know that by the time Matza left most of those 10 tubs of butter would be gone because he made herb butter every third night.
Hannis and Yannick were also hilarious and sweet. The three boys were always cracking jokes, cooking, and checking in on everyone. They hosted two barbecues at the house and bought beer for people.
On our last day surfing together at Praia Grande, I was sitting on the beach taking a break from another trashing, as usual, when Matza came shoveling out of the water.
“These waves are shit!” he bellowed as he sat down next to me.
“Matza, are the waves shit or do we just suck?”
He hesitated for a second.
“Yaaaa,” he began in his German accent “both but, the waves are still shit.”
We both laughed.
Svenja, Jana, and I grabbed a coffee before we went back to the camp to rest a bit before we all went out for a fancy goodbye dinner.
We were driven to the restaurant, Agua y Sal, in waves. I was in the first wave with both families. I started talking more with one of the German mothers.
She was working and raising three kids in Germany while her husband was working in America. Not to mention the fact that she was incredibly fit and a great surfer.
At one point I decided to be bold and say,
“Can I ask you a personal question?”
“Of course, ask me whatever you want.”
“You have had three kids, you’re so fit, and you look amazing. What’s your secret?”
She laughed.
“First, thank you. My secret is I do five to eight minutes of core and glute exercises every day. Only five to eight minutes but every day.”
“Okay, that’s awesome. That’s completely sustainable. Thank you.”
I started to walk towards the restaurant when she stopped me.
“Oh, I also don’t eat bread.”
…Soul Crushed…
I sat next to Lea, Sina, Anya, Coo-ken (German nickname for the youngest among us, her real name was Julia but we all called her Coo-ken, I also did not spell this right but that is how it is pronounced), and the British couple, David and Chloe.
Lea and I split goose barnacles, mussels, and wine. Everything was local and delicious. It was awesome to be making so many new friends in such a short period of time.
When we got back to the house, I said goodbye to the German husbands. At five in the morning, I heard them slowly move out of our bedroom.
Good luck with everything boys. Matza, send me a picture when your first baby is born.