CURRENT MISSION

Reading, writing - having fun!

ABOUT ME

I am told that I am kind, considerate, insightful- and sometimes entertaining.

PHILOSOPHY

I am a Buddhist and believe in the universal value of kindness to all sentient beings. I believe that it is better for one to think about what one can give others, than about what one can get from life. It is so simple!

我为什么加入 Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

The idea of connecting with people when I travel is really cool - instead of just interacting with paid-to-be-nice hotel staff. Life for me is about journeying and seeing the wonders of the world, and I would be delighted to help others who want to pass through Pretoria to some of the wild and beautiful natural places of South Africa.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I met some great folks in the States, in Washington, New York, and Iowa. I was overwhelmed at the kindness of people, and at their natural ability to trust and open up to others.

兴趣

I like meeting people - in life and in books. I am an inveterate reader. I oteach English literature at a university in Pretoria. I meditate, watch films, study my dreams (I am a lucid dreamer). I am working on a PhD and biography of one of the first writers to introduce Buddhism to the West.

• arts
• writing
• books
• literature
• meditation
• movies
• reading
• traveling
• socializing
• buddhist

音乐、电影和书籍

I love the classics - from Old English to Chaucer and Dante, to Shakespeare - and then a big leap across the centuries (via Sterne and Blake) to the Victorians (Dickens especially), and the Moderns. I am particularly fond of Yeats, Wallace Stevens, and other Modernist poets and novelists.

I don't really like reading stuff written after WWII except Sci-Fi and Fantasy literature (espcially Phillip K. Dick). Much contemporary fiction seems to be reinventing the wheel, saying the same thing in ways that I do not find challenging or enlightening. I like Haldor Laxness, Dostoievsky, Jaroslav Hasek. One of my favourite books is the Oxford English Dictionary - the full version, with all the etymologies! I read a lot of history - especially biography.

My all-time favourite movie is Tarkovsky's 'Stalker'.

I listen to 'classical' music (Bach, Mozart, etc., though I don't like opera - read some libretti and you'll perhaps understand why). I love piano concertos - especially the Russians (Rachmaninov, Shostakovitch...). As for more contemporary stuff, I like mostly Indy and folk music, anything from Dylan onwards. I also groove to bluegrass, heavy metal, some New Age, and ambient trance.

我做过的一件不可思议的事情

I have met the Dalai Lama at a Kalachakra initiation in India, in a tiny village that became home for 2 weeks to 150 000 people (!), mostly Tibetans in exile from the Chinese occupation of Tibet. Mostly, though, I have been lucky enough to meet wonderful, kind, amazing people. That is the greatest thing about life!!

教，学，和分享

Wow, this is a difficult one! I guess I know a lot about literature and art!! That sounds so reductive, but is the best I can do for now.

我游览过的国家

Belgium, France, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, South Africa, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States

我居住过的国家

Italy, South Africa