To begin with…

Photo by Joy Dana

I’ve kept a blog before, but after not posting for a long time, thinking that it stagnated and seemed uninteresting, I deleted everything. Now I wish some of it were recoverable. Not because I think it’s important information that went missing (I actually look back and think: “what an idiot I was/probably still am!”), but because it was a record of what I was learning.

In the last few years I have become an avid reader. My parents always encouraged my siblings and I to read when we were young, even sometimes by rewarding us for each book we finished with fun presents like new LEGOs, but reading was strenuous and bored me. It was during the dawn of computer games, and 80’s TV was just so much more captivating than books.

Skip many years to where I’m the age of 25, and moved to Germany. Imagine getting on a plane with your entire life’s belongings fitted into your luggage with a limit of 30kg. It was a scary, but exhilarating move.

A new beginning. And an opportunity to learn a new language.

So I started reading German books, the free weekly newspapers, anything I could get a hold of. I immersed myself in the language. Alright, I am a nerd, that is to be noted, but there were few distractions around- no internet and no TV in my new apartment.

Don’t be fooled- I couldn’t understand everything I read. It was a slow and painful process in some ways. Afrikaans, my mother tongue, has similar vocabulary to German, so that did help a lot. Even if you just know a few words it is possible to work out where the main story is heading. It’s like a puzzle, and the more you read, the less you have to check the dictionary.

And then, a funny thing happened… I found books that I liked. And I read more and more, also in English.

There is so much reading material out there, so many fascinating books and stories waiting to be discovered. I really believe there is something for everyone, no matter your taste, you just have to find it.

When my wife and I started dating I took the opportunity to learn her mother tongue, Portuguese, using the same method in conjunction with Pimsleur CD courses. It was harder, because the vocabulary and grammar was nothing like the germanic languages I knew, but easier in the way that I already had learned a new language, and the process is similar. You learn the structure and then the pieces of the puzzle fit easier together.

Reading has opened new worlds for me.

One book that has really changed my outlook on life and how I think of myself is “Ego is the Enemy” by Ryan Holiday. Definitely worth a read and re-read.

If you are still reading this, thank you so much! Then I guess it was worth the risk of just putting what I want to say out there.

You have read my first blog post in which I hope will be a record of my learning experience. Especially this year, where I’m planning a new life transition: from hanging up my ballet shoes to taking on a new and exciting path…