Johannes Schwenzer

The latest Sunday was spent with Johannes Schwenzer, hailing all the way from Germany. At first look, Johannes looked every bit of a local expat perfectly comfortable and at ease with ze weather in Singapore. He was all smiles, short curly hair, and of average asian build. Togged out in a sleeveless shirt and bermudas with canvas shoes, Johannes blended in with ze local crowd. That is, except for ze sunburnt skin betraying his intolerance of ze Singapore sun.

We settled for dinner at MOF - My Ikazaya eventually after realising Spageddies was closed. Ze dinner was really fantastic. Conversation flowed freely for the duration of our dinner. We shared a great love for good food and did not spare any expense ordering our food. From travels, to politics, to our personal lives, to environmental issues, and to creating a better world, our topics provided endless fodder for debate and discussion. Johannes found girls in Singapore(yes, even the waiter serving us) to be very beautiful. It's funny that I shared more with Johannes in my 3 hours of knowing him than I ever did with other people in my many years of acquaintance.

Johannes is very passionate, and speaks of big yet simple dreams. I am amazed that at the young age of 21, Johannes has already seen countries in Europe, went to India and also seen the Himalayas. Among his many talents are violin, guitar, firejuggling, dancing, diving and surfing. Indeed, one simply has to personally listen to the magic he does on the guitar to be thoroughly convinced. I, myself was certainly entranced by the soothing tunes he learned on his travels.

Back at home, Johannes is an activist for ecological living and alternative lifestyle. In him I saw someone who truly cared for the world and was ready to be a friend to anyone in the world. The world desperately needs more Johanneses.

As I soon learnt, Johannes would be going over to Malaysia where he would work on a yacht briefly and tour the country. Following which he would make his way to Indonesia by ship, then to Australia where he would work and play for 6 months. The last leg of his journey is at Japan, where he hopes to catch the solar eclipse in June. I was impressed with his resourcefulness, determination and also courage to travel alone and literally trudge through the unknown. At 21 he dared to venture out, dared to leave his home behind and sacrifice the comfort and stability which he enjoyed in exchange for memorable experiences which will probably last a lifetime. How many of us would have done that? How many of us would have even thought of doing that? It may not be traveling, it may not be leaving home, but have you truly dared to go for what you always wanted? Or would you rather make others around you happy by achieving what was expected of you?

I am grateful that I gotten to know Johannes. I wish him all the best on his future travels. May he continue to make new friends and encounter great experiences. It's a pity that I couldn't spend more time showing him around Singapore and introduce more good food to him. Overall it has been a great meeting and a fantastic cultural exchange. Gonna miss your Nepalese tunes, Johannes! Take care, good bye and hopefully see you again!