The Meet-Cute

You might have been listening to this podcast this past month and wondered...hmmm who ARE these people?? WELL gather 'round, as we tell you the Matt & Omar lore you've been wondering about.

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Let's Dig In: @letsdigin.podcast
Matt Benfield: @mr.benfield
Omar Ahmed: @omarahmed.co

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Can you believe we've been together for almost eight years? I cannot. And do you know why? I cannot believe it because you fucking insufferable. Hey. This is crazy work. It's almost a decade. Raisy work. I think gay is that's like 5 billion years. That's what I like dinosaurs. Like I try Sarah tops. You wouldn't be a triceratops. I would be a stegosaurus. No, the big long neck ones, like the cutesy, like golden retrievers of the dinosaurs. The ones with the long necks. The big tall ones. I don't know. I only know the names of the dinosaurs from power ranges. I think it's a. Triceratops. The saber tooth tiger. I don't know. I don't think they existed in the same. Era, no savers is hacker. No, no, no. They were no fries. By the power and just hard what was it? The Tara dactyl is that the flying one? Pink power ranger and then the fucking yellow ranger was the, saber tooth tiger. I mean, I don't think it was. Okay. Alright. Oh, so did like Oxy. All of them are dead. Hi. Hello. Welcome back to another episode of let's dig in. you, You took it too far. You started it. Oh, come on. You. That wretched. Welcome back to let's. Dig in. This is a podcast. So we like to sit around the dinner table and talk shit. Yeah. To join us and to talk shit. Well, Listen to us talk shit. You can't really talk because you're not on the podcast, but we are, so you have to listen to us. I kind of would like it. If you did also talk to yourself or respond in your own way. Yeah. To yourself, maybe. In private, not in public because then people will think you're weird. Do we one fuck. We thought today would be a good at time to introduce you to more of us. Yeah. I'm like, this is what episode four now. Yeah. What the fuck were we doing? I'm like, Hey, you're like, who the fuck are you? why am I just listening to you? Ramble on about. British versus American bullshit and your random like ins and outs because we're entertaining. We are so entertaining. So entertaining. We were like, here we are in our living room, just like talking shit around the dinner table. Yeah, this is an hour. Actually this dinner table. If you're watching on YouTube. This table is our little patio furniture that we bring. In from outside because it's the only table that makes sense to do this. We do have an eight C or let's just tube noxious. We have an eight Cedar dining table. Around that. The two of us just being like, hello. Yeah. We are. Yeah, it'd be funny. We wanted to tell you about how we met and our relationship, the Yan. I told you I was in jail every single time. Without further ado. Here is our meat. Cute. Let's dig in. Why did we meet. We met in Berlin. Which is crazy. Crazy. I'm from North Carolina. He's from the UK. We met in Berlin international rum. Come meet acute. Which is kind of crazy because you studied international relations at university and you've ever used that degree in your entire life apart from getting an international relationship. Nope. I paid $30,000 to marry a British man. Yeah, you're both fantastic. You're welcome. Okay, you're welcome. Thank you, your welcome for the green card. Yeah, you're right. You're welcome for the constant entertainment and endless. Projects and career ventures that we have been able to, Oh right there. The thoughts, right there many words in my brain, I'm telling you, there are so many words, but then none of them come out and it annoys me. Does that happen to you? No. My thoughts are pretty streamlined. No mine on. It's it's literally like, Grabbing smoke. You are a Gemini. So Berlin, how did we both get to Berlin in the first place? I moved to Berlin. Cause I was like, let's move to the place where I can be like an absolutely insane person for a little while The only reason I moved to Berlin because I was like, Hmm. Where can I go where I can be absolutely deranged without any consequences? What year did you do this? This was 20 16, 20 16. Back let's back it up. Let's go back to the beginning. If you didn't already know, I grew up in the UK and then I moved from, the UK to Australia after I graduated university. Cause I was like, fuck this place. Yeah. So, Sorry. It's just like a little bit sad and boring as we discussed on the previous episode. Lots of ex about the UK. Love it. I love it. I love. I love to visit. I do love to visit. But I really don't think I can ever live there again. I don't know why. I just like the world is the world is gigantic and the United Kingdom is just a tiny cluster. Fuck of islands. Don't need to live on a teeny tiny island. No. And so. I set sail to the winds, the winds beneath my sales and the sales beneath my above my. Boat. My airplane wing my vessel. Yeah. Fucking flew to Melbourne and moved to Melbourne Australia. When I was 22 years old. Kind of full year of just eat, pray, loving the shower myself. And then I. Gotcha. Australia. I traveled Asia and I was like, wow, this is amazing. I'm so cool. My life is amazing. And then I met like a bunch of German people and I was like, you're really fun. You're like leave. You're like, no, but you're so fun. And I've been saying this you like so fun. And then I eventually moved to there's a slight kerfuffle involved in between. I moved back to the UK for half a second. And then I met a boy who was a piece of shit. Who's really good looking, but he had the personality of a boiled ag. Yeah. And I was like, oh my God. What's that movie, do you know? It's hard to be single. It's a rebel Wilson and oh yeah. Stupid bomb. And they like talk about being stuck in someone's Dick sound. You like Dick's hand Dick Cassandra. And when you're stuck in someone's Dick sand, Dick sand. Now you say it sounds really disgusting. And it's like quick sound, but like, it's Like you were stuck into in that person's Dick Sanders. And the orbit. Yeah. Don't want to be there or knowing as far. Like they're a boy. It's hot. His heart he's high. Oh, my God, you've got so many arms and I'm like, is there anything beyond that surface? Not really. And it took me a long time to figure that out. Anyway. Fuck you. Move to Berlin. And was like, let me go and find myself again because, oh, that was a side quest. I did not want to participate in. You hideous. And it was that for Bit too long. Eventually I found myself in Berlin, Germany. Deutschland. No anyone apart from one random person, I was like in a backpackers hostel within Australia. Yeah. And. then I, he introduced me to one of his girlfriends who was from the UK. And then she had a bunch of like British friends. And then we just form this like huge friendship group. And I just pied like crazy person. that's what got me to Berlin. I know we'll get to it. We'll get to like how we met afterwards. That's chapter one where we're in our own chapter. One's just starting my book now. Yeah. Welcome. It's a better book. I'm kidding. You're actually, your story is way more exciting than mine. Go on you. Please. Tell me more about this weird organization that you're a POV shot. Ah, I graduated. College. How's we call it. Shut the fuck. I graduated college in 2016. From Appalachian state university. 16. That's crazy. Yeah. Yeah, because I'm two years younger than you. Oh, yeah. Oh yeah. That's crazy. Yeah. I graduated in 2014. I graduated university in 2016 from Appalachia state university in Boone, North Carolina. With not a thought in my head about what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. So I, while I was studying international relations, Global studies, which was a horrible, horrible decision that led me into mountains of debt for no reason. I can't do anything with that. With the green, what. What the fuck did you think you were going to do with that degree? I want it to be a diplomat. I think. Or I would like, I was like, I like traveling. I really like traveling. So let me study international relations and human rights. Not the fuck the fuck. Am I going to do with that? What the fuck. I was part of an organization in college that sent students on internships and like volunteer. No, this fucking, This program, is it program? It's what is it? It's like a nonprofit. It's a cult. It is a cult. Yes. It's so strange. We've been, we like last year we were in Amsterdam and we were like, just biking through bundle park. And some random fucking guy goes. And then we stop and it's some fucking random person that he was in an organization with. Yeah. I'm not it's so strange to me. It was like the whole spread to the little grubby fingers. It was an international nonprofit. Not-for-profit that like, it was an international not-for-profit. That just send students abroad. Was it called AIESEC sounds like a fucking call. It is. It is. And if anyone's watching the suicide. It wasn't it, you know, it's a cool. It's so random. Crane with them. I went to Ukraine, my sophomore year of college. With this organization, they sent me to Ukraine. Yeah. Just teach English. I don't know. It was fine. How long were you in Ukraine fall? Three months. No, this is significant. Kia for three months. Yeah. I was in Korea for three months. That's crazy. I know right now it's actually so wild. How old were you when you lived in sophomore? So that means. no, no, no, no, no. 20, oh, come over like 19. Yeah. The second year. Yeah, second year. Okay. Sophomore. So I will let. As in softball, I like to say that. It's not so much longer than you think it is sophomore. Yeah. Yeah. It's crazy. Why? I don't know. This is non English language. Podcasts. I'm sorry. I like to go off on a little tangent. Continue. Because I have to remember my thoughts. Fucking story. I was part of the organization and after college I took up an internship with them in Germany because I was like, I was deciding whether to was at a fork in the road after college. I was like, I could either go to work in Dallas in sales because I was applying for sales jobs. Cause that was the only thing I could find that would actually like qualify for. It's fun. No. Okay. From what I've heard. I've been once. I don't like it. But I was like, let's go there. Cause I got a job offer at this random, like to be. To be a cold caller to cold call. And to do that, I was just telling you yesterday, I hate cold calls. I know from everyone, I hate cold calls from friends from like, why would I do. It's don't call Columbia. I'd never pick up a cold call. So why would I do that as a job? So I either had that, or I was looking for internships around the world. This organization. Hypocrite dirty liar. I'm not a duty liar. So I found an internship in Frankfurt, Germany, Frankfurt. So I packed up my little gay bag and moved to Germany after college. My internship was sick for a year with D H L as a data analytics intern. Please note that none of the things that I've mentioned had anything to do with my degree, I had no qualifications. I said, I know how to work an Excel sheet. So I moved to Germany for that. I was like, no, I'm not going to do that anymore. So I quit at six months in and I was also starting to do like my influencer work. Then I was like, I have six months left on this visa. Let's move to Berlin because Frankfurt is boring. Is. Oh, it sucked. Sorry. It's so. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Photos here. Frank photos, you got the sausage, the sausage is good. What else they have building buildings. Buildings buildings. Just a gigantic apple. Yeah. I'm all. mole. Yeah. Who cares about the mall? I don't. So I moved to Berlin for the rest of my. Visa new. No one took a little train, got a little apartment And chapter one close. That's how I made it to Berlin. Chapter one closed. Chapter two. Oh my fucking God. So here we are me. I'm living in Berlin. working in this random office. I'm Customer it's a customer sales. Personal shopping program thing. But it's not, it's just like a customer service advisor for Net-a-Porter like that branch, that company. And I would just tell people like what to buy or like, Help people with that, like online on your site. Perfect. It was just like an English speaking job in Berlin. I was like, literally typed in Google. We speaking jobs, Bellin, and then I went and I obviously got it. I was like, oh my God, that's so cool. I got this really cool job. And it was not glamorous in the slightest because it was in this disgusting building in theater, hoists plats. Where it is so far away from everyone and everywhere. And it took me like an hour to commute. It was really, truly awful. I was like, I'm living in Berlin. And my life is amazing. But is it? Cause I would go out every single weekend. And oh, just if you know anything about like the party culture in Berlin, it's it consumes you. And that first year was consumed. And then like within the second year. So this is now 2017. I was like, let me slow the fuck down. Pump your brakes pump the fucking brakes because I don't feel so good. Let me pump the brakes. Let me go, let me take my ass to therapy. I've been living in Berlin for a year now. And the thought goes to me, wait. Fucking Hey. I literally. Spend the full year partying and just doing the Berlin thing, which is what was it, very all consuming. And I was like, let me shut the fuck up. Sit the fuck down. And pump the brakes a second. And then when I really analyze my life, I feel like I have these moments every so often I feel like I had it. Recently in at the end of 2024, I had it in 20. When was this now? 2017, beginning of 2017. Maybe it's the satin return, but like what returns in every six years? I don't know. It's fucking mine are now. You just have to take a hard look at yourself. Mazda's like MAs my mom's returned. Every like couple of times then fucking return. It was like, Hey, I got a minute. What you're doing? What are you doing? What are you doing? Stop. Stop. Stop. I had decided I wanted to leave. Bellin within the year. Because I stopped going out so much. And then like when you stopped going out, you're like friendship group, like dwindles down because you realize, you. Part your friends are just like, just that they're just potty friends. And I had a good group of like people around me still, but it wasn't enough to keep me that. And it also language barrier. I'm sorry, I just was never going to learn German. It's just not an attractive language. You've seen those videos. Haven't you of the, like the people compare like beautiful words in different languages. It's like ambulance in English. And then in French, it's like ample. And then in Spanish it's like, um, And then in German, it's con. Butterfly. why. And tha. What's the, what's the word for a queue? Like a line they call it, Oh, it's translated to waiting snake out the waiting snake. But do you remember how to pronounce it? No, I just thought just slung it. Is that the word. My favorite thing is that the birth control pill is called anti baby pill, and I love a good anti baby pill. So cute. Hey, one 90, maybe Belinda, please. But in no world, would I want to learn that language and speak it fluently? I'm sorry. No. I'm sorry. No, sorry. But yeah. Okay. People do. And I have so many friends that are still that and like good for that. I think it's a bit crazy about good for that. And I personally, I was like, I want to move to a place where I can like a, speak a language again. Like I forgot how easy that was to get a job I actually enjoyed. And then, progressing some sort of career path that was creative. Creative cause I was just like, ah, fucking desk every day. typing behind a fucking keyboard speaking to the most dull people, it was just such a bore. It was like Berlin was fun in the summer months. And then the rest of my life, it just seems so mundane. All of a sudden I was just on the train for an hour and a half commuting every single day back and forth. And I was like, what the fuck is this? Both the fuck is the point. What did I move this whole? Did I move here for, I like moved here to have a fun life. And I just, like, all of a sudden was like in the, like the rat race, the Berlin rat race, which is a really shitty, sad, little rat race to be in. I might say. And then I was like, okay, let me look for different options. So Commonwealth visa wise, I was like, either are moving to New Zealand or I'm moving to Canada. And I was like, okay, fine. Kind of just a little bit close as, let me just move to Canada. I was applying for my visa. At the beginning of the summer of 2017. Pride was happening. My best friend Lexi came to visit me from the UK. We had like grand old gay time. And then a week later. No, I'm not even a week later, she left me on the Monday. Yeah, it was Monday. She left me on the Monday after pride and then you messaged me on Grindr. It was like a Tuesday evening. I was watching game of Thrones. In my little room. Oh, my fucking bedroom. And Bellin was so nice. It was full hundred. It was 450 Euro and it was a fucking huge. Yeah, it was so big. I know. I left that bedroom. I was the best. It was the best thought upon what was so nice. It was so cheap. I'm sat, minding my own business. Watching game of Thrones. And I decided to open my grinder, just. To have a chat. See who's around just to grind. Grind. It was their intention. I just want it to like chart. And I wanted to chat. He messaged me on Grindr. How did you say you up? No. From my perspective, I'm not actually watching game of Thrones and you're like, messaging me like, Hey, Heats and repairs. Hey, what's up. I don't know what the conversation was about, but it was like very, Hey, like how you, and let me like, great, how are you? What are you up to? And then I like check his profile and I was like, He's nice to keep. This is really what did you actually say? So embarrassing a little bit. Oh, my God. I remember seeing your photos. And it was like, you're actually, you look so cool. Cause you have like you're on Instagram then you think you had 20,000 followers or something at this point I was in the early stages. Instagram. I thought that was like, cool. It was so cool. And you had these I don't know, in 20 16, 20 17 standards, like really cool photos. If you was to look at them right now, you think he was. Fucking loser. Disgusting. And I was like, oh my God, this guy's so hot. and then at the same, at the time to actually I think I just decreased my age limit on it. Cause I think I had very strict. Two year younger limits. On Grindr. Yeah. And then I think I moved it too, because I think you're like, you knew you were like two years and two months younger than me. And so I think I changed it to three. I was like, I'm 20. How old? I just tend to about, yeah, 25. I think I turned that year. And so you were 22 turning 23 that year. And I was like, let me let me just broaden my fucking horizons because everyone's a fucking lame, unlike us, you knew there was someone. And people on Grindr or it was just like, I think I'd reached a point. I was like partying with my friends and I was like, let me hook up a bit. Let me just enjoy. My life, actually, the reason I downloaded Grindr for the first time, like around pride month. And then cause pride in Berlin is July. And I downloaded it and I was like, let me be a slut. Let me be a slut for a second. And then I like, did it feel like, okay, I think I had it for a week. And I slithered on him. One guy. I like went to some guy's house. His name was redacted. And he w he was so strange. He was like, so odd. And I was like, this cannot be the pool. I've of humans I'm working with. Let me like expand my reach slightly. And so I did, and I was like, I was fully in the mindset that I was like, I want to be a slot for a little while. And then you slid into my DMS. We met weekly. And I literally like here we are. As I added the fuck was the, what the fuck was that? You were literally out of one week of being a slut and then I put a ring on it, basically. I'm Laura saying. Yeah, stick to my fucking guns. Then how did we actually meet. I do love telling the story. Okay. It's summer. Remember? This summer in July. Slot summer slots. It was supposed to be supposedly slot summer, ended up being fucking, put a ring on it summer. And he was messaging me on Grindr that Tuesday we talked about nothing, but game of Thrones for a full week, we just tried shit. Like it was so PG. It was actually embarrassing. Yeah, it was like very baby. How are you? And oh yeah. Good. Thank you. How. Did you have lunch today? We're like, what the fuck are we doing? All of a sudden we were this old married couple, like we hadn't even met yet. And the following weekend I never, ever in my life at that time would have ever gone to the gym on a weekend. But something inside me compelled me. To get my ass out of bed and go to the gym on a Saturday. Call it kismet. Shut the fuck up. Don't you use my language against me here. I decided. Because I was there cause I also went to the gym on that fated Saturday. I got to the gym and we're the bench next to each other. Do you remember, did you ever that there was like a pillar in between us. We were like dying. And it was like on a corner and there was a pillar in between, and then two benches, like facing separate mirrors. So we could see each other out of the corner of our eyes, see you on your adjacent mirror. And you could see me on my adjuster. And I was like, oh, this guy's really hot. And I was like, this looks like the person I'm speaking to on Grindr, but like he's in person. So like he looks different obviously. Cause. People do they look different? Also you fucking photos with, so now, like truly looking back on it, I can say this with hand on my heart. Like with my full chest and say there were so fucking lame. Like you did the full 2016, like travel blogger, like Shanghai. Yeah, the table was really cool, but I was like, you were being so like moody and mysterious and it was like, is this is this the same guy that's next to me right now. I kept trying to make eye contact with him. And he like. just wouldn't look in my direction. And I was like, he's either so fucking rude and so obnoxious, or it's not him. And so I guess the third option. Little did I know it was a secret. Third option. He just wouldn't look at me. And I went to another machine and we were doing like chest, I'm not chest. Sorry. We were doing row was the cable rows on actually adjacent machines that I was facing him. He was facing me diagonally to each other. He still wouldn't look at me and he was being so weird and I was like, okay, but he's definitely not the same person or he's being a con. And, Yeah, it was a secret third option. He messaged me on Grindr and said, Hey, are you in the gym? Hey, are you in the gym? I said, Hey, smiley face. Could you maybe perhaps be in the gym and he's like right beside of me. He's actually left and went to the other. The same amount of space as you are right now on this podcast. Then you were on the bench. You mentioned, I think gumption, I didn't have gumption. Then I was very shy. I was, I'm a Virgo and I am not as shy as I was back then. I was a very Virgo back then. And now I would actually talk to you in the gym. It's actually know your. Too hot. oh, my. If I saw you in the gym today, I would not. You're intimidating. Really? You also have a resting bitch face when you. I have a resting bitch face me too, but also like, you know, you see, I feel like I look more intimidating that I'm like, I don't oh, totally. I don't really walk around smiling. Cause what's the, what such a smile about. What do you mean? What is that to smile about? I mean, lots. I'll shut up. Ah, shucks. Well, I could name. Not shucks. Anyway, he messaged me on Grindr and I, in my mind, I'm like, if he leaves the gym and we don't speak. I'm never going to speak to this person ever again. But we were so close to me. I was like, this is such an embarrassing move because why would you not just say hello? I think I. I would really valued like confidence and like, you know, gumption to like, you know, Get up and like, You know, Just grab what you want. Grab by the ball. Life by the bowls. And, I could see him like he was from in one room about to leave and go to leave, like leave. Going to leave the gym. I was done with my workout. I was leaving the gym. And I said it's now whenever I got up off of the attic with the equipment and that was on and I turned him around. I like went to the exit towards the exec. And grabbed his shoulder and turned him around and I was like, oh, hi. And he was so sweet and he got. You got so like rad. I could tell he was like, so embarrassed. I was like, we were just both like at the gym suit, we were like sweaty. Anyway. And like I could tell he was like really flushed. And I was like, hi, it's me like, blah, blah, blah. And we were like chatting for a second. And then there'd be exchange numbers, or like we had exchanged numbers on Grindr. We had already exchanged numbers. I think we were talking on WhatsApp at that point and then no. Oh, my God. What. You gave me a number on WhatsApp and I messaged you on WhatsApp. Oh, yeah. And then I was like, that's really rude. Oh yeah. I messaged. That morning. On WhatsApp and then, cause I think he thought I was someone else. Yeah. I thought you were like some random person. I thought you were a person from the organization I used to work with in college. And that's why I was like, why would I respond to this? Why would that person text you? I don't know. And then I realize I'm also Omar. No, there wasn't actually a person. I just thought it was a random person. I didn't think I realized that. It's Omar. I didn't realize who it was. I think in my mind, I just did not connect. So it took me like a day to respond. I think I might've messaged you on like the Friday night and then in the morning, you still hadn't responded? And it was like, that's really rude because you'd given me your number by this point. And I was like, I'm going to, I'm going to text you on WhatsApp now. And, that I was like, I also, I was like, I texted you on WhatsApp. And he was like, oh, I didn't know. That was you. Yes. Yes. Let this be a lesson, a life lesson, folks. Chase after your dreams and desires. And, also chase men across the gym. Chase man, across the genetics. Ray Moto chase men across the gym. Get some gumption. God damn it. I have gumption now. Yeah. Okay. I have gumption now. So we were talking about our first date or what we wanted to do. We were going to hang out two days later from that time. I think it was Monday that we hung out. I remember I think that was sad and you're like, what are you doing tonight? And I was like, oh, I'll have this party in this like abandoned building. And you were like, whoa. I'm not cool enough. I remember you were like, what the fuck is this person? I was like, I'm here to tell. I'm going to this like random rave at this, abandoned in this abandoned building, near my neighborhood with this, like one of my like artist friends, and like one of his dumb fucking friends who were fucking low with it at the time, but I was like, there'll be funny. I'll be a funny night out. We were that to 7:00 AM. I'm walking home at 7:00 AM. And I was like texting you suggested hanging out that night, but then you had this rave. And we were like okay. Okay. Let's organize for Monday. We said like Monday let's do a lot. I'm sorry, I'm not giving you a Saturday. Don't be silly. We did a Monday date, short, whatever. And I was like, I would like to, yeah. What was my suggestion? You suggested the date first and it was a bad suggestion. I think this is a fucking excellent suggestion. If you know anything about Berlin, In Prenzlauer Berg, there is a wine bar it's called diva. And I, the winery. On the weekdays, you can go and they do wine tastings. This is the actual thing that they do. Did you wine tastings and you can pay at the end of your like evening, how much you think the night was worth. or like you donate. Basically how much you drank. I was poor, so I would go and get shit face and then give a couple of Euro and be like, woo. What aren't cheap. What a cheap knife. That's so fun. I was like, let's do this. Let's go to this wine bar, get shit faced. It will be so fun. It would be so cheap. And it's a really fun thing to do on a Monday night, not as a first day. And then you will like. It's really nice in one that's got to the park. Yeah. Cause it was a beautiful July evening or afternoon. And I was like, let's just go to the park, hang out, have a couple beers. Yeah. I bought bears. I bring any wireless you to bring anything. I'm sorry. No, you were a little shit, actually. I stopped at the shop on the way. Let's go to the park. And I was like, ah, Grudgingly. I was like, fine. I was like, I really want to go. It's a Monday night. I want to get shit faced. Yeah. My favorite wine bar on a Monday night. To yarrow or you can go to the park and sit with a nice boy and have a couple Rattlers. Rattlers. Yeah. And that's what we did, honestly, in hindsight, if we had gone to the winery, that night. I don't think we would be here right now. No, I would have seen the Gemini. No, it would have been, I would have been fun. You would have had such a good time for sure. But I don't think we would be in the same. It's not the same vibe. Yeah. Because what ended up happening was I got on my little bike. I rode my bike. Did you? You're going to cancel. You told me like, yeah. Probably nervous. I thought you were so hot. I thought you were so attractive and cool. And I was so overwhelmed and thought you were out of my league. Definitely. So I was like, I'm sick. Oh, yeah, no, you didn't though, because if you did literally wouldn't be here. So I took the SPN and I got over my fucking nerves. Cause I was a little piece of shit shy boy. And I got over there and then I met you at the park. Yeah. It was like, I was waiting at the entrance because I got that. Uncharacteristically early on my bicycle. So cool. Cause you had a little light, you had one of your colorful shirts wrapped around your waist and you had a tank top on I was like, whoa, who. Was this crazy guy and yet all his jewelry and tattoos. And I was like what. And then I had my bike and then in my life, Tote bag of like beers and I had no tattoos. Rolling cigarettes by. I was like probably rolling a cigarette and I look like a loser. I'm pretty sure. No, you came, you rang like a cap, you rang like a baseball cap and you had a thing you had like a t-shirt on. I just looked like a good old American boy. Yeah. Yeah, he looked very like clean cut. Great. Which at the time was really my type for some fucking reason. We've we've grown. We've uh, Um, So we sat at the park. We just had to go. The whole spot. Yeah. The little hill at mal park in the Bentley. Lately in our neighborhood. And. It was like five or five day. And then we like. Sorry. And just talked and all of a sudden 10. 10 hours. Nope. Nope. Nope. All of a sudden it was 10:00 PM. Like all of a sudden, like the time had just flown by, we didn't know, it was decided until the mosquitoes came out and we were like, oh my God. Look at the time. It's crazy. I'm itching. Oh, this is crazy. Like we should go. Cause we talked about everything under the sun. We talked about everything. I feel like we hit every single topic. We really did like, like, do you want to have kids? We said, no, not so much. Do you want to have. I don't know, but that was a topic of conversation. what. I don't think we were like, what are your thoughts on kids? eventually we were like talking about. We're talking about family stuff. Families are like. And stuff. I was like, oh my God. Luckily never, you were like never, I know it was like perfect walk. Let's lock in. Perfect. We also connected. Deeply, unlike the fact that we both grew up in really religious families on different sides of the world. I just had very similar experiences, but just like under. The scrutiny and. Of separate religions and just like typical first queer date. Yeah. Childhood trauma dumping. Bonding gorgeous. And then, yeah, we like walked over. I walked him to the station. I was like, let me take you to the train station so that you can go home and then I can continue on my bicycle to my house. And then we were walking by this chicken shop, reset chicken on the corner of episodic. Straza. Rosa Ali. And I was like, by the way, that is like the best chicken shop, like in the world. Like it was, you know, the fluorescent lights were on, the sun had just sat. And I was like, by the way, that is the best chicken chocolate, the world. And you were like, I'm from there. I'm from North Carolina. I'll be the judge of that. I don't know why you sounded like courage. The cowardly. The dog grandfather in. I don't know. I don't know. Your Southern accent is not the best. I'm just, I'm not actually trying to imitate you. I'm trying to bully you. Great. And I said, I know what fried chicken is let's go in and I'll tell you. So we got in, had the fight ordered the fried chicken. It wasn't even, it's not even fried. I wouldn't call it fried chicken. It's just like it was chicken that was fried. So it's fried chicken, chicken tenders. I guess you could get the. Like drumsticks. You could get like a whole chicken, but like it's just chicken tenders. No. What was all of that? A. it's we'll do. I'll do. This is why a one bitter. Connie kind of each Hoben Zvi. Ah, I petitioned Dunka. So we got those and I tried it and it was great. Yeah, it was great if I checked and I was good looking back on it, we have had it again. It's not the best fried chicken. Shut the fuck up. But it's the memory that counts and it was us having fried chicken. Nice. Yes. It's while nice. We had fried chicken on her first day. It's so cute. So cute. It's unintentional fried chicken, which makes it bad because intentional fried chicken was B would be like a little bit. A little bit Trashman. Imagine my suggestion was to go get fried chicken. They're like a wine bar. Yeah. Fried chicken. We went from bureaus and fried chicken. That's crazy, which honestly, like it fits. Honestly, Honestly. We've walked. Then I walked into this train station and then. Now that we're underneath the flickering lights of shin house. Les Bon station. He plants. One on me. I gave him a little pecker, low pecker. Pecker. Put your packer or your Peter away. This is the first day. Fuck. Peanut freak. I gave him a pack on the lips. And my, I don't know why. The fuck came over me. I was like, She couldn't breath. It was so stupid. I was like, this would be so funny to say. And I said, oh my God, chicken breasts. Cause it was funny. Like it literally just tasted like fried chicken. Yeah. And then, I dunno, I think he thought I was so funny. Yeah, charming. Yeah, we both giggled and then he went on his Merry way. Took the train one stop. He could have walked, please. He shit. Oh, yeah. I coulda, I don't know. She shouldn't have the alley to Prenzlauer alley train station is on 10 minute walk. And then we saw each other every single day for a month. Isn't that nice. There was a day we like kept seeing each other every day. Like we kept doing dates and like Hangouts and like whatever. There was a day that you were going to go to work. You were going to go to work from your house. And then there was it's like you had something afterwards or you you didn't have time to see me that day. So you came over in the morning before you went to work and you said hi so that you didn't break our street. Yeah, I think we had a straight hallway, so cute. So cute. No, it's so cute. That's disgusting. It's not our podcast now. Did you know why it's so embarrassing? I was a different person than I would never know. It was sweet. Really cute. It was so cute. I hate everything. That's not true. You pretend that you have a hard shell. But you don't use that voice. Don't use that voice with the public. With the public listening. I, yeah, I did that. I did that. I thought it was so cute. Yeah, you were, no, in my mind, I was like, I think you were busy. You we had something. I was a big influencer back in the day. Oh, please. And don't tell I was. I was the cream of the crop. We want to do a career. Korea episode. Yeah. Like the stupid jobs that we've worked are so funny. I was doing what he was doing for work at the time is like truly the most dumb thing I've ever heard anyone ever do. Next episode, for sure. Sure. I remember one thing vividly about living in. But you didn't have that many friends cause you like didn't have a workplace to go to. I was self-employed. Yeah. So you like found a bunch of like random content creators. If you know anything about German influences, my God. They are insufferable. You think where. Inseparable. We're in sufferable oh my God. Throw a German. my fucking Christ. All mine got, oh my God. It was so crazy. I would meet these people on I started going to like events, like influencer events with him. And I was like, this is such a cool and crazy life. What the fuck? I didn't meet all these weirdos. And then like he would meet my friends and I had a billion friends in Berlin at this point that I'd been there for a year and a half by this point. And I was at come into like my friends cycle. Cause they were like a lot more normal. Relatively. Okay. Then the majority. We're a little bit insane. But yeah, I was like, let me introduce you to like actually normal people. And I feel like. Really reached a point in Berlin where I was like, oh, I feel like life is so nice now. But then I was like, I. With we just started dating and I was like, I'm already applying for my visa for Canada, by the way, just so you know. Because, you know why you don't mind. That do you know why? I decided, like I already knew I wanted to, and then there was one moment. I think it was like June that year. Like bright before we met, I was like, I was so sick. And then I went into the little. Underneath, like my building. I was so ill and I was like, counting my change. And I was like being really slow. Cause I was just like, oh, we suck so feeble. And oh my God, I just have felt so ill. And I'm trying to get my grocery supplies so I can go upstairs and have a little fucking soup or something. And the fucking Cassia, SLAM's a hand. On the count and she's actually, yeah. Which means. I don't know, it was like, fuck you. Uh, it was really hard to count my fucking, your rose. This is when you decided to. I went upstairs and I was like, let me submit my application. You can't. you told me that you were leaving and I had already had an extended visa application. I was planning on extending my visa. Because I realized by that point, you, this six months, there's. Was up There was some wiggle room. I had my application in. You were in Eagle? No. I had my apple. You were an illegal, you're an illegal you weren't illegal. Wow. How the turntables turn. I now know I had my application in to extend my visa in Germany. Like I was going to like the fucking, oh, it was a place. If you know anything about Germany, paperwork in Germany. the amped called. Burger around the boat grant is like the registration. But like the visa one is a very specific. The scary ones you have to get there. I'd five, eight. Yeah. To. Oh my God. If you know anything about like German bureaucracy, like you have to register. These like burger MCs, like registration offices. And the people who work that are like, it's just like a billion, carbon copies of Roz from monsters Inc. They literally standing there I'm watching you. but in German. Yeah. But is that I couldn't even budget. You mentioned watching monster thinking German. I don't know. Horrible. Disgusting. Gross. I was still working my visa. And then you told me that you were moving and I was like, Yeah, I don't really like here either. So let's move to Canada because it was also easy for me to get a visa for Canada. Yeah. If you think about it though, like pots crazy that you were like, I think we'd been dating for I don't know, a couple months by this point when you will also like, I'm also going to move, but intentionally, like we weren't intentioned, we weren't intentionally planning on moving together. I was like, I'm moving you move. No, but I knew that I didn't like Germany, so I was like, I want to move somewhere else. And I don't want to move back to the us. Cause I was still in my traveling era. I was like, let's experience the world. Over that. So I wanted to put together. So then I moved to, they moved to Canada. You're talking about, we travel all the time. No, I know, but not like living places, I don't want to live in any other countries. Yeah, I'm done with that. Maybe in the far future. I'm living in the United States of America for now, until it falls. So you came to the table to hear about how we met. And you did. And you learn. Now, Now, you know? yeah. And if you ever repeat any of the mushy gushy stuff that I've ever done ever again, I'm going to fucking beat the shit out of you. The truth of the matter is year. I'm not, you are. You are. You are and don't you let. I just want to forget it. We're pretty. Down memory lane. Almost eight. You remember the fragrance where we saw. Now that we've just finished the episode, I'm gonna. But we actually should smell it again. We went to a lush event in I dunno, maybe the first couple of months he started dating. And they like have this like limited edition fragrance launch. And we each took a different fragrance home each and we just wore them through the first couple months of dating and we still have the bottles and they're both empty, but they still smell. Because the frigates was so strong, it was very like cinnamony, like earthy. Smells. And, they don't do them anymore today. No, but they was so like every time, like I get the ball out, smell it. It literally like smells really do. Bring you, right? Oh, it brings me right back to. That summer and Berlin. Yeah. And reminds me of you. It's crazy. As I, as soon as I smell it, memories, flood back, I'm like watching my life, go behind my, go back. What flashed by. Slash behind. What lash in front of your eyes? Behind watching my life flashed in front of my eyes flash before your eyes. Fucking out. Behind your eyes. In between I said, in between your eyes, between your. No, he's not that. And then it's everything, all the memories come back and it's really cute. Ah, You know, What else is cute? Fucking did a table game. Yeah. That's. We're about to play right now. Would you rather. We have been to so many places together. I traveled far and wide. Would you rather. B. Living in Berlin. Okay. Still. Okay. But together. Yeah. Okay. Um, Should we have the same income that we have? Right now. Yeah. Or back then? No, now. Now. Oh, now fuck not back then. Life would be great if we live in Berlin right now, it'd be. Oh, we were poor, but oh my God, poverty. Did you hear about me counting my fucking, my euros little. Grounding for my 25 cents. I'd rather be living in Berlin right now, still with the same income that I have right now. Same income that you have right now or. Living in. Canada. Oh, living in Toronto. Living in Toronto. Toronto really? Yeah. I think it's Toronto. I got crazy, mostly because I want access to the United States. Oh, I love America. I want to be close to here. I feel like I would enjoy it. No, I think I'd say by then. Cause I feel like. I'd prefer the, if I had the income, like that was a one big thing. Like you don't get paid shit. Sure. But I've done the Europe shit. I've done the. Shit. I've. I've done. I've done it. I've been there so many times. I've lived there so much. I've been around. Yeah, that's true. I've got so much more of this side of the world to do. And Asia. Well, It wasn't one of my big pet peeves. I know. We'll say like, oh yeah, we did. We did Thailand. we did Spain this summer. I have so much of this side of the world, Asia to see. And experience it. So I'd rather do that one of my best friends lives in Belden. So I'd love to move back to Berlin. one of my best friends living in Toronto. Wait, then they're listening to, sorry. I love you guys. Let me you all equally, what would you do? You. Do Berlin for sure. I think. Yeah. Okay. We're splitting up then. I'm living in Toronto. Fuck. You know what, that's, how we met them. This is how we break up. And thank you so much for listening. And that's a decade of. Almost a decade. I know, almost a decade, 10 years. It's not even eight yet. I know it's seven and a half so far. I know, but it's not, it's almost. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Let's see, we'll see if we make it that far. Yes. Thanks for digging in with us today. We really appreciate it very much. So. Um, Clean up after yourself as you leave. And don't let the door. Hi. Where the good Lord. I think that's so funny. I love that. I love that one. The biggest Doug Dodd joke ever. Why don't you say it more often? So good. Because I don't hate people that much. Do you hate our listeners? No. Don't let the door hit you weathered. The good Lord's blessed. So funny. It's just a good one. That's a good one. That's dumb. Don't forget to rate us wherever you listen to your podcasts. Watch us on YouTube. Follow us on Instagram, Tik TOK. And we'll see you next time. Goodbye or should we say. Choosy. I'll feed the sane.