Back home.

30 / 12 / 2022

I’ve moved back to Cape Town for the summer and oh how good it feels to be home! Now that I’ve had some time to process an unbelievable stint in Europe from March to November, I’ve been able to reflect on how incredibly significant this year has been for me for many reasons.

For starters, I still struggle to wrap my head around the broader past 18 months. In September last year I was still pretty set on completing my degree at UCT, 2022 being my final year. But then I applied for a job in Germany which I believed I was capable of doing but which I never thought was feasibly possible. When I got the call it all happened very quickly and I had to pause my degree for the second time in 3 years. I thought it was too great an opportunity to miss and in hindsight I think that rings true.

Despite having a German background, moving so far away from home brought with it a few firsts which took some adjusting to. Not only was I moving out of my childhood home properly for the first time, but I would also be living completely alone in a flat and would know no one in my area. I needed to navigate multiple German bureaucratic processes (drivers license, bank account, residential application, medical applications etc.), learn how to be an employee, and become comfortable with the language beyond the everyday interactions. Thankfully my colleague Nina was super helpful and accommodating, allowing me to settle in smoothly.

Quickly the racing season began - the whole reason for being in Europe. Despite being enormously excited to be working in the thick of motorsport, it’s fair to say I was still nervous about not being familiar with the industry in the way I would need to be as my South African experience was incomparable to what I was entering into. Learning happened at a serious rate of knots, in part thanks to my trackside mentor Philipp, who I now call friend, but also because I had no choice. The speed at which everything happens is bewildering at first. In South Africa we like to take our time, have a braai in between, but here you need to be absolutely on it from the get go. As a photographer / videographer shooting for specific drivers, the turnover time from idea to posted content was by far the biggest adjustment. If there’s one thing I learnt this year work-wise, it’s how to conceptualise, plan, shoot, edit, and distribute photo and video content all in one day. Multiple times! I wouldn’t say I’m a perfectionist, but with my work I like to have the time to finesse something, so not only did I need to learn how to finesse quicker, but also understand that not everything will be perfect, and that’s okay! This year I got to work with amazing people, share many special moments with them, and build friendships. I learnt that as much as I love cars and racing, as cool as that is, it’s the people around the work that make it memorable.

The nature of my work allowed me to travel through bits of Europe and get little insights into the different countries, people, and cultures. Having said that, a business trip means business. If I was going to see Europe though a tourist’s eye, I was going to have to plan a proper holiday. I saved up during the first few months and spent two weeks plotting a route around visiting my Aunt in Lisbon and attending my first live F1 race, the French GP, based out of Marseille - something I will never forget. Along the way I spent days in Lyon and Barcelona and soaked in the European summer. To travel alone in this way was both immensely freeing and daunting. To go anywhere and do anything without anyone else’s say so (within a tight budget) allowed me to explore exactly the way I wanted to. I slept in hostels throughout my trip and got to know great people, with who I’d go site seeing or grab dinner. But equally I became very good at eating alone. Nothing challenges your self-confidence more than sitting down at a restaurant for dinner by yourself, when ever other table is packed with groups of friends or family; I love that I’m good at that now. I needed and wanted to do this trip alone, to push myself and have time to get to know myself outside of any previous context I had experienced. I will travel alone again, but I equally look forward to sharing such memories with friends.

This year I learnt how to bounce back from setbacks with work and that nothing is a given. I learnt that I’m entitled to nothing and how important communication with colleagues is. I learnt how to navigate relationships with people far away, and to realise the gift of family and the joy in having friends who just get you.

Most importantly I learnt that I absolutely, unequivocally love my job.

Next year will present more challenges and hurdles, but I’m looking forward to seeing where they take me. There will also be new additions to my work schedule which I’m extremely excited about, and which present more opportunities to make mistakes and learn from them.

Now I have space to switch off and let das unglaubliche Jahr ausklingen lassen - which literally means to enjoy the fading out of the year, with connotations of the beautiful fading sound of bells that have stopped ringing.

Thank you 2022.

Below some moments from the past 2 months back home.