CURRENT MISSION

To find a new life ...

ABOUT ME

I'm a 49-year-old freelance translator (you can visit my freelancer profile here: https://www.proz.com/translator/3345205) born and raised in the Flemish city of Ghent, Belgium. Apart from languages (and their history), I am fond of traditional (folk) music and folk dancing and I used to dance balfolk, tango and milonga. I started Wwoofing and volunteering with intentional communities, such as the Twelve Tribes, the Bruderhof and the Mennonites in September 2015. In the summer of 2016, I gave up my studio flat for good and decided to travel as a Wwoofer and Workawayer. Since 2017, I have also started taking care of people's pets and homes (house sitting/pet sitting) while doing my freelance translation work.

Je suis un traducteur indépendant (voici mon profil professionnel: https://www.proz.com/translator/3345205) âgé de 49 ans et originaire de Gand (en Belgique néerlandophone), capital historique des Flandres. Je m'intéresse aux langues et à leur histoire (bien évidemment), à la musique folk et aux danses folkloriques et traditionnelles. En octobre 2015, je commençai à faire du bénévolat dans les communautés intentionnelles, telles que les Twelve Tribes/Douze Tribus, les Bruderhof ou les Mennonites. En été 2016, j'abandonnai définitivement mon studio pour voyager en faisant du Wwoofing/Workaway. Depuis 2017, je fais également du gardiennage d'animaux/de maisons ("pet sitting/house sitting"), tout en faisant mes traductions.

Countries/regions I would really like to visit, include Ireland, Scotland, Wales, England, Iceland, Scandinavia, the US, Canada, Australia, Madagascar and Latin America.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE
Hosting in Ghent:
Sterre and her friend (Wageningen, Netherlands) in April 2010
Anna (Brussels, Belgium) in June 2010
Shayna (Fort Collins, Colorado, USA) in March 2012
Alex (Toronto, Canada) in April 2012
Elie (Brittany, France) in June 2012
Tomas and Lucia (Santiago de Compostela, Spain) in July 2012
Mike (Philadelphia, USA) in July 2012
Ben (Gary, Indiana, USA) in August 2012

Meeting in Ghent:
Rob (Belgium) in April 2009
Oana (Romania) in May 2010
Benjamin (North Dakota, USA) in May 2010
Melinda (Brazil) in July 2010
Luana (Brazil) in August 2010

Surfing and meeting abroad:
- 2 weeks in Ireland in Aug 2009: Dublin - Sligo - Donegal - Glencolumbkille - Letterkenny (meeting with Phil) - Derry - Belfast - Dublin
- 2 weeks in the USA in October 2011. New Orleans - BatonRouge, LA - Lafayette, LA (surfing with Qusay) - Natchez, MS - Clarksdale, MS (surfing with Conner) - New Orleans (surfing with Jason)
- 3 weeks in Central Europe in Dec 2011: Bratislava (surfing with Kim and Hugo) - Poprad - Brno (surfing with Carme) - Olomouc - Prague (surfing with Marina and meeting with Rainer) - Dresden (surfing with Jens) -Leipzig (surfing with Dave) - Erfurt (surfing with Simon and Matthias) - Weimar
- 5 weeks in Chile in Dec 2013-Jan 2014: Santiago meeting with Joris and Adele) - Puerto Montt - Punto Arenas - Puerto Natales - Puerto Montt - Island of Chiloé (Ancud, Castro, Achao) - Puerto Varas, Frutillar and Puerto Ocktay - Valdivia (hosted by Daniela) - Temuco - Valparaiso/Vina del Mar - Santiago (hosted by Joris)
- 3 weeks of CATSITTING for Anne in Montélimar, France in Dec 2016-Jan 2017; 2 weeks of CATSITTING for Cathérine in Fécamp, France in Feb 2017; 1 week of CATSITTING for Caroline in Toulouse, France in April 2017; 6 weeks of CATSITTING for Anne in Montélimar, France in May-June 2017; 4 weeks of DOGSITTING for Annette in Frankfurt, Germany ; 1 week of CAT SITTING for Sandra and Stephan in Prague in Dec 2017; 4 weeks of CAT SITTING for Aliette in St.-Julien-les-Martigues in Feb 2018; 1 week of CAT SITTING for Anne in Montélimar, France in March 2018 ; 1 week of DOG SITTING for Huw near Toulouse, France in April 2018 ; 3 weeks of CAT SITTING for Annelies in Moulins in May 2018, France ; 5 weeks of CAT SITTING for Vanessa and Federica in Strasbourg, France in June-July 2018 ; 5 weeks of CAT SITTING for Cathérine in Nancy, France in July-August 2018 ; 3 weeks of CAT SITTING for Anne in Montélimar, France in August-September 2018; 2 weeks of DOG SITTING for Chelsey and Aaron in Zamora, Spain in October 2018; 4 weeks of DOG SITTING for Adrian in London in November 2018; 1 week of CAT SITTING for Espen and Alla in Oslo in December 2018; 3 weeks of HOUSE SITTING for Lars and Brigitta in Grebbestad, Sweden in January 2019; 3 weeks of CAT SITTING for Anne in Montélimar in February 2019; HOUSE/CAT/DOG SITTING for Isabelle in Besançon, France (February 2019 - June 2019); 3 weeks of DOG SITTING for Chelsey and Aaron in Zamora, Spain in July 2019; 2 weeks of HOUSE/CAT SITTING for Annet in Kranenburg, Germany (August 2019); 2 weeks of HOUSE/CAT/DOG SITTING for Isabelle in Besançon, France (September 2019); 6 weeks of HOUSE/CAT SITTING for Anne in Montélimar in October/November 2019; 1 month of CAT SITTING for Kristin in Munich (December 2019-January 2020); 2 weeks of CAT SITTING for Marie-Hélène in Besançon, France (February 2020); 3 weeks of HOUSE and ANIMAL SITTING (2 dogs, 6 cats, 8 goats) for Arend-Jan and Dorothy in Cahors (July 2021); 4 weeks of CAT SITTING for Marion in Paris (August 2021); 3 weeks of HOUSE and ANIMAL SITTING (2 dogs, 10 cats, 13 goats, +/-60 chickens) for Allan and Alex in Meyssac (September 2021); 3.5 weeks of CAT SITTING for Marie-Hélène in Besançon, France (October 2021); 4 weeks of HOUSE and ANIMAL SITTING (2 dogs, 6 cats, 8 goats) for Arend-Jan and Dorothy in Cahors (November 2021);
- hosted by Vincent in Béziers (March 2017) and by Gwenola in Quimper (Aug 2017)

Interests

Hiking and mountain biking
Languages
History of languages and cultures
Traditional folk music and dancing (especially Celtic and Scandinavian)
Dancing (balfolk, traditional folk, tango, milonga, lindy hop)
Brazilian music
Reading (languages, history, philosophy, religion)
Stand-up comedy

• folk dancing
• organic food
• reading
• folk music
• hiking
• history
• languages
• travelling
• mountain biking
• wwoofing
• organic farming
• brazilian music
• traditional dancing
• traditional music

Music, Movies, and Books

Music:
Madredeus (Portuguese traditional folk-influenced band)
Traditional Irish folk music (The Chieftains, Planxty)
Jean Sibelius
Wolfgang A. Mozart
Gustav Mahler
Bossa nova and samba (Caetano Veloso, Vinicius de Moraes, Toquinho, Milton Nascimento, Gal Costa, Chico Buarque, Elis Regina, Baden Powell, Marcos Valle, Maysa...)
Southern Bluesrock (Lynyrd Skynyrd, Allman Brothers Band)
Bluegrass (Alison Krause, Gillian Welch, The Carter Family, The Kossoy Sisters ...)
Bruce Springsteen
Los Lobos
Creedence Clearwater Revival and John Fogerty
16 Horsepower
Jeff Buckley
Pearl Jam
Neko Case
Justin Townes Earle
Woody Guthrie

Books by:
Michel Houellebecq
Louis-Ferdinand Céline
Honoré de Balzac
Guy de Maupassant
Charles Bukowski
Jack Kerouac
John Steinbeck
Ernest Hemingway
Mark Twain
H.L. Mencken
Fjodor Dostojevski
Ernst Juenger
Hermann Broch
G.K. Chesterton
Douglas Coupland
Aldous Huxley
Erich Kaestner

Movies:
Les enfants du marais
Into the wild
Fight Club
Legends of the Fall
O Brother where art thou?
Dances with Wolves
Forrest Gump
A river runs through it

Clint Eastwood (Outlaw Josey Wales, Man-With-No-Name trilogy, High Plains Drifter, Pale Rider, Million Dollar Baby, Gran Torino, A Perfect World, Bridges of Madison County)
Robert de Niro (almost all the movies he has played in, but especially Taxi Driver)
Al Pacino (Donnie Brasco, Carlito's Way, Serpico, Heat, Frankie and Johnny)
Martin Scorsese (almost all the movies he has directed)
Benoit Poelvoorde

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

- Biking to the Atchafalaya swamp region in Louisiana
- Canoeing on the Mississippi river
- Walking down St Charles Ave in New Orleans with the sun setting
- Hiking around Glencolumbkille, Ireland
- Taking the train from Mainz to Koblenz and Cologne along the Rhine enjoying the beautiful landscape
- Hiking through the Saechsische Schweiz on the German-Czech border
- Making a 36-hour bus trip from Puerto Montt to Punta Arenas in Chile
- Living in Twelve Tribe, Mennonite and Bruderhof communities for some weeks in the autumn and winter of 2015-2016
- Living in a rural Anglican-Franciscan friary in SW England (Dorset) in the summer of 2016
- Leaving my old life behind in August 2016 and starting anew...

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Chile, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Belgium, France