Settling In

Building a home in South Africa

When we first got to George, we stayed in a flat at Oubaai. Golf course on the ocean. Beautiful place. But there were stairs everywhere, and stairs are tough on Danélle’s leg. She deals with chronic pain, so pretty quickly we realized we needed to find something else.

On Tuesday we moved into a house in Kingswood Estate.

Single story. Big windows. Bright kitchen. The mountains sit right outside the main living room. We signed a 12-month lease and moved everything in right before a massive storm rolled through.

The weather here changes fast. A few days ago it looked like a cyclone. Heavy rain, flooding, thick fog over everything. Today the sky is clearing a bit and the mountains are coming into view again.

We’re heading into winter now.

I was not prepared for how cold houses feel here. Not extreme cold, just different. Most homes don’t have central heat. People use fireplaces and little space heaters. So mornings have turned into coffee, a blanket, and sitting by the fire while the house slowly warms up.

I didn’t expect to enjoy that part so much.

Living together has been good for us. You learn someone differently when you share everyday life with them. Grocery runs. Cooking dinner. Watching shows on the couch. Trying to organize a house and make it a home.

Danélle has been unbelievably supportive while we figure out this next chapter of life, and I try to give her the same support back. The house feels calm. Peaceful. Stable.

That feeling is still new to me.

One thing I love here is the driving culture. Most roads are single lane. If somebody faster comes up behind you, you pull slightly to the side and slow down so they can pass. Then they flash their hazards once as a thank you. You flash your lights back to say you’re welcome.

Danélle showed me the first time it happened and I thought it was the nicest thing.

I love it every time it happens. Just unspoken, polite kindness between strangers on the road.

The day we signed the lease was the first day I stopped feeling like I was visiting South Africa and started feeling like I lived here.

Afrikaans is officially on the daily list now too. An hour or two a day. Most people speak English, but Afrikaans is the first language for a lot of people here, and if I’m building a life in this country, I want to speak it properly.

I’m back playing pickleball a few times a week too. The knee is improving. Less swelling. Legs are getting stronger. More movement. The level here is still developing, but I enjoy helping players improve and watching the sport grow.

I’m not rushing anything with pickleball right now. My body has been through a lot over the last year.

Most of my energy outside the house is going into Flexara.

We’re working through formulations, packaging, branding, all of it. It still feels early, but it finally feels real.

A lot of hydration products are built for shelf marketing, not absorption. Either they are overloaded with sugar and sit heavy in your stomach, or they go completely zero sugar and miss how hydration actually works in the body.

Your gut uses sodium and glucose together to move water across the intestinal wall. That process matters even more if you have Crohn’s, an ostomy, IBS, or if you’re sweating constantly as an athlete.

I learned that firsthand.

The goal with Flexara is simple. Create hydration that absorbs efficiently without wrecking your stomach in the process.

That matters for ostomates. It matters for people with GI disease. It also matters for athletes and everyday people who constantly feel dehydrated no matter how much water they drink.

I’ll share more as we get closer.

A lot has changed quickly.

A new country. A new home. A new relationship. A body still recovering from major surgery and complications earlier this year. A company getting built from scratch while I figure out what life looks like here long term.

Some days still feel uncertain.

But sitting here tonight doesn’t.

The fire is on. The mountains are clear again after the storm. Danélle is in the kitchen. I’m sitting here writing this with a coffee beside me in a house we just signed a year lease on.

For the first time in a long time, life feels peaceful.

-rn