CURRENT MISSION

Tour the world with my dance whilst pursuing a PhD in Linguistics.

ABOUT ME

I smile, I dance, I talk a lot, I play with and love children, I am concerned about nature and environment, I can be responsible and I can be impulsive, I love being happy yet know that at times it is necessary to be unhappy, I don't eat animals, I read, I study, I hope, I love, I am... A human being.

PHILOSOPHY

Life flows as it should flow. Everyone is dependent of opportunities, chances and coincidence, but as long as you choose and live with your heart, as long as you choose and live honest and have taken your choices yourself: you should not be worrying about the other ways, because this will be the right way, and the only way to worry about.

Interests

Human beings: how they stand in life and what goes around in their minds.
Dance! I am constantly developing myself as a dancer, being part of an Indian dance company, teaching Indian dance to adults and kids and am enrolled in a 20h/week dance course. Love it! To watch and enjoy: any kind as long as it is danced from the heart, as long as the dancer is capable of showing her or his soul and spirit to the audience...
Children: probably the most honest and loving creatures on this planet. Their smile is one of the most beautiful things to receive!
Languages: the fact that you can create an infinite amount of words and sentences with a finite amount of phonemes and words, isn't that just wonderful?!
Environment: I am part of an organisation which promotes an eco-friendly way of living amongst children and youngsters (JNM), and try to integrate those ideas in my own life as much as I can.

• culture
• writing
• dancing
• environment
• reading
• traveling
• socializing
• hiking
• languages
• hitchhiking

Music, Movies, and Books

From folk to reggae to indie, English classics to Indian moderns to illustrated children's books, environmental documentaries to Bollywood to Downton Abbey: as far as I'm concerned it is not the style that matters, but the quality and feeling in it :)

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Since I was four years old, my family and I have travelled for several months in India, almost every year. I have been confronted from a very young age with different kinds of culture and religion, different ways of living and thinking... I consider this as a special something in my life and am very grateful to have had this experience!

Thanks to the travel vibe my parents passed on to me, some other special experiences:
- hitch-hiking from Belgium to Sweden and back with my dear friend Liesbeth, sleeping on the platform of Rödbyhabn and in the garden of a very friendly family on our way to and back from Sweden, in Denmark;
- ending up in a retro American school bus when hitch-hiking with Liesbeth and my Scottisch friends Anna and Gabriel;
- meeting the world's best Indian classical dancers in Liverpool and Manchester in the summer of 2010 and 2011;
- hiking in the Himalayas;
- being a Mumbaikar for one and a half year - starting all over in a different country has definitely changed my perspective on life!

Teach, Learn, Share

What I can share with you:
- the basics of Kathak dance, Bollywood, Sapera- and folk-dancing;
- some stretching/muscle exercises to keep your body fit;
- the basics of Hindi (Devanagari-script, simple grammatical constructions, basic lexicon) and some idiomatic expressions in Dutch
- my experience of being home-schooled during my highschool period
- fun and interesting games and activities for children!

What I want to learn: everything I do not know yet!

What I Can Share with Hosts

A warm smile and some Belgian chocolates if you're lucky ;-)

Countries I’ve Visited

Czech Republic, England, Finland, France, Germany, India, Italy, Malta, Nepal, Netherlands, Portugal, Scotland, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States, Wales

Countries I’ve Lived In

Belgium, India