I am quite unconventional, creative, independent, artistic, interested in culture from different parts of the world, philosophical, deep rather than superficial, traveller, calm, have lots of ideas, radical, unbiased, have a sense of humour.

I've been working with different art and culture projects and environmental projects. I'm also interested in health maintenance, art, music, philosophy, new perspectives, meditation, nature, environment, meaningful ways of living, the Buddhist perspective on life. I walk my own ways.
Now that I've retired I've spent winters in Portugal and will go again.
I've travelled a lot and spent long periods abroad, the longest in India and Australia. All together about 20 years out of Sweden when I count my 10 years living in Denmark.
I'm mostly calm and prefer quiet places but sometimes I can get into a rush. I don't mind starting new projects, but I have to have a deeper motivation to go through with it.
I'm co-responsible in a meditation group in my home town, we do vipassana meditation and invite teachers for weekend retreats.
I have worked with classical massage (called Swedish massage internationally). I'm starting to get back into drawing and painting but there's a long ground run to get going.
I live in the countryside and grow a vegegarden, I'm self sufficient on veges and herbs. I like my own space and living on my own but I appreciate fellowship and collaboration between people as well. I've had quite a few dreams about village community living and tried it too.
I like many genres of art and music, dancing, writing, reading, architecture, old houses, ancient stuff and rust and concrete, walking on beaches and in the forest, contemplating the horizon, listening to birds, sounds of winds, leaves rustling.

IF YOU WANT TO VISIT:
I rarely host during the summer season for various reasons. We host wwoofers (volunteers helping out with gardening), friends are more likely to visit and stay over in summer. I can also sometimes get a little overwhelmed by CS-requests in summer when everyone wants to see Gotland.
If you're interested in volunteering, our place has a profile on WWOOF.se:
http://www.wwoof.se/host-list/25904-hallbjens/
and a profile on HELPX.net:
http://www.helpx.net/host.asp?hostid=38436

I live in the countryside, right in the middle of Gotland, 30 km from Visby. There are five households in this place that once was a farm, but now we grow a (big) vege garden for household use. My place is very nice and quiet, but a bit primitive, we're about installing running water, there's no shower and the wood stove does the main heating.

If you consider coming to visit I better tell you right away that, unless you have your own transport, you need to come by bus and it's good if you have a bicycle. I can pick you up from the near by bus stop. You may also want to know I only have an outdoor primitive shower and limited access to my neighbour's indoor shower in the cold season so I recommend guests to go to the nearby village sauna that is open 3 days a week!

I like to have couchsurfing guests and I also like you to be aware of that it's a bit more work to live like this so please share some with me. It's also good to know there are no shops nearby so we can discuss the current food situation before you arrive.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I sometimes host, sometimes travel.

I'm grateful for CS, it's such a wonderful feeling to open the door to other people in this way, and to be invited by others. So heartwarming.
I have only had good experiences and met such kind people.

Interests

I've mentioned most above but apart from that I have a friend who is serving a life sentence in a state prison in California who is a poet and writer. He's published two books, write for online magazines and is featured in documentaries etc. I run a blog for him and help him reaching out on the web since he has no internet access. This is the blog address: realnessnetwork.blogspot.com

• arts
• culture
• writing
• dancing
• environment
• meditation
• gardening
• music
• camping
• philosophy
• wwoof
• nature
• sustainability
• social justice

Music, Movies, and Books

I like music from many different genres from all over the world. I've been dj:ing "world music". I'veen into jazz lately - when I don't listen to silence.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Giving birth to my son.
Watching the mountaintops when landing in Leh, Ladakh.
Being treated by bush doctor Left Hand Sam at Utopia Aboriginal Community, Central Australia.
Walking the kora at Mahabodhi temple in Bodhgaya together with H.E. Ayang Rinpoche...

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Morocco, Nepal, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, Denmark, India, Portugal, Sweden