Hermann writes from Tibet
Hallo Holger - sorry dass ich bis jetzt noch nichts ueber uns geschickt habe - wir sind in Tibet unterwegs und internet access ist nicht leicht zu kriegen.
My life so far:
After school I had a three year misadventure studying horticulture in Pretoria and doing my practical in Durban and Port Alfred. I did my national service (artillery in Potchefstroom) in 1991 - fortunately it had just been reduced to 12 months.
Due to lack of any better ideas and having the qualification, I worked for the National Botanical Institute in Pietermaritzburg for about two years. I finally gave up horticulture all together in 1994 and went to the UK where I did many different odd jobs. During this time I studied for a commerce degree by correspondence and travelled a lot - mostly in Europe.
In 1996 I flew to Kenya and backpacked all the way down to South Africa. When I arrived in Durban I moved into a digs with Thomas and Holger (and Udo Harms) in Umhlanga and worked as a free lance tour guide while completing my commerce studies.
In 1998 I backpacked in Africa again and then started working in the IT industry as a SAP functional analyst based in Centurion. In 2000 I resigned and went back to the UK with a six week backpacking stopover in Morocco. Since 2000 I have been working in the IT industry as a free lance SAP consultant on various contracts across Europe, first based in London, but later in Chester in the NW of England.
Through work I went to many countries and places in Europe I had not been to before and between my contracts I have travelled a lot to countries and places in South America and elsewhere (Bermuda, Iceland, USA, Galapagos Islands, Antarctica, amongst others). I also try to go home to South Africa at least once a year.
About two years ago I met Rosie and we got married in June this year. We are still on honeymoon in Asia - at the moment in China (Tibet), but we started in Singapore and travelled through Malaysia, Brunei, Thailand and Myanmar.
We are planning to go home in December. For now our home is a little cottage next to a salmon filled river in the Scottish countryside (Rosie's home country).
It must be quite obvious by now - Rosie and I like travelling. My other hobbies and interests include snowboarding, mountain biking, motor biking, trekking and generally anything involving the outdoors and nature. We love our holidays, but unfortunately work keeps on interfering with them.
I guess next year we will have to work again as cash is running a bit low now, but we will do our best to come to the reunion in HMB where we hope to see everyone else from the class of '87.
