CURRENT MISSION

To discover the Netherlands and immerse myself in the culture

ABOUT ME

My forefather, Olof Bergh, a Swede, came to South Africa in the late 1600's where he was employed by the VOC (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie). 300 years later my grandfather, Olof Bergh, left South Africa for the Netherlands to work (as a radio presenter of all things) at De Wêreld Omroep . He met my grandmother, a nice young dutch girl shortly after the second world war, they married and my father was born. They moved back to South Africa and my father and grandmother became South African citizens. I was born just before the end of apartheid and grew up in a free, multi-cultural South Africa.

I grew up in the African bush. Fortunate to spend a lot of time in a 4x4 overlanding to remote locations in the Northern Cape, the Bushveld, Botswana and Namibia.

After high school I went to a film school in Johannesburg but spent most of my time listening to and learning to play rock 'n roll, blues and reggae.

By the time I graduated I was playing for a folk/bluegrass band called Bonekey. We started playing gigs all over the country and I started to see what travelling (even in your own country) was all about.
I realised that life on the road makes a lot more sense to me than any office job ever will. Working as a crew member in television production also affirmed this for me although music was always the main source of inspiration in my life.

I went on to form my own bands, The Smoking Mojos and On The Rocks, and kept on travelling to beautiful locations and playing some awesome festivals in South Africa, Lesotho and Mozambique.

The travel bug bit me badly when I took on a job working as a cameraman on cargo ships, filming cargo for insurance/surveillance purposes. For a creative person this was the most boring job ever but the travel more than made up for it. Traveling to places like Kenya, Cameroon, Egypt and Morocco. I finally got to see the northern parts of Africa I could only dream of as a South African based explorer.

I also made it to Rotterdam, working in the port, but with enough time on my hands to sample the night life I immediately fell in love with the city. This experience left me yearning to learn more about Holland and especially it's medieval past.

PHILOSOPHY

You are the universe expressing itself as a human for a very short time.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Right now my mission is to explore the Netherlands. To meet Dutch people that are in to history and who are keen to speak (teach!) Dutch to a beginner.

After travelling, backpacking, couch-surfing, bar hopping for a while I want to settle myself in Holland, get a BSN number, get a job, join a band, who knows what the lowlands may hold...

Once I settle, whether in Africa or Europe I would love to host travelers but for the moment I am traveling.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I sure have slept on many couches in my life, nothing yet as formalised as through a site like couchsurfing.org but touring with bands down the coast of South Africa I have befriended many a friendly couch in my life..

Interests

I am interested in communication. Music is communication. Art is communication. Communication is the essence of life.

Growing up in South Africa where there is eleven official languages, I have often witnessed music breaking the cultural barrier even faster than beer!

Sport can have this effect too although I'm not too bothered about sport myself.

I love cooking, and linked with traveling it has been a great reward to discover new tastes, and to try replicate what I have tasted once I find myself in a kitchen.

Music is a very big part of my life and I love to discover new music. There is nothing greater than hearing your favourite song for the first time.

• arts
• culture
• perfumes
• festivals
• cooking
• beer
• walking
• traveling
• music
• guitar
• blues
• backpacking
• camping
• surfing
• sailing
• sports
• history
• languages

Music, Movies, and Books

Led Zeppelin, The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Rory Gallagher, Duanne Allman, Frank Zappa

Manu Chao, Bonobo,Bob Marley, James Brown, Nina Simone

The Blues; Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf, R.L Burnside, Robert Johnson, Freddie King

The Pixies, Velvet Underground, Bob Dylan

A lot of African music, from Fela Kuti's Nigerian funk to Vusi Mahlasela's Mamelodi folk.

Babba Sissokko, Manu Dibango

I've found the root of all the blues music I've been listening to in Saharan/Malian music. Ali Farka Toure has been as much of a significant discovery for me as first hearing Hendrix or Miles Davis.

I'm liking this new desert rock / Tuareg Blues type of music coming from North Africa. Bands like Tinariwen, Etran Finatawa, Tamikrest and Bombino are preaching the blues over hypnotic, ancient African grooves.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

STRAB, The Subterranean Rhythm and Blues festival in Mozambique is an annual fest featuring the best of South Africa's Blues and Rock bands playing in a subtropical paradise next to the ocean.

The Central Kalahari Game Reserve in Botswana is an unfenced wilderness four times the size of The Netherlands. You have to be totaly self sufficient as there are no amenities. We had lions walking through our camp at night and regularly saw various prides in action.

Another beautiful place on another side of the world I visited was Croatia. Sailing from Croatia down the Mediterranean up to Egypt and through the Suez channel sure was an adventure! Being followed and circled by Somali pirates was not so much fun at the time but it sure makes for a good story!
On this same trip, we still stopped in Mombasa, Madagascar and Reunion before arriving in South Africa after 40 days on the sea.

Teach, Learn, Share

I am looking for people who can teach me some Dutch.

Also some general advice about living and getting around in Holland

I can offer guitar lessons and will love to jam with anyone who plays any instrument / any style.