In Munich, I was staying with Max, in an area called Laim. He is a geography student, really into urban planning and also a passionate photographer and cook.
Max and his Canadian friend Shelayne couchsurfed with me and Lina in April. They were supposed to stay for three nights at first, but then some stuff happened that made them have to stay in Stockholm for a fourth night – and there was never a question about letting them stay in our livingroom. I’ve had five couchsurfers staying with us (I’m forcing this on Lina, but I think she’s fine with it, I really hope she’s fine with it), and Max and Shelayne were my favorites. Even though, Marla was wonderful too. Ah, there are so many great people on Couchsurfing!
Anyhow, on this extra night that they stayed with us, they decided to do something nice – so they cooked a lavish dinner for us. And seriously. How a 21-year-old has had time to develop such cooking skills, I don’t understand. Max is vegan, and I guess you have to be kind of into cooking and willing to experiment with stuff if you like food and live in such a meat and milk centered food culture as the German. The night after they left, Lina, standing in front of the fridge trying to decide what would be the fastest way to get some calories into her system, half jokingly said that we should have couchsurfers stay with us more often, so that they could cook for us. Unfortunately, I think Max was an exception rather than the couchsurfer rule. His food was amazing.
And the first thing that happened on my first morning waking up on Max’s couch was that he started setting this incredible breakfast table, with bread and spreads and juice and tea and soy puddings. I’m not usually that into breakfast, I eat oat porrige without anything on just to get it over with. But with this setup, what could I do but eat? It was delicious.
And this just continued. I spent four mornings at Max’s, and every morning he did something new for breakfast. We ate vegan pancakes and a really delicious vegan omelette made with nuts and vegetables. I was out all day and in the evenings we usually met up downtown and did stuff, so we didn’t get a chance to cook any other meals together. But Max’s breakfasts could have convinced me to stay in Munich for weeks. Because, his cooking was just one example of his generousity as a host.
Yet again, I find myself really liking a city I’m visiting, but at the same time knowing that that feeling might be impossible to separate from the people I met there.
Katja Malmborg 