When I was 9, my parents decided to send my brothers and me to boarding school in India, the School in Saudi Arabia only went up to grade 6. So off to India we went. My parents dropped me and my brothers off at an international boarding school called Woodstock, located in the foothills of the Himalayas. It was very difficult for me adjusting to this, not only being in a foreign country, but also being so far from my parents, who had to return to Saudi Arabia. Little did I know that this experience would be one of the most rewarding in my life, and prepare me to be the man I am today.
I spent 5 years living in India in a town called Mussoorie. The scenery was amazing and living in an international boarding school taught you many things about life. Your friends become your family, you learn to depend on each other, and you learn how to respect others cultures, religions, and beliefs. 12 kids living in a dorm have to learn how to get along, and we did! India taught me many things about life, one of the most important is do not take anything for granted and appreciate what you have because so many others don’t have what you have.
After my parents divorced, I left India and moved back to the U.S. to live with my mother, and attend public school here in Los Angeles. It was really a severe culture shock coming from India to L.A., but I got the hang of things pretty quickly. As soon as I was getting comfortable here, I moved to Hong Kong to live with my father! I loved Hong Kong, it was an amazing busy city. I started to learn a little Cantonese and get the hang of riding the Star Ferry and the trolleys, but by the time I was getting comfortable with that, guess what, it was time to move again.
My father was an architect and we seemed to roam from project to project, this time it was Indonesia! We moved to Jakarta, and I lived in Indonesia for four years. I was fortunate enough to be able to drive at this time, and spent my four years in Indonesia exploring the country and attending the international school in Jakarta. I have very fond memories of my time in Indonesia; this is where I picked up my desire to fix cars. I would spend hours tinkering with cars and motorcycles, figuring out what made them tick, and how to keep them running. A friend and I ventured on a trip across the Island of Sumatra in a beat-up Isuzu, and all the tinkering paid off as this jalopy broke down on a regular basis, but we made it home safe and sound.