***Sorry, I happen to receive many requests nowadays, but I will not be able to host till the beginning of September 2019, since I will be traveling + will be moving from Antwerp to Brussels -- hope to see you later on! -- thank you for your consideration***

Freedom, love of all and love to all, artistic passion, playfulness, openness and creativity

42 y o, bald, aquamarine and sometimes very happy gazing eyes, some witty grin on my face, smoker

Fond of, amongst others, all kinds of kind and loving people, all kinds of beauty, all kinds of beautiful music, photography, coffee, Russian language, the sound of Portuguese, Art Nouveau, Japanese culture, candles, flowers, flowers, flowers, ... and did I mention already playfulness and an awful load of creativity?!

Cultural entrepreneur, manager, (chief) editor, photographer & photo teacher @ Nova Zembla @ Antwerp @ Brussels

Wstan i Idz (Zbigniew Herbert)
The Wind Rises (Hayao Miyazaki)
Energy is Eternal Delight (William Blake)
Le vent se lève, il faut tenter de vivre (Paul Valéry)
Nothing exists that doesn't touch anything else (Jeroen Brouwers)
La plus grande chose du monde, c'est de savoir être à soi (Montaigne)

Summary

Because I have reached the not very enviable (but still vigorously kicking) age of 42 now - I am "in media vitae", as Dante would put it - and because I have matured as they say, but still look with a child's eye at all of the wonder and all of the beauty of the world that is now relentlessly passing by, now and every second after that, I mean now - and now - and now again still, in this unending charade and multiplex delta of events that eventually all run down into the open-hearted and receptive sea, and because there is this dear to me old zen proverb that says "The problem is you think you have time"... Well... because all of that… because all of that, I only sleep 4 hours per night, and I am not kidding you, it is nothing but the pleasant and sleepless truth, in order to enjoy more and more the priceless hours that are available to me, fully conscious and fully awake, fully sensible and in full contact with the other unique and kind beings whom I happen to meet.

Look and behold! The world really fits in the little palm of your hand. It is so palpable, can you feel it? It is warm, humid, and covered with earth. Please go out now, and take a deep breath. Take another one. And - still now - another one. Do it, slowly and calmly, but do it now and with perseverance. Breathe in, and then breathe out. Just continue breathing slowly and calmly, in and out, very consciously, until you’re not counting your breath anymore. As is to be expected, you may now find yourself being an inseparable part of the universe as a whole - at exactly the right time and exactly the right place, wherever you may be now, and whoever you may be now - moreover, you àre in fact this entire universe and infinite cosmos now, you embody this vast endlessness and your heart is at ease. So please come with me, do come with me now, back down to this tiny little earth, to our tiny little Belgium, to our tiny little Brussels and our tiny little Antwerp, to our mini harbour, to our mini Park Spoor Noord, to our micro Central Station and to our micro Boerentoren, to our nano apartments and our nano colorful clothings and shoes, to our quarksized limpid heads and our even quarkier-sized deep black eyelashes, it’s all in the blink of the eye-opener - and let's have a chat, as great minds alike do, let's have a simple, joyful stroll together, all along the banks of the river Scheldt, and let’s talk during this stroll about all the big and all the small things that happen in our curious lives, that are all and nothing to us at the same time, so let’s go out, we just have to, let’s go out together and do something absolutely crazy and stunningly funny so that in 40 years from now, we won't be sorry for not having tried to climb the tower of Our Lady's Cathedral without climbing rope nor clinking buckles. This is where we take a picture.

We could have a picnic when lightning is striking the nearby solipsist apple tree, we could be sheltering from the heavy rain in an old abandoned cowshed in the drowsy marshes of misty Scotland and make out in bliss, slowly and calmly, we could be listing through your worn and torn childhood diaries and laughing out loud with candor but with style, we could bring to perfection some silly walks by Monthy Python in front of the crowded Louvre on a sunny day, or just the two of us walking side by side amidst the shady silence of the pines in the remotest spot of our dear, so beloved and ardently shimmering Ardennes... But please - and I will ask you repeatedly if I have to - do promise me just this one little thing, OK? Could you please do this for me? It is quite important. I ask you: don’t start to me about Marcel Proust. I don't have time for this bodgely-dodgely and bothersome Proustian cavalcade, sorry. I happen to have a fine and most peculiar world of my own, thank you. You may have noticed. You may… maybe... I could share this world with you? Oops. Dinner is being served! Have to go now! We’re having baked soja beans with some leftovers of yesterday’s baked soja beans, yummy! ;-)

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Life is too short not to be shared with likeminded people! I just adore meeting people from various cultural backgrounds and interests. The world has become a village, and I am not just some Flemish person, living @ Antwerp and Brussels in our tiny country that is named Belgium, but I hope to be a Conscious, Open and Loving citizen of the Universe ;-) I believe in the principles of Order and Chaos, I believe the Three Graces and Our Lady Fortuna do exist, and I believe in miracles Every Single Day

Interests

Coffee, freedom, strolling about, having a drink and a laugh with friends, smiling to the World Today, visiting cities, Kiev, Saint-Petersburg, Krakow, Lisbon, Barcelona, Berlin, Antwerp, Brussels, creativity, independency, Russia, listening to music, dancing! (music is dancing, and dancing is life...), playing the piano, reading books...

I am interested in everything cultural: concerts, (all kinds of) music, vernissages, museums, literature, theatre, dance (and dancing by myself!), visual arts, artists, photographers, literature, philosophy, spirituality ... Another interest of mine are the Slavonic languages and cultures (mostly Russian, but also Polish), and the culture and philosophies of the old Greek and the Romans

• arts
• culture
• writing
• books
• poetry
• photography
• music festivals
• dancing
• coffee
• japanese food
• drinking
• flowers
• reading
• music
• piano
• opera
• languages
• cultural immersion
• mountains
• russian language
• laughing
• japan
• sharing
• love
• meeting new people
• russia
• brussels
• japanese culture
• openness
• ecstatic dance
• orchids
• open mind
• russian literature
• musical theatre
• dancing in the rain
• meeting new people and cultures
• meaningful conversations
• poland
• sharing experiences
• philosophical conversations
• kraków
• latin language
• laughing out loud
• tulips
• antwerp
• friendliness
• real letters
• the roman and greek civilizations
• akvarium
• boris grebenschikov

Music, Movies, and Books

Bach, Chopin, Mozart, Schubert, Rachmaninov, David Bowie, Leonard Cohen, Suzanne Vega, Akvarium, Boris Grebenschikov, New Order, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Deva Premal, Jai Uttal, Shantala, Gotan Project, Misia, Macklemore, Max Richter, Cristina Branco, Angèle, Lily Allen, Roy Orbison, The Traveling Wilburies, Stromae, Daan, Raymond Van het Groenewoud, Chet Baker, Goran Bregovic, Zive Kvety, David Byrne, Nitin Sawhney, Paul Simon, Jean-Michel Jarre, Tourist LeMC, Warhaus, Wim Mertens, The Nits, Spinvis, Sting, Tom Petty, R.E.M., The Smiths, Okean El'zy, The Cure, Andreas Scholl, Andreas Staier, Barbara Hannigan, Berliner Philharmoniker, Christina Pluhar, Christophe Rousset, Claudio Abbado, Teodor Currentzis, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Evgenij Kissin, Freiburger Barockorchester, Glenn Gould, Grigory Sokolov, Jan Lisiecki, Krystian Zimerman, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Pieter Wispelwey, Sandrine Piau, ...

Books: William Blake! All of the stoic philosophers: Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, Epictetus ... ; Ovid and Homeros; books by Thich Nath Hahn, C.G. Jung, Krishnamurti, all about Japanese culture and lifestyle. Further on: V.V. Nabokov (my all-time favorite), Bulgakov, Bruno Schulz, Gombrowicz, Schopenhauer, poetry, poetry, poetry, and oh yeah - let's not forget here about all those fascinating photo books and old-fashioned postcards!

The Wind Rises, Isle of Dogs, Paterson, Bleu, Blanc, Rouge, La Double Vie de Véronique, Délicatesses, Django, Interstellar, Kingsman, La Grande Bellezza, La Cité des Enfants Perdus, Dancer in the Dark, Breaking the Waves, Hable con Ella, Atame, La Piel que Habito, Lucy, No Country for Old Men, Los Amantes del Circulo Polar, Breaking Bad, The Lobster, Black Sails, Game of Thrones, Het Eiland, In de Gloria, Luna Papa, Amélie Poulain, ...

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Sharing life with the most kind nomadic people in yurts in the mountains of Kirgiziya

Riding in a magical winter sleigh to frozen Morskie Oko in Zakopane

Dancing in the rain in the old heart of Lisboa

Couchsurfing?

Teach, Learn, Share

One of my habits on the side is teaching photography (@ThePhotoAcademy), and I could teach you some Dutch ;-) We could share e.g. some good laughs, warmth, philosophy, kindness

What I Can Share with Hosts

My house, a comfy bed or sofa, some yummy breakfast, a tour of the city if you'd like, my dedication, my smile, my openness, my love for the world and its kind inhabitants

My Facebook profile: https://www.facebook.com/lieven.delaet

Please write a bit more than just 2 lines... If you feel there is some connection and you would like to stay at my place, please write a decent cover letter, here @couchsurfing, or send it to: lieven.delaet@gmail.com with a link to your profile here, or a link to your Facebook profile. Thank you!

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russian Federation, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Uzbekistan

Countries I’ve Lived In

Belgium, Poland, Russian Federation, Ukraine