Golden Bricks

by VINÍCIUS DA SILVA DEL VECCHIO (Brazil)

A leap into the unknown Germany

I'm not attached to social events by themselves. To the sight of my eyes, more shall be done than only meeting a cultural criteria of going to a graduation party. I felt like it would be outrageous to the brief uncertainty of my life if I spent all my internships' money in a one-night dinner with wine. Instead, I packed up my belongings and went to Germany because that country was unknown to me. Taking into account that in my poor mistaken knowledge the land of warm beer was only a place where people spoke a throat-sounded language, I then became open to a new perspective about everything that the country had to offer. Truthfully, before arriving in Frankfurt I didn't even have a clue that German people would only drink fresh beer. Fate got me close to this sweet boy who studies languages and had a passion for introducing foreigners to the local customs. Fernando was this shy but outgoing German man with a Spanish background and eyes that told me more than his perfect Portuguese. We went to a pizza parlor where he would order the healthiest slice of this Italian delicacy since the amount of fat in the cheese was as heavy as a feather and the Fanta we drank tasted like vitamin C. My fear of gaining some weight on that trip was overcoming. We paid the check and he held my hand. For the first time in my life, I was walking hand-in-hand with a boy and not only was anyone looking, nobody gave it a second thought. I felt amazing. No trains or cars were passing by but the traffic light lit red for pedestrians, an event that made him stop. I couldn't understand it in the beginning, his ethics were so genuine that I wasn't able to question its lack of practicality. Besides, he was still holding my hand and all of the cyclists in suits aligned in a single file behind us didn't seem to care. I find it fancy how German people can be impersonal. Fernando was about to take a vacation in South Africa thus we stopped by a stationery store so he could buy a travel guide. I find this very German-like where they want to be very organized and methodical even in their approach to a vacation, and it seems like Fernando has learned this since his middle school days. I kept waiting at the front door because he promised me that the shopping wouldn't last long. The clerk didn't think twice before smiling at me and suddenly saying Guten Tag! as enthusiastic as children when they meet puppies. I wasn't close to her but she could see me so she had to greet me and make my day better, a tiny detail that proved to me that the lack of feelings in their society is a myth. Sausages with curry was the smell coming from the next door's restaurant. I noticed it due to the barks of the cute polite dogs that didn't wear collars but kept together with their owner's legs while he bought his currywurst. Fernando came out of the store holding his guide and once again took me by the hand. In the warmth of our comfortable silence, he split a question: - Have you noticed these little golden bricks? To be honest, I had but I thought they were ornaments in Heidelberg's houses' doors. He told me to read one of the bricks and there I saw some Jewish last names. I saw where that was going. My eyes watered and even though I knew the answer I wanted to hear it, I wanted to understand the story behind it from the words of a national. "Each one of them was taken here and never came back", he said. All the stories matter, but caring to remember is the greatest sign of vulnerability. Now I comprehend the meaning of the red light, the smile of the clerk and the empathy of the boy who wouldn't put a collar on his dogs. At this point everything made sense and not attending the prom has never been so worthy.