1. I’ve had red hair my whole life. I don’t really like my hair because all it does is grow out- it doesn’t really have any shape to it.
2. I know everyone has no idea how to say my name. You say “yocome” the American way. When I meet all of you in person I will teach you how to say it the Dutch way. You have to be prepared to put some throat into it.
3. I don’t like wearing plain colors like navy, blue, or blacks/browns. I love wearing bright, cheerful colors like oranges, yellows, reds, and peach.
4. I was born in a small town in the Netherlands and immigrated to the U.S. with my family when I was four years old.
5. Half of one of my front teeth is fake. I was riding my bike looking for a lost dog when I lost my balance and went face-first into the cement.
6. I broke my right leg once, my only ever broken bone. Ten sheets of drywall were leaning against the wall and I somehow made them lean towards me and I couldn’t force them back the other way and they fell on my leg.
7. I’ve lived at my parents’ house my whole life, besides 3.5 months when I was 18 and lived in Texas with a friend.
8. I soooo want to get a tattoo in a third world country. I think it would be a thrill.
9. After I got back from Nigeria in August 2011, I got malaria and had to be hospitalized for five days. I will now for sure remember my malaria meds because I don’t want to ever get malaria again if I can help it.
10. I’ve been in a lot of sports. I’ve played basketball, baseball, soccer, football, hockey, track, and cross country. I’ve been on the swim team too.
11. I talk a lot of slang.
12. I hold both American and Dutch passports. Yeah I know, I’m a boss like that.
13. I would have never cared about the NFL if it hadn’t been for a 3rd grade simulation was we had to follow a team for a project. I’ve been a fan ever since.
14. I’m 21 and my little brother is 8. I consider a 13 year gap both significant and interesting.
15. My favorite food is my mom’s Dutch pancakes. No they’re not the same as those creeps of whatever you Americans call them. The Dutch pancakes with apple or a gift from God.
16. I’ve had 9 cars and two motorcycles. I used to wheel and deal and try to make some money buying and selling cars. The most I’ve made is $1,800; unfortunately, the most I’ve lost is $4,000.
17. I hate having a texting conversation when it could be a phone conversation.
18. I consider my job a workout. That what I tell myself so I don’t have to exercise.
19. I’m a landlord with my dad. We own a property in downtown Grand Rapids that we currently rent out. It seems glamorous, but it certainly has its moments. I have never stopped learning since we acquired the property; contracts, city fines, evictions, legal proceedings, crazy tenants, court hearings, ridiculous property taxes, housing assessments, the list never ends.
20. I hate hate hate hate hate hate being in debt. I have no school debt, car debt, or house debt.
21. I love kids; they bring so much joy to the world and to me. I can’t wait to be a dad.
22. I had no intention of going to school until two months to go until high school graduation. I’ve made it a long way since then.
23. I rode a camel in Nigeria. It was awesome.
24. I’ve gone 126 mph on my Triumph Daytona 600 on an interstate in Oklahoma on my way home from Texas. I guess then was not my time to die; God must have some killer plans for my life because he kept me alive.
25. I never got good grades in school until I had to start paying for school myself.
26. I’ve never paid rent. I don’t know what that feels like.
27. I like summer a lot better than I like winter, yet I live in a city that has the best of both.
28. I’ve flown in a private plane, like a boss.
29. In high school I used to care what people thought about me. Now I think about ways that I can be different from others.
30. I’ve driven back from Phoenix, Arizona with a friend only stopping for a total of 1.5 hours.
31. I’ve driven back from Austin, Texas on my motorcycle.
32. I have spent the night on six different airport floors and I haven’t even been on the World Race yet 🙂
33. Once when I was little I punched out a window with my hand and almost got a little piece of glass stuck in my wrist- scary situation.
34. I have been working since I was 14 years old. Two years at a greenhouse, and now five years and counting doing apartment maintenance.
35. I love to laugh.
36. I really want to ride an elephant
37. My family is the best. My little brother is hilarious.
38. I hate those police cars that aren’t really police cars. When I’m speeding like I do errry day on the highway and I see one of those fake police cruisers I slow down then I get so made because it’s not actually a cop.
39. I’ve been to Las Vegas. Really sweet, really hot!
40. I have an incredible amount of things to take care of before leaving on the WR
41. I seriously can’t wait to meet each and every one of you!
42. I’ve gone to the same church ever since moving to the U.S. – almost 17 years.
43. I was in a relationship with a Haitian girl.
44. My hair color will change depending on the amount of sunlight it gets. In the summer it’s a lot lighter, in the winter it’s a lot darker.
45. I need to start reading more books. It’s incredibly hard for me to begin a book, but once I begin a book I usually finish it.
46. I have a lot of goals in life and my goals are BIG.
47. I drink coffee almost every morning and tea almost every night.
48. I am the only one from American that visits the orphanage I go to in Haiti. There has never been a team there. The couple that directs the orphanage lives in Australia is the only other white people that go there.
49. I very rarely use cash. I put almost all of what I buy on my credit card. I am very financially aware of what I’m doing though.
50. I brush my teeth all the time, up to four times a day. I like to have my teeth as white as they can be. My dentist always tells me not to brush so hard because my gums are now receding.
