A More Revealing Look at Who I Am

When I first posted I was a bit hesitant to really open up since this is all brand new, but here I am.

Yup, that is me when I was 17 thinking no lady could resist me with my awesome fro

I grew up in an amazing family that allowed me to experience growing up around the world including Finland, Namibia, Ivory Coast and London. Things started out rough at times for our family when we were kids, but my parents persevered and continued to find better and better employment until eventually we found ourselves moving to Helsinki, Finland from a tiny little town in north Idaho called Bonners Ferry.

Bonners Ferry

What a serene quiet little town. You do have the occasional kids getting a little too crazy, but all around Bonners Ferry has quite a pleasant community of people. The two big attractions you can look for if you are ever driving through the area are the Kootenai inn Casino for slots and a pretty decent buffet, and then the vast numbers of churches that are all around the county.

But by far my favorite memories of Bonners Ferry are getting out and being able to hike into the woods from my backdoor, and the fantastic fishing spots they had to offer. If you knew where to look, you could catch your limit of fish in literally a manner of minutes as the fish are almost jumping out of the water to get at your hook. Sorry though, I won't be ruining those locations by spilling the beans here, I might get shot! =P

I will tell you the more decent common spots to go to though:
Smith Lake, Robinson, and Brush for trout. Avoid Dawson unless you like scaling bluegil.

I Love Helsinki, And I Want to Go Back!

It was an easy transition to go from Bonners Ferry to the capital of Finland believe it or not. Yes the population change was immense, but we had lived in cities previously and Finland being quite a green, lush country made it easy to adapt to. Most everyone speaks at least Finnish and English, if not also Swedish, Norweigan and possibly one or two other languages. I think it was typical to come across people speaking 3-5 languages there as it was required in school. So we didn't even have to learn the language (which is a bit tricky btw... hello is "Hyvää päivää" for example).

Pretty much everyone there knows how to ski, and it is not an uncommon site to see parents getting 2 and 3 year olds to learn how to ski. And of course after a day playing out in the cold weather, what does every Finn need in their homes? A sauna. Saunas are as ubiquitous over there as iPhones are to us here.

An oryx - "Lion Killers"

Windhoek, Namibia - or An Animal Watcher's Paradise

Right next to the capital Windhoek is a game reserve called the Daan Viljoen Nature Reserve that we would visit all the time. You can find a full range of exotic species including zebras, giraffes, springbok, kudus, baboons and a variety of birds. Any serious bird watcher has to visit Namibia to be able to snap a photo of the hornbills down here as they are a unique version I guess. It wasn't really my hobby at the time, but lots of people talked about it. I was more interested in the bigger game animals. And speaking of which... if you are a meat eater...

Buy a plane ticket right now and get your ass to Joe's Beerhouse.

Want to eat all the exotic animals you've never heard of? Go. Now. Trust me, you will die a happy man afterwards.

Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire

The Paris of West Africa

Abidjan was a great city to live in and has plenty of awesome experience to be had there. The beach is always a go to spot with great vendors nearby and fantastic fresh fish available. And did you know that Ivory Coast is the worlds largest cocoa supplier? If you eat chocolate, there is a 2/3rds chance it came West Africa a 1/3rd chance it was from Ivory Coast.

First Ivorian Civil War

But unfortunately, our time was ended short there. We awoke around 4am one morning in a daze to a strange popping sound. Fireworks we thought, or perhaps our dogs knocked over some of our golf balls on the tile floor? My brother and I were too tired to do much about it as we had stayed up late that night cramming for exams the next day at school.

Next thing we know, our mother is running into our rooms telling us that militants are shooting up the gendarmerie (police/military) across the street from our house. For the next week, we huddled in our house waiting for the attacks to be over with. When the shooting and grenades finally subsided after an emotionally exhausting set of days, we cautiously stepped outside to examine around our house. Bullet holes were randomly scattered across the external concrete and obvious signs of break-in attempts were seen on our roof.

Needless to say, we got the hell out of there.

Seattle, WA

Cloud City

After Ivory Coast, I came back to the states, finished out high school and college and having been working in IT ever since. I enjoy my work but I feel like I am always in a restless state, trying to find some added value I can bring to the community. So far, Steemit has been a great outlet! It is so exciting to be able to focus my thoughts and attentions on a growing community of great people all looking forward to the future these block-chain technologies are giving us. I can't wait to see where this takes all of us, and look forward to learning from everyone as well.

Thank you everyone for reading my lengthy post, it was good to truly say hi!