CURRENT MISSION

Traveling the world,, helping artisans make a living with their art

ABOUT ME

Currently, I am overseas five months out of the year, and spend most of the rest of the year at trade shows and seeing clients all over the U.S.

I travel light, with just a small dayback and a carry-on bag, and prefer to go by train or ferry boat, whenever possible (exceptions are southern England, anywhere in Sardinia, and central Bulgaria).

Languages, to me, are a bridge to friendship, a key to power in business, and the best way available to keep one's mind sharp into old age (and no, I'm not there yet). Currently I speak five, in descending order of fluency: Brazilian Portuguese, French, German, and Italian (plus of course, English). I dabble in Czech, Croatian, and Bulgarian, and am currently doing intensve studies in Turkish, for my upcoming trip to that country.

I'm a gourmet cook, and avid gardener. Yes, I will gladly fix you a meal from some other culture, using local ingredients, or prune your favorite rose bush!

PHILOSOPHY

True wealth is when your wants and your needs total less than your income.

With the recent birth of my first grandson, I have come to appreciate the cultural responsibility we have to future generations. And I always have the time to teach other children how to bake a cherry pie, or how to appreciate art, or to plant a garden, or to find joy in a sprinkler on a hot day.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

An important part of my work is to try to help local artisans make a living with their art, by suggesting slight modifications that will make it more attractive to people outside their local region, and by purchasing their goods outright to take to market.

I also try to give people in foreign countries a more positive view of Americans, through my language skills and genuine interest in their culture.

In the past, when I lived in one place, I hosted a number of ESL exchange students, from Switzerland, Japan, Spain, Brazil, and other countries.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

This is my first experience with a formal website for couch surfing, but I've made many friends through other websites, whom I've met, and visited when I went to their countries.

I had some great times in Morocco last year, and still keep in touch with several friends I made there. I also learned to be sure to ask about running water, and whether I will be free to come and go from where I'm staying!

Perhaps my favorite "couch surfing" was in Croatia, where I went to a "meet up" with a group of friends of my initial contact, and the evening ran so late that we finally all just curled up on the available couch, bed, floors, etc., like so many puppies, and slept until we woke in the morning! Totally G rated, and great fun.

Interests

Canoeing, gourmet cooking, designing, stamp collecting, gardening, musical theatre, classical music, vkayaking isiting art museums, and of course, travel!

• arts
• culture
• books
• dining
• cooking
• running
• gardening
• boating
• traveling
• stamps
• music
• classical music
• canoeing
• surfing
• soccer
• business
• languages

Music, Movies, and Books

I prefer live theatre to movies, especially musicals. In that genre, my favorites range from "Brigadoon" to "A Little Night Music," and from "Full Monty" and "Bat Boy" to Gibert and Sullivan. Bernadette Peters is the best!

But when I do watch a film or TV series, it's probably either a romantic comedy, or sci fi (Star Trek and Stargate are favorites).

I love classical music, in particular, and also folk music and Brazilian jazz (especially Milton Nascimento).

My favorite book of all time is Roger van Oech's "A Whack on the Side of the Head," which helps us relearn the creativity that most of us lose somewhere before we are grown.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

One thing? I am privileged to experience great things, on an almost daily basis. But here are a few that stand out.

I have seen the meeting of the waters in the Amazon, and watch the Southern Cross and the Big Dipper both appear in the night sky.

I have seen a total eclipse of the sun, with 4:03 of darkness under perfect skies, in Criciuma in 1993.

I have stood in a cave in Greece, high above Delphi, and heard a friend who whispered softly, the length of a football field away.

I have taken the Ghan train across the Australian outback, and seen the opal mines in Coober Pedy (where more than half the population lives below ground).

I have seen chameleons in Madagascar, that sleep with their bodies pressed against the tree, then pop awake like an instantly inflated air mattress.

I have spent the night in a car in Dawson's Creek, British Columbia, staring in awe out the open window as the Northern Lights painted white and mint green pictures, with sound effects, above me.

I have walked in Sarajevo, among the thousands of recent graves in the center of the city, and all the buildings that have been rebuilt, and felt the spirit that brought a people through three years of siege, into a vibrant new life.

And I have stood in the redwood forest of the far northern reaches of California, and knew myself to be very small, and very young, in the midst of the great trees' majesty.

Teach, Learn, Share

I can teach about gemstones, gardening, cooking (especially for people with food allergies), how to graft a fruit tree, or where to find a great restaurant, in many countries of the world.

One of my favorite recent projects is to look for places where a tiny investment can make a big difference in someone else's life. Two examples are buying books, one on "How to Build Your Own Computer" to a friend in Madagascar whose dream is to own an internet cafe, and the other on C++ for a friend's son who could not afford one, but needed the knowledge to get a job for which he was otherwise well qualified.

Countries I’ve Visited

Aruba, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bermuda, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Cayman Islands, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Fiji, France, French Polynesia, Germany, Greece, Grenada, India, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Monaco, Morocco, Netherlands, Paraguay, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, Réunion, Saint Lucia, Samoa, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Timor-Leste (East Timor), United Kingdom, Venezuela, Virgin Islands, British

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States

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