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  • Last login almost 2 years ago

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Overview

  • 17 references 15 Confirmed & Positive
  • Fluent in Dutch, English, French; learning German, Portuguese
  • 62, Female
  • Member since 2010
  • retired and ready to travel for a looooooong time
  • engineer... in another life
  • From Ghent, a little city looking like Brugge, old and sweet.
  • Profile 100% complete

About Me

CURRENT MISSION

follow your intuition: if it feels like coming home, you're on the right path.

ABOUT ME

after a breast cancer treatment fall 2010, I thought, time to find out how beautiful this planet earth is, instead of putting all my energy in earning money ;-) So I replaced mathematics by drawing, reading, writing, traveling, meeting people, admiring our lovely planet... I love it!

Recently I added a new wonderful way of traveling: pet sitting! It is so wonderful to help people that way, allowing them to be relaxed when traveling, knowing their dog or cat will have a full time company and attention while they are away! And for me, I love dogs and cats, especially cats, so... win win it is!

PHILOSOPHY

life is fun, and too short to keep focusing on bad things. Our mind can put us down with all kind of catastrophe scenarios, but it can also work the other way around! Think positive and life shines!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I hosted in spring 2010 and it was a wonderful experience! Now, being on the road, I became a surfer instead of host... until I settle ;-)

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Lots of visitors in spring 2010, and it was so interesting, people from all over the world, everybody so nice and interesting! Now I am the surfer, and again, it is a wonderful experience! I learned to give an insuline shot to a dog, spent a weekend with 3 cats and 2 dogs (one was a St Bernard!), was admitted in a "wild women circle" for one evening, went to draw in the butterfly garden, Victoria, learned to make collage business cards, had a personal concert one evening, had a crazy ride in a 2 seat BMW convertible, learned to play pool, joined a class where my host taught fellow Haitians to read and write, met a lovely family in Rio Branco, Brazil This is soooo great!!

Interests

drawing and watercolors, Calligraphy (future project), sports (swimming, jogging until my knees said stop, very bad at sailing, skiing some time ago, badminton as a beginner), yoga ( call it more stretching), Tai Chi (a little), reading (a lot), walking enjoying nature (a lot), making fun with friends... I would like to learn more about calligraphy, Chinese, Arabic and ours.

  • pets
  • cats
  • dogs
  • writing
  • concerts
  • yoga
  • meditation
  • walking
  • reading
  • traveling
  • socializing
  • drawing
  • swimming
  • calligraphy
  • mathematics

Music, Movies, and Books

lots of them, cannot list. My last favorites?
Movies: Bagdad café, The Matrix, Wall-E, Avatar, Inglorious bastards, no country for old men (in fact all of Tarantino and Coen brothers), Snatch...
books: H2G2 ;-) , all of Asimov and AE Van Vogt, some Frank Herbert and Robert Heinlein (you see, I like SF), Agatha Christie, Martha Grimms, Lilian Jackson Braun (The cat Who... series), 1984 (G. Orwell), and his pendant, A brave new world (A. Huxley). Now reading: Tolstoy, Anna Karenina.
music: Classical up to now, rock and jazz and blues, soundtracks of "cirque du soleil", whatever, but often I prefer to listen to the birds in the trees... OK, in the car I enjoy full power 70-80 music :-) to sing allong with :-) Michael Jackson, 10-CC, Earth Wind an Fire, ELO, Supertramp, Fleetwood Mac, Dire Strait ;-)

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

speleology initiation (spring 2009), death ride from the Brussels Atomium (summer 2009), Scuba diving in the Filippines (january 1996), iceskating on the lakes, Beijing (January 2012), wakeboarding, Singapore (every time I visit my brother there), a 24 hour boat trip on the amazon, sleeping in a hammock, the Inca trail in Peru (I suspect the coca leaf tea helped keeping me going, still, it was amazing), Water Ceremony in Bali, where me and all the others finished sobbing and crying ;-)

Teach, Learn, Share

long talks about life books and the amazing people I met doing couch surfing. Maybe a little initiation in watercolors and drawing :-) although I am only a beginner, but it is fun ;-) I am not that much of a cook, but I have my little recipes, like an indian Dahl or a fennel soup...

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Austria, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Indonesia, Malaysia, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Belgium, Germany, Portugal

Old School Badges

  • 1 Vouch
  • Pioneer Badge

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