Catching up…

Born and raised in a town called Somerset West just outside Cape Town, South Africa. Have an older brother who is 2 years older than me, and a twin sister, me being the oldest by an astonishing 2 minutes. I was ”lucky” enough to be born on Christmas day along with my sister, meaning I was now sharing my special day with baby Jesus and my sister.

Grew up living a pretty normal life. Primary School was average. Never really made an impression on anybody. Discovered a few things that will stay with me for the rest of my life. This being Bodyboarding and the good old hacky-sack (aka footbag). During breaks I would jam some hacky and after school I would go to the beach for some waves. I was never the popular kid but just stayed neutral.

High School was more fun. First day was initiation, and seeing that my brother was already in the school and knew a lot of the prefects doing the initiation, I was a target. It did not bother me much. Always had a smile on my face, and that even got me initiated worse. What can I say… I’m a happy guy and always will be.

Through High School the hacky and bodyboarding continued. I became better at both, but bodyboarding in particular. It was not just a sport any more. It became a lifestyle. I was tanned with blond blond hair, fairly well built, you all know the “surfer dude look”, well that was me. Won a few local competitions, made the provincial team, so on and so forth. I did not really care about competitions and finally decided to just stick to free surfing. Became a local at this awesome wedging beach break and since then I’ve met the coolest, most chilled, down-to-earth people. You will hear more about them later.

After High School I was unsure of what to do for the rest of my life so I decided to take a year off and do my own thing. I decided to get a waiting job and bodyboard for a year. This was against my parents wishes. They wanted me to go travel and see what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I just cruised on getting waves everyday with my home boy Beyers that I met out Koelbay during my gap year. Everyday we would cruise the coast, have a puff of the purest chronic and surf the day away.

So the end of the year drew near and I had to choose what I wanted to study. Being in nature for the past few years experiencing pretty much all the elements from the sea’s crashing waves, rain and thunder, all kinds of plants as we bundu bashed to get to some isolated waves I finally settled on a BSc Nature Conservation course at the University of Stellenbosch.

Getting out of the house and staying on my own in a flat was awesome, except for the fact that I was quite a distance from my second home the ocean. With all the partying and girls and then studying, I became lost. Started to wonder anddoubt if I made the right decision to study this BSc course. After my gap year and the sweet Mary Jane my brain was not really in the best possible state for taking in all the Scientific names of the plants and insects that surrounds us.

I continued crawling forward passing subjects few by few, but by the two and a half year point I put my foot down. Scraped some courage together and told my parents that I want to stop studying and do something else.

Obviously it did not go down well but they accepted it and asked me what I wanted to do. I was still not sure. All I knew was that I did not want to do that course. After plenty emotional discussions we came down to three options.

1. Oil Rigs
2. Yacht hand
3. Teacher in Thailand

So in the end after weighing pro’s and con’s, and discussing economy crisis we settled on teaching in Thailand. Sorted Visa, booked tickets, organised course to do my Tefl in Bangkok, and off I went. From here you will get posts of happenings and experiences.

Much Love and Peace and Blessings for 2013.