CURRENT MISSION

grow, enjoy and share

ABOUT ME

I agree with Jorge L. Borges: "Any life is made up of a single moment - the moment in which you find out, once and for all, who you are", so I'm sort of busy with that, and I find it's much more fun in good company...
I was born and raised in South Africa and now live in Austria. When I'm not busy being a classical musician, I like to solve the world's problems ;-) over a plate of good food with friends, and if that doesn't work I resort to spending time in nature. Life is good!

PHILOSOPHY

1. find joy. Here. Now! (I might not be so good at it, but I believe it's important)
2. care properly for people and things around you, and you'll be taken care of (this is a personalised version of other philosophies I live by: "Every action has a reaction" - Buddha/Newton; or "Be the change you want to see in the world" - Ghandi). I also think this is the way to activate Philosophy nr. 1

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I think that in modern society it is becoming easier to NOT leave your home or "safe-space" - the possibilities of actually meeting people face to face are becoming fewer. Couchsurfing however encourages trust and interaction between people from all cultures and heart- and brain-types, which is exactly why I like to host and surf.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

As a couchsurfer I've met some wonderful people along the waves :) and my experiences to this point have only been positive. It is nice getting to know places, but no places are what they are without the people that live and have been living there, so getting to know the places' people and the ways of those people make travelling a richer experience.

Interests

I sometimes think there are no "original" interests - we all get interested in things because we got "infected" by someone who is really passionate about something. My positive infections include MusicArts&Culture, doing things out in nature, being creative and getting more infected...

• dogs
• culture
• poetry
• singing
• dining
• cooking
• traveling
• socializing
• music
• classical music
• outdoor activities
• hiking

Music, Movies, and Books

Music: let's listen!
Movies: I used to love cinema and still enjoy good movies, but if a movie is not enjoyable or enriching, I'd rather be speaking to people or doing something else. Never liked horror-films, never will.
Books: I don't read as much as I would like to, but I enjoy books that might include Haruki Murakami's vortex-like intensity, J.M Coetzee's bone-dry honesty, Bill Bryson's information-presentation, Kahlil Gibran's wisdom, Breyten Breytenbach's poetry or Jorge Borges' quotability. I'm a slow reader, so if a book doesn't give me something, I move on. Some life-changing books for me include Siddhartha (H. Hesse), Country of my skull (A. Krog)

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I bungee-jumped off a bridge over a gorge once, and went back the next year to jump again, just to check if it had really been as awesome as I remembered it to be... Now that I am convinced, I prefer hiking and climbing.

As a practicing buddhist I had the opportunity once to take part in a Traditional Outdoor Fire Ritual/Ceremony - I can not really describe what I experienced there although I can talk about it for hours!

When I was about 9 years old, I sat through the night next to my dog as she was giving birth to 11 puppies! That was a new chapter on/in life to me...

Oh, and in Lune 2015 I married a truly amazing person and both our families gathered for a week in Tuscany! For our honeymoon, we crossed the Alps from Austria into Italy, going from hut to hut and even over a glacier. This all counts towards "amazing things done and happening"

Teach, Learn, Share

There's something to learn where there's something to teach.
So let's cook, sing, hike, explore, talk or be quiet together, and find joy in the way life lives us.

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Austria, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, Norway, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Austria, Germany, South Africa

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