CURRENT MISSION

Sailing, building stuff

ABOUT ME

Born in Japan, brought up in Italy, Germany, New York. Graduated ANU, Canberra, Australia.
Worked as Australian Diplomat in China in the 70s, then in China Consulting, Austrade and a couple of Corporate jobs to 1998.
Set up own business in Education in 2000, sold it in 2007.
Now spend time sailing our yacht round Asian region, building stuff like electric guitars and wooden boats...
Thinking I should get to Nepal to help out Peter Hilary's school-building projects, but still just thinking, shame on me.....

PHILOSOPHY

"Suaviter in Modo, Fortirer in Re"

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Not yet participated, but would like to do so by hosting CS'ers from round the world...
UPDATE (26 April '12): hosting several couples over next month or so, and meet-ups for coffee set with several others. Not taking any more "couch requests" until I've had those experiences and see how they go....

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I just read about CouchSurfing in a recent (April '12) edition of the New Yorker, and it sounded fun.

UPDATE (26 April '12): hosting several couples over next month or so, and meet-ups for coffee set with several others. Not taking any more "couch requests" until I've had those experiences and see how they go...

Interests

Sailing, building stuff in my new workshop -- so far electric guitars, model 17th century boats, and now a project to build a wooden boat.
We like to travel, which is very easy to do here in Hong Kong -- regular to Europe, the US, and couple times to Antarctica.
Vowed to spend a bit more time on the Mainland China, which is literally on our doorstep, especially out to the West, like Sichuan

• dogs
• education
• coffee
• modeling
• yachting
• boating
• flowers
• politics
• traveling
• guitar
• sailing
• skiing
• business
• calligraphy
• teaching
• languages
• religion

Music, Movies, and Books

I have a large library, everything from Islam to the heroic days of Antarctic exploration to how to build a glued-lapstrake wooden boat..
When I read a good review, I add it to my Amazon "wish list", which I periodically send to the Check-out and enjoy the thrill of opening the box when it arrives...

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Twice to Antarctica, and once ski-touring on the sea-ice of Northern Greenland were memorable, with South Georgia Island especially stunning.

Teach, Learn, Share

I can teach about the lesser-known attractions of Hong Kong; about sailing; about Chinese (I'm certified to interpreter level) and Chinese calligraphy; about dogs and flowers; about comparative religion and local politics.
I'd love to learn the guitar -- I've built several electric ones, Gibson-style, but can't play. But I kind of think I'll never be able to, having tried several times, but who knows...

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