Matt from South Africa

First name: Matt
Age: 34
Orientation: Gay (Formerly bi if that's a thing? Still some confusion there)
Where you live: South Africa
Where you're from: South Africa
What you do (job, schooling, etc.): Finance (the boring kind)
Dream Job: Traveling the world
Political philosophy: Let's avoid conflict, shall we?
Interests and hobbies: Avid bibliophile
Favourite TV shows: Varies with my mood or fancy at the time
Favourite books: There are many
A quote to live by: You worry, you die. You don't worry, you still die. So why worry?

Hi all! Wow I hate these sort of things, but at the same time I understand why they're important. Problem is, what you do (or don't) say here often tends to shape others' perception of you.
I'm a friendly guy from South Africa. Would say I'm social in the sense that I value my friends, but I've never been the kind of guy who enjoys going out to clubs etc. Not that I have anything against them, has just never been my scene. I prefer to rather go to a smaller place where I can enjoy the time out with my friends etc.
Not really sure what else to say here. Hit me up if you have questions? Otherwise I'll see you guys on the forums.

Eryx wrote:Glad to see there are more people from South Africa showing up, diversity is always welcome! I hope you enjoy the forums, Matt!

Thanks Eryx, greatly appreciated! Still looking around to see what the various forums are here so that I can figure out where to start reading and posting

The what are you listening to thread is a nice start.

Welcome to GFO.
Don't worry about your introduction. Most here won't judge you on any of that. Hope to see you around more.

Capt._Trips wrote:The what are you listening to thread is a nice start.

Welcome to GFO.
Don't worry about your introduction. Most here won't judge you on any of that. Hope to see you around more.

Thanks Cap! Will have a look into it Also looking forward to spending more time around here. From the bit I've seen, looks like a nice place to hang out.

René wrote:Hey Matt, welcome to the forum!

Good to have you with us, and I'm glad you're liking it so far

I can very much relate to this! Though I don't even really like to go out to a smaller place; I prefer to enjoy time with friends/family at home. I tend to think of spending money on drinks/food at restaurants/cafés/clubs etc. as quite a waste; I'd rather use that money to have a slightly larger/comfier living room and spend time there instead

I also like to avoid hearing damage. Why do so many of these places feel the need to have the music so ridiculously loud?

Thanks so much for the welcome!

I often prefer the home setup as well. Either mine or theirs. As you say, going anywhere costs money at the end of the day which could potentially be spent on more essential things, such as you mentioned.

Loud music - sounds like you and I will get along quite well! One of my closest friends (we're talking 22 years) once accused me of being a wallflower since I don't particularly going out to all the wild places. I rather viewed it as having different tastes.
Going to a club and watching the drunk guys beating each other up because "you looked at me funny" was more than enough to convince me that my choice of socialising was alright.

Of course having spent my teenage years in a small town may also have helped my particular social tastes.

The few times I've been coaxed out have always left me with different impressions. Some bad, some neutral, a couple good. But not enough to change my default stance, as it were.

René wrote:

Ben jij trouwens de soort Zuid-Afrikaan die dit begrijpt?

I can follow it to an extent Verstaan jy Afrikaans? En kom jy van Nederland af?

Brenden wrote:Welcome to the forum Matt!

You seem nice.

Thanks Brenden I like to think I am Having fun reading through the various threads so far. Not quite sure if there are rules pertaining to bumping threads etc.? For example, should I refrain from posting on threads that haven't been posted on in a certain period of time?

Hey Matt, welcome to the forum

René wrote:

kenzie_matt wrote:

René wrote:

Ben jij trouwens de soort Zuid-Afrikaan die dit begrijpt?

I can follow it to an extent Verstaan jy Afrikaans? En kom jy van Nederland af?

Nice! Ik kom inderdaad uit Nederland

Ik heb 8 jaar met mijn Amerikaanse man in Engeland gewoond, en daar hadden we heel toevallig een Zuid-Afrikaanse dokter (dr. Boshoff) waarmee ik ook een beetje in onze eigen talen kon praten. Zo grappig!

Fantasties! Soos ek verstaan is daar baie Suid Afrikaners in Engeland dessdae, so dit maak sin dat jy een sou vind.

Have you found there were many cultural differences you both had to get used to? As I understand, Brenden is your husband?

I spent some time in Europe after school. I absolutely loved it, however there were a few cultural differences I had to get used to. I would go back in a heartbeat though! I have relatives with Dutch origin. Would love to visit sometime.

Brenden wrote:

kenzie_matt wrote:Not quite sure if there are rules pertaining to bumping threads etc.? For example, should I refrain from posting on threads that haven't been posted on in a certain period of time?

If you have something to add, go ahead and bump it!

René wrote:Yeah, just use common sense

Noted Although common sense is not a flower that grows in every garden, sadly :p

Bookmark wrote:Hey Matt, welcome to the forum

Thanks Bookmark!

Welcome to the forum

Thanks Tobias

René wrote:I think the differences between the Netherlands and the UK are like nothing compared to the differences between Europe and the US. Tell him about them, Brenden

Ooh, now this is getting interesting! Looking forward to hearing these!

René wrote:What were the cultural differences you noticed?

I think the first thing that I noticed was that Europeans seem to be a lot more open in terms of nudity and sex etc. This is by no means meant to generalise, but this was my experience in the country I was in.
For example, I was watching the news one night. Either 9PM or 10PM. Next minute, a porno started playing. To say I was shocked and confused is an understatement of note! I was staying with a family at the time. I turned to the guy (hetero family), and asked him what was going on? I wasn't fluent in the language as yet. He said that it was a story about some 7-minute porno that had been released earlier, so they were playing a scene from it as it pertained to the story. I asked him if they weren't worried about children seeing it. His reply was simply that children ought to be in bed by that time in any case.

Of course, another difference was the food. The texture was very different than I was used to. For example, the bread was usually heavy health bread. In SA, we tend to have white or brown bread as a norm, but much lighter. That side, it was usually only eaten on special occasions as opposed to every day.

Another thing was that we used bicycles to go everywhere. And I mean everywhere! Work, church, you name it. Had some fun experiences with that, but I'll save that for another thread

René wrote:I've never been to South Africa, but I hear it's beautiful

We have some really beautiful places here, that's for sure! Given the size of the country, the sad truth is that a lot of us (myself included) have actually seen and explored very little of it. I'm hoping to change that though!