Together on the lonely island? disconnected again
How far do people go in search of happiness? You cross the Atlantic in a rowboat? despite the constant danger of drowning. Climb avalanche prone slopes of Nanga Parbat? and sometimes they do not survive. People are pushing boundaries, again and again.
Adrian and Nina spent an entire year about 17 500 kilometers from home, almost half of the Earth's circumference. A day trip by plane, plus two by boat. But that did not matter, says Adrian, "no road can be too far to seek happiness." The island, that was an experiment. Beyond civilization, culture, entertainment and everything that makes up the quality of life in the Western world. And a daring border crossing as a couple. "If you have no one to talk about except the partner and the dog, that's tough." That there was still little dispute, it was because there were few opportunities to want things differently. "The basic human needs on the island are the same for both: eat, sleep, love, survive. And that has filled the island.?
? The island was a paradise?
The year on the island was the year of his life, says Adrian, an expression otherwise associated with "love"? second hand. So not just an affair, 365 nights long. ? The island has united us with nature.?
On his Facebook account, Adrian has indicated as the place of origin Nukualofa: the capital of the oceanic kingdom of Tonga in the South Pacific and the nearest airfield of? His? Island. As this place between palms and banana trees and a corrugated iron shack on it really means, both hold ironically secret. Nukualofa so. Sounds like a joke, and yet it is an indication of the felt home of his heart.
One thing is certain: the island was a paradise. They lived like Adam & Eve light, with biobeet and rainwater barrel, their fruits were wild and not forbidden. But God did not want people to remain in paradise forever, otherwise no snake would have entered the scene. There were no snakes on their island. Still, it was more than just chilling in hammocks under the palm trees, loving eating papaya and staring for hours into the shimmering azure blue, Adrian says.
Boredom was not an issue. As a self-catering, our daily schedule was full of things like fishing, collecting nuts, identifying and preparing food as such.?
They had baggage, potatoes, rice, and flour. Papayas, lemons and coconuts grow in the garden. The roles were clear: he is a fisherman. Vegetable Bed Commissioner. We had pumpkins, lettuce, cucumbers, mini-tomatoes. I was proud of every little plant.
Nina learns to bake bread in the solar cooker and opens nuts with the machete. She is a vegetarian.
It was absurd. Armed under palm trees, a bit like in, Lost ??
At some point Adrian can catch fish by hand, like the locals. We became Neanderthals. Me collector, he hunter.? One day, says Nina, a strange man stood on her island. "It felt like someone was bursting into our living room without ringing. I thought: Oops, now we're starting to get weird.?
Sometimes, when Adrian chases dinner in the shallow water for hours, she starts to get bored. Collect shells in coconut shells to make jewelry. Adrian jokes about an online shop, which she could open soon. Of course we did not have internet. Also no electricity? just enough to start the kettle.?
Nina tells how happy she was when a visitor brought them chickens. Because of the breakfast eggs. One morning a chicken lay dead in the sand. Adrian plucked it, except grilled and eaten on the fire. I got so sick of it that I could no longer eat eggs. The menu becomes monotonous with time.
The island brings both to their limits. Once, a cyclone colored the sky yellow. A sideways wave, seven meters high, like a tsunami, almost takes her along. "We thought the rain was washing away our vegetable garden, our food supplies. A palm tree buckled, almost shattered our corrugated iron roof. Coconuts flew through the air. We cried with relief when it was over, tightly entwined in the hut.
Another time when 50 Chinese fishermen besieged the island, Adrian does not give in from Nina's side. The fishermen are drunk from the morning, Nina is the only woman. A case for the satellite phone. The consul sends a military ship with soldiers who come ashore with submachine guns. They continue chasing the illegal fishermen. It was absurd. Armed under palm trees, a bit like in, Lost ?? says Adrian.
But for him no reason to leave the island. Sure, it could have gone wrong. But it is not. Be a bit of a fisherman, play a little cowboy, protect your loved one, explain the stars at full moon. It could have gone on forever for Adrian. Their time as a couple was more intimate than ever on the island, he says.
And suddenly there are two ways and no common direction anymore
It was different for Nina.After fishing with the fishermen, paradise was no paradise anymore, she says. Always this fear when a fishing boat emerges on the horizon. "We just walked across the island with Machete. There were circumnavigators who visited us around the campfire, with whom I could exchange books, but our most beautiful experiences.?
Nina talks to Adrian about the finiteness of her adventure. He does not want to hear about return. Even as a kind of bubonic plague afflicts his leg, purulent, bloody, disgusting and painful, his fear of medical undersupply is limited. Nina wants to go to the hospital. Distance: a day boat trip. He wants to stay. We had antibiotics with us. There is a fight. He says she is a scaredy cat. She says he is a nutcase. An islander who pretends to have grown up beyond civilization. In a natural people. She wants to plan on, the future, the family. The time AFTER the island. Record the island year on the credit side of the life experience account. And make a point. "We finally wanted a child." Already she wants to return healthy. To family, friends, jobs, a after-work drink in a pub. Adrian dreams of a future on the island.
And suddenly there are two ways and no common direction anymore. The question of whether you can raise a child on a desert island, has never asked for Nina. A pregnancy without medical care, diapers, vials, sterile water? How should a child become a social being in solitude? Adrian is quarreling about which life plan is right.
When the adventure is over after 365 days, both return to Freiburg as planned. On the return trip on the fishing boat, as the island gets smaller and smaller in the blue of the ocean, until she looks like Playmobil, Adrian asks Nina if she thinks they can be resocialized on her return. She says, "I do. Not you.?
Nina is right. The island, which she first welded together, is now taking her apart. Nina works again in her old profession as a teacher. Adrian as a reporter for a daily newspaper. But in his mind he stays on the island, he says: "Germany is material madness, smartphones, abundance that destroys the world, as far as you look." He would like to live permanently on the island, but soon the common child is born. And with the baby, the daily worries increase? as with many young parents. Would you have to argue about shopping and budget money in paradise? About who guards who does the dishes or gets up at night when the baby is crying? The separation is inevitable someday.
Both are still sad about it. They were a couple almost half their lives. Since her schooldays. For the third birthday of her little daughter, they travel together again on the island. To show the little girl where her parents once were happy.
NINA AND ADRIAN HOFFMANN have written down their adventure:
"An island just for us ?, Eden Books
