EXBERLINER Issue 170, April 2018

agreed. We got married in Brazil, and then
again here in Germany. We had to prove our
relationship to get the spousal visa but it
wasn’t a problem, really.”
After six months the two moved to Berlin,
where they’ve stayed for the past three and a
half years. “I thought I’d be happier here, and
I am,” Leon says. “I know a lot of guys from
home who live here, and we go out a lot. I
can get other girls easily because we ‘alibi’
for each other.”
He laughs, and Allan*, the hip-looking guy
behind the bar, laughs with him. He’s one
of Leon’s partners in crime – or at least, he
used to be.
“
“I realised the effect
I had on European
women. They were
all after me, they
believed everything I
told them.”
My story is actually fairly similar,”
Allan begins. “Although I
really always did have a thing for
German girls! I find them sexy. I come from
Fortaleza, in the north of Brazil, and whenever
there were German girls around, I’d
hook up with them, especially if they were
blonde.” His attraction didn’t come without
ulterior motives, though. “I really wanted
to move to Europe, so when things started
getting serious with this girl Roxy*, I thought
I couldn’t miss my chance. She was there as a
tourist but ended up staying for another two
months, living with me and my roommates.
I asked her to marry me the day she left, and
she said yes, came back to Berlin, got some
things sorted and a few weeks later was back
in Brazil, preparing our wedding.”
Before long, the two were in Berlin together.
“It all went extremely smoothly and
quickly. I did my integration course, studied
German, she supported me financially while
I couldn’t work. She knew I was a womanizer
before I met her, but she thought that
was over now. Well, it wasn’t. I just can’t
resist, it’s in my blood!” he says as he taps
a beer. But “alibi-ing” with Leon and other
friends only worked for so long, and eventually,
his wife found him out. “Not long
after our fifth anniversary she showed me
a printed copy of my Messenger chats with
BRAZIL IN BERLIN
several girls and told me that she wanted to
divorce. But at least she was a sweetheart
and waited to file the papers until I actually
got my permanent residency. So yeah, now
I’m officially a free man!”
While chatting, Leon and Allan are
constantly exchanging words in
Portuguese, shamelessly checking
out the women walking into the bar. It’s still
early, though: they’ll wait a little longer for
the right girl. For now they’re joined by two
friends. One of them, Pedro* grew up with
Allan in Fortaleza; Marcello* is a drinking and
partying buddy they met here. Both are 30,
both are married to German women, both
are cheating on them and neither seems all
that apologetic about it. As they drink, they
commiserate about the hardships of their visa
marriages. “It was actually almost over for me
before the wedding… We were already in Germany
and were scheduled to go to the Brazilian
embassy to sign the papers in a few days,
when we ran into a girl I’d slept with a few
weeks earlier, and she made a scene, telling
Jane* that I had cheated on her.” That’s the
kind of “bad luck” Pedro says he’s proud to
have skilfully countered. “Of course, Jane said
she wanted to call off our wedding, but I managed
to convince her that it was a one-time
thing because I was scared of getting married,
commitment and all... She believed it, and
here we are, three and a half years later. Only
one and a half to go and I can get my visa!”
Marcello, on the other hand, is there to
warn him that things don’t always pan out
the way you planned: his wife just had a
baby. “It wasn’t supposed to happen. The
plan was to get married, apply for citizenship
and then get divorced. It’s not that I
don’t love her, I just think that monogamy
is not for men. Especially not for Brazilian
men. But now I have this beautiful baby
girl, and I really wouldn’t like to leave her,
ever!” What’s next? “I have no idea what to
do, I guess I’m going to stick around and I
will support them. I also have to support my
father back home in São Paolo, his health is
really poor and there’s no one to take care
of him since my mother died… It’s not easy,
man, it’s not easy,” ponders Marcello in a
long sigh. “And the baby wakes up every two
hours at night. I am so tired, I don’t actually
have the energy to chase after girls. That’s
never happened to me before!”
Pedro’s wife, too, is pushing for a baby.
Maybe she feels that’s the only way to get a
Brazilian Don Juan to commit to the life they
schemed for? n
*Names changed
ApRil
26–29
100
yeaRS
oF
BEaT
ConceRts,
TAlKS, FIlM
TeRRI lyne
CaRRIngton,
Th eo PaR R Ish ,
jlIn, Goat,
Tony Allen,
TAlvIN SINGH ×
SeB ROCHFORD ×
BUDGIE
KaRl BaRtos,
FReddi Williams
Evans (lectuReS),
AND mANy mORE
MARCH 2018