Running away with Bente

The following morning I stay in the van for a couple of hours thinking about how to go ahead with this all. There was no moment that I was scared or anything, but there are two reasons I was very concerned (especially since she told me he was getting worse): one is Bente, who is such a lovely lady and I don’t want her to get beaten up or worse and the other reason is that I’m a couchsurfing ambassador and I can’t let this pass by without doing anything. I talk about the whole thing with some friends and finally decide to go in to talk with Bente.

When I get inside, Paul is off to work (he was apparently still drunk and mad at Bente when he got up!) and Bente tells me she is about to run away for a couple of days to give Paul something to think about. She ends up arranging she can stay with some friends in Groningen and we leave together with a taxi before Paul comes home. She didn’t leave a note and has no mobile, so Paul’s gonna be wondering I guess. Bente also realizes that they have to stop hosting for a while, so I guess now I just have to leave a reference explaining the while thing.

I end up calling on Ricard’s friendliness again and he happily invites me back to their place again (how awesome is this guy!?). I went back to his place and cooked some pretty nice chilli con carne for them, and we spent the evening talking about couchsurfing and the future.