CURRENT MISSION

To enter a new world and discover a new life!

ABOUT ME

I retired a few months ago, and since, I have spent most of time getting involved in Non Profit Organisations, making myself available for family and friends.

It really makes a change in my life, as I used to spend a lot of time at work.

However, I managed to get ready for this big change in life: four years ago, I took a year off, on a sabbatical year, and visited The USA for five months.

Of course, country I know the best is France.
Still, it's such a diverse country that I still have plenty to discover.
I have lived, worked and studied in England for two years when I was twenty.

PHILOSOPHY

I believe in men and women.

I trust my current friends and friends to come, my daughters, my family.

Carpe diem;
At the same time, never forget that earth is unique!

Pourquoi je suis sur Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Well, I discovered Couchsurfing five years ago, and thanks to this beautiful organisation, I could travel The USA for five months.
I have a nice house, somewhere west of Périgord, a lovely place, but quite a drive from Bordeaux or Périgueux and I can host one or two people at a time.
I am very fond of my country and every summer, I organise trips and visits for friends or family to discover Périgueux, Lascaux, Les Eyzies, Bordeaux, Saint Emilion, Brantôme.
My aim, is also to get on with couchsurfers as I may travel Eastern Europe and Scandinavian countries in the coming years.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Year 2012, I traveled USA and Canada for 5 months, from San Francisco, California, to Billings, Montana. I then headed to Chicago, Illinois and then to the East coast, New Jersey, Washington DC, New York....
I could meet so many different people and have such great times with my hosts!
Some of them turned to friends and visited me in France, in 2012 and 2015.
I have hosted friends, friends of friends, friends of my daughters from all over the world: Canada, Guatemala, England, Germany, Polynesia, Pakistan, Latvia, Switzerland, Scotland, Australia...One experience among others was with Carlos, A Guatemalan boy friend of my elder daughter; he stayed at home for a week: time to chat and discover prehistoric caves in Southern Périgord.
2011 was another great time with Julia's parents from Latvia: they were in France for a fortnight and I drove them discovering the hilly countryside around my house, french food and every thing which was so different from their country.
These experiences weren't with couchsurfing network but objectives were quite similar.

Centres d'intérêt

I am interested in plenty of different topics: above all by people and friendship.
It runs from farming and ecology to rugby, nordic walking and cooking.
Cinema,economics and politics, prehistory are other subjects I am very keen on.

Since I retired, I have been involved in Non Profit Organisations:
"Café Pluche", a café associatif in a nearby village, Comberanche: I participate as a coach for a Nordic walking group, and helping for cooking for saturday evenings shows;
"Conseil de Développement du Pays du Périgord Vert", a local group which aims at improving living standards for locals, in Northern Dordogne;
"Osons Bio", which aims at developing the use of organic and local food within public restaurants: elementary schools, lycées, retirement homes, hospitals,...

• books
• literature
• dining
• cooking
• wine
• coach
• walking
• gardening
• politics
• movies
• traveling
• hiking
• sports
• rugby
• ecology
• economics
• mountains

Morceaux de musique, films et livres

Assez éclectique en matière de livres, j'en lis toujours plusieurs à la fois;
Après des années de "recherche", j'ai Philip Roth, et lu " La tache". Ce gars là est un superbe écrivain!
Sinon, j'aime aussi les romans policiers: Douglas Kennedy, par exemple.
J'ai savouré à leur sortie, la trilogie de "Millenium" de Stieg Larson;
J'aime aussi l'ethnologie, avec une collection "Terre Humaine" qui a publié et fait connaître Claude Levi-Strauss, Jean Malaurie, Jacques Lacarrière, Margaret Mead....
Again, I am very fond of American writers, such as Russel Banks, Richard Ford, with "Independance Day" and "Canada".
For the last winter, I have been reading through Tom Wolfe" I am Charlotte Simmons", " A man in full".
About movies, I loved " Lost in translation"," The Ghost writer", " Avatar" " Inception" " True grit"...and Clint Eastwood as an actor and film director.
I loved many Italian movie makers, such as Fellini, Bertolucci, Scola, Visconti;
One of my favourites is "Le Guépard"
A few days ago, I could see "The Piano" from Jane Campion at the local cinema; first saw it when it was released years ago, a great movie to see again and again!
With a group of friends, we meet once a month to watch a film and talk about it; then comes the time for "great competition " answering a questionnaire, having food and wine and good fun together.

Une aventure extraordinaire que j'ai vécue

Difficult to focus only on one thing!

During my trip through the USA, I traveled through California , Arizona and Nevada for one month. I drove a car, being hosted by Couch surfers, slept for a few nights in the car. This is one of the most exciting experience I have been through!
I would also mention discovering The Alhambra Gardens, in Grenade, Spain, in the early morning, beginning of July in the mid nineties, a daydream!
Last, I would mention, july 2011. I went hiking on my own for seven days around " Mont Blanc", the highest peak in the Alpes mountains in Europe. A fabulous experience!

Enseignez, apprenez, partagez

I would be happy to meet with different people who can show me the place where they live, who would like to talk about their job, their family ...
I can talk and share with people about Europe,France, economics and politics, sports; we can do that while cooking and enjoying a good wine.
I am very fond of books and literature and also cinema.
I am also very interested in ecology and sustainable growth;
At last, I can share my experience in farming, and organic gardening.

Pays que j'ai visités

Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, United States

Pays dans lesquels j'ai vécu

United Kingdom

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