Since I was very little, we were quite a big, restless group,  always… So, when we went to the beach to swim in the summer, it was just behind one of those pools, in that pool there were dolphins. When there weren’t waves or it was getting dark or it was raining or something, we would jump that fence and go into the pool with the dolphins. Wherever they had dolphins near the shore we would sneak in. That went on for a long time until once when I was a bit older and they caught me and put me in handcuffs.  I stayed behind because I had a friend who was much smaller and they had caught him, so I decided to stay with him so he wasn’t alone. From then on we didn’t do it anymore. 

However, the head trainer of the aquarium at the time lived across from my house. She would constantly knock at our door and tell my mom “tell German to come by the aquarium to have some tests run because the dolphins are sick and it could be that he passed something on to them”. So me and my brother would say to our mom, “mama, she’s just trying to catch us” and we never went. One day she knocked at our door and said, “You haven’t always liked this but there is a training course that’s about to start and if you are interested you should sign up and take the test and see if they make you a trainer”, so I signed up, took the test, passed and I ended up working in the aquarium. 

I have always had dogs and cats as pets. I would swim with the dolphins from the time I was very little, always having to sneak in, but it was exciting. My childhood was very free, very natural… exploring things, it wasn’t like now with the T.V. and video games, so it was interesting for me. It was an adventure and that propelled me. Even when that woman talked to me to see if I wanted to become a trainer, like I was telling you, I had drawn cartoons before, but I didn’t like it. I liked that (drawing) work, but it was a bit boring for me, being in a room, stuck there all

day. I prefer something more exciting, more natural. - German