Getting sucked in by Berlin

It all started when my cousin told me that she wanted to come to Berlin in May of this year, to visit her boyfriend.

At that moment the company I was working for was not doing well financially, and not just my job depending on that but also my house (because I was living in a place provided by them in Lisbon), plus, I spent all of March being sick and going to the hospital, so I was surrounded but a lot of uncertainty while trying to recover my health. 

But good news arrived in the middle of this chaos. I received my resident card which allowed me to travel outside the country. 

As my birthday is in May, and I wanted to spend it traveling, I accepted this as a sign from the universe for me to move on with my life. I resigned from my job in April, packed my things and my cat, left them in my friend’s house, and bought tickets to Barcelona.

As the birthday of my cousin is also in May, we thought it could be a nice opportunity to spend it together here, in Berlin (as none of us have been).

Still in April, before flying to Barcelona, I won tickets for a sex-positive event in Lisbon, I went, and during the event, I randomly met a guy dressed in pink from head to toe, with incredible blue eyes and style, we did a couple of workshops together. Despite we were shy and didn’t speak that much, our bodies felt good together.

The next day of the event, talking to a friend, I told her it would be amazing to attend another event like this but in Berlin. 

And she says:

• It would be best if you asked the Berliner guy.

Then I looked towards the people and I realised that my “pink guy” had a T-shirt that said “Berliner”. 

• Lucky me. I think to myself.

I went to talk to him and in the middle of our conversation, a girl came to us and said, “If you have never been to Berlin and a sex-positive party, I should recommend you to go to the Pinky Promise Party, it’s happening on the 11 of May”.

I ran to check their Instagram, and what I saw was a feast for my eyes and fantasies, such a colorful and exotic sex-positive event that I could only imagine happening in the movies. My brain was excited and scared at the same time, “Am I planning to go to a new city, and also to a sex party? Who am I?”

So in some type of safety measure, I asked the “pink guy” (whom I only knew 24 hours before and had touched his arms and neck during a tantra workshop) if he wanted to come with me.

Lucky me, he said:

• Yes, why not? I will buy the ticket if you buy the ticket.

With this, I had another purpose to come to Berlin, a sexy and adventurous one, “made by destiny” I thought.

But there was something else about all these coincidences that was captivating me: the name of the party, with their logo, showing two pinky fingers crossed. 

This made me remember, that back in February 2021, when the COVID lockdown in Argentina was getting flexible, I did a reiki session with one of my dearest friends from Venezuela. I was searching for some way to feel more connected to myself and release all the frustrations accumulated during the previous 10 months being locked inside my house seeing all my dreams going to the drainage while using all the savings that I had for starting a new life in Europe, being used to maintain my family because all they lost their jobs due to the quarantine. 

Coming back to the reiki session, what I saw and felt cannot be fully described here, but one thing I will never forget is when the session was almost ending, my conscience didn’t want to come back to earth. I was so far away, that I lost the sense of my body and was too scared of returning and feeling my old suffering. So my friend had to make a bit more effort than usual to get me back, and at that moment I heard a voice inside of me saying “todo va a estar bien”, in English: “Everything is going to be ok” and felt how the pinky finger of my right hand was pulled by some type of entity/energy promising that I need it to trust in those words.

Therefore, you can imagine that 3 years later after receiving my residence that made it official that I’m living in Europe; finding out about this Pinky Promise Party, felt like it was a sign from my higher self telling me, this was the goal, to come here…and so I did. 

Until that moment my idea was to come on the 14 of May and stay for 2 weeks, but I didn’t have my flying tickets, so after having such a revelation I decided to talk to my cousin and tell her that I was going a few days before for attending to this cool party. The funny thing is that she told me her relationship was not going so well, and 2 days before my arrival, they broke up and she decided to leave Berlin and go to Croatia. 

So, WE NEVER MET.

Once I finally arrived in Berlin on the 9th of May, I got to the hostel and I went out like any other tourist.

The next day, I went for a walk passing through the Brandenburg Gate and the Tiergarten. As a good millennial, I started posting some stories on my Instagram, and as is connected to my Facebook, one friend from my university (that I hadn’t seen in more than 10 years) saw them and wrote to me saying that she was in Berlin for 2 days, so it would be nice to meet before she went back to Leipzig. I continued walking making some time, until suddenly I saw some people entering a building next to me, once I got to the door I found out it was a museum for urban and contemporary art, called Urban Nation. When I got to the counter, my eyes were already on the handsome guy who was working there he seemed a bit nervous but at the same time super kind, he helped me with my backpack, and explained me more about the exhibition. I spent the rest of the afternoon checking all the installations inside the museum until it was time to leave the place to go and meet my friend, but just before leaving my intuition was telling me to ask for the Instagram of this guy, and the funny thing he came to me first and give to me.

Usually, I do not do this. I'm too shy. But there I was, feeling like a winner again. And, I left the place. 

I went walking to meet my friend and we sat to have dinner together. At that moment she explained to me why she was a bit sad. That day she was going to make a guided tour around Berlin but the guide canceled. 

• Is there any chance of doing it tomorrow? I asked because my only plan was to attend the party at night. 

She smiled, sent a message on her cellphone, and minutes after she was jumping into happiness. The tour guide said that counting on me he could have enough people to do the tour the day.

• You know what is crazy? she says. 
• I’ve been trying to enter a church several times in different years, but until today I couldn’t, it was always closed, or in reconstruction or something. But today, after the tour was canceled it happened that I was close by, and saw that finally it was opened so I could enter! And now, I will be able to do the tour tomorrow with you after randomly checking my Facebook! That’s magical!  

The next day, we went on the tour and then bought some fancy lingerie and kinky and colourful accessories for the party.

Of course, in the middle, I was talking to my “pink guy” to check some options for his outfit too.

This was the second time (actually, the third time, let's count properly) that I was meeting him and I was super excited about experiencing so many “first times” at once: traveling to an unknown city, where didn’t know anybody, going to a sex-positive party with a stranger. 

We had a terrific night, doing some of the workshops to practice consent, getting to know more people at the party and even making drawings about them, with plenty of music and beautiful people wearing make-up and sexy clothes like a Marie Antoinette court party while dancing and having sex around us.

When I arrived at my hostel on Sunday, I decided to spend the rest of the day resting.

The next day, I didn't have any plans and the production team from the party asked for volunteers to help remove the decorations from the club, because several of the people were sick. 

• Why not?. I Tough, I love to be helpful.

I went there and met beautiful people. One of them was trying to find a place to rent for the summer, so I told him I was interested in sharing a place. After just 5 days in the city and having so many coincidences (or signs for the universe), everything felt easy, so I wanted to stay longer if I found the chance. 

On Tuesday, my “pink guy” told me that he needed to go to Leipzig by car for 2 days so I could go with him if I wanted. And of course, I accepted the offer and told my friend I was going to be in her city. The craziest thing happened when I arrived to do the checking in the hostel, literally next to me another person was doing the checking too, and the manager gave him the same room as me. When I saw his face I recognized that it was the tour guide I met on Saturday!. Among all the hostels in Leipzig and all the days on the calendar, he chose that day to visit that city for the first time in the seven years he has been living in Berlin (crazy thing).

Later that day I met with my friend, we had dinner and went to dance salsa.

Thursday arrived and I was back in Berlin, to receive the good news that the guy I met on Monday during the volunteering job, found an apartment to rent, and invited me to visit him. Waking up in his bed the next day he says that a friend is looking for volunteers for helping to build a festival near Brandenburg and they offer accommodation, food, and a ticket to the festival as the “payment”. I checked the calendar and my birthday was in the middle of the period for the work so I was doubting. But in the end, he convinced me saying that I was going to meet more lovely people and will enjoy a beautiful 18th-century house next to a lake, so how could I say no? 

It was already Saturday again and we were on the train to this new adventure together.

Indeed, as he said, the place was marvelous and antique, the people were from different nationalities, with kind hearts and cheerful souls, and the lake…was just for our naked bodies. 

• Oh, and we even had a S A U N A! Yes, I was in paradise.

I spent the most beautiful and unique birthday, cleaning for 5 hours the stables, then going to swing to the lake and taking a nap, while my colleagues were making, not one, but two of my favourite birthday cakes: lemon cheesecake and rhubarb crumble. Later we had the most beautiful dinner at a long table with plates and cups from the families that the house has received for centuries, and finished the night sitting in the garden under the moonlight drinking a pink gyn.

Many more beautiful coincidences have happened since then, but to share them, I need to write a whole book.

And that’s how I got sucked by Berlin, until today, and I hope for much much time…