Long story short

I, Frank Degenaar, do solemly swear that I was born to live near the beach. Day 1 saw me taking my first breath in a hospital overlooking the warm Indian Ocean - Durban, South Africa. As I write, I live a block from the tropical Atlantic Ocean, 3.7° South of the equator - Fortaleza, Brazil. 

More information please... 

A couple of things in between: I studied photography - and the pinnacle of my career at the age of 23 took me to work on the cruise ships. A far cry from my National Geographic dream... but still.  It's kind of hard to say where I lived for those 2 years. I literally floated through life and got to see a ton of places. Since then I've been living in Latin America: Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica... and now in Brazil since 2009.

Doing what exactly?

If you really have to know what I've been up to for the last 14 years since I left "home", it's the typical tale of a typical traveler: photographer, student, adventure tour guide, translator, interpreter, English teacher, call center operator. Right now? I run a small English school. In my free time? I like bouncing around on a slackline (on the beach of course), stand up paddle surfing and generally letting the Brazilian Northeast rub off on me.

A random fact and a significant little person

Something surreal about my existence? Talking all day long to my 6-year-old daughter in a language I couldn't speak just 5 years ago. I learn a lot from her! If you're looking for adventure, you're going to run headlong into it!

My humble presence on the 'net

I discovered that I'm a semi-geek relatively recently. Everyone has a bit of geek in them if they're slightly obsessed with something. I'm a die-hard Evernote fan, and like most people I enjoy a great TV series. So... I created a TV Series database in Evernote, where you can find any spoken line within an entire series. I've made those Evernote notebooks public on this site - and you'll recognize more than a few: 

I run a small English school and teach English as a foreign language. Here's one of my blogs where I post my own material (minus the comic strips) for English learners. It has a few thousand followers. It's simple. It makes me feel like I've got something to share. It's been up and running for a couple of years - so you can be sure that I like to make a good go of things: