CURRENT MISSION

Do what makes us happy and fulfilled. Friends, laughter, projects, good food, trees, music....etc.

ABOUT ME

We love music (playing, singing, listening). We made 5 gallons of cider from the trees in the yard when we lived in England, our first attempt at cider-making-- it came out pretty good! We love making things, doing projects, planning fun activities for ourselves and our friends, cooking, sleeping in and going to diners (or tea rooms, when we were in England) for breakfast. We live in Portland, Maine, a smallish city in Southern Maine, very beautiful, on the water. I (Toby) have a workshop where I make viols and guitars. (www.rzepkastrings.com) Rosalee teaches physics at Portland High School. Most recently we were joined by Ivy, our funny little daughter who was born in April 2011.

PHILOSOPHY

Pretty free and easy at the moment, trying to savor the beauty of our present surroundings. We're both always getting into new projects, but trying to balance that with sitting back and appreciating life. Philosophically, (speaking for myself, Toby) I've got a sort of anti-fatalistic-the universe is chaotic and cruel-but people are generally good-we have to find our own meaning in life (i.e. nothing is written in the stars) kind of outlook. I try to adhere to a logical interpretation of the world, but there is plenty in the human heart and mind that reason will never explain.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Hosting and being hosted. Only positive experiences so far!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Excellent times in London, eating homemade chicken soup, being shown around, and going to a squat party; and in Scotland, near Inverness, where we took part in a great Cultural Exchange (they played Scottish folk music for us, we played American folk music for them; they fed us haggis, neeps and tatties, and poured good scotch whiskey and several kinds of homemade wine down our throats; we brought a bottle of our homemade cider).

Interests

Instrument making, science, biking, playing music & singing, goofing around, reading, partying down, cooking, making desserts, doing fun projects, hanging out with kids, exploring....

Just about anything.

• singing
• design
• beauty
• dancing
• dining
• cooking
• breakfast
• wine
• desserts
• partying
• flying
• reading
• woodworking
• survival
• music
• folk music
• guitar
• cycling
• fishing
• kite surfing
• surfing
• buddhist
• hang gliding
• calligraphy
• earth science
• physics
• science

Music, Movies, and Books

Dreams, The Big sleep, Brick, Pan's Labyrinth, We Are the Strange, the last unicorn, the jewel in the crown, timequake, tortoise, the congos, baroque consort music, lots of dub reggae, afrobeat........

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Rosalee: Mt. St. Helens. It's awe inspiring (and near where I grew up, so I feel it's part of my identity).

Toby: Learned to play the musical saw. Cycled from Massachusettes to Maine (not that far, but it seemed that way to me!)

Teach, Learn, Share

(Rosalee) My goal is to not let fear keep me from trying new things, but also to understand & respect my needs. (Push your limits; respect your limits.)

There are so many things that we want to learn something about, and life is way too short to do it all. Here are some of them: motorcycle maintenance, surfing, log cabin building, fluid dynamics, fishing, maple syrup tapping, distilling, buddhism, hang gliding, kite surfing, html, wilderness survival, plane making (woodworrking planes), flying planes (airplanes), making shoes, stained glass, blacksmithing, and everything else that sounds like it would be really fun, deeply rewarding, or both.

As for what we could teach, between the two of us, we have varying degrees of experience in woodworking, acoustics, earth sciences, ear wiggling, classical guitar, dance, accordion, lap dulcimer, singing, viol, sewing, cider making, bicycle maintenance, raft building, string instrument design, treehouse making, stick welding and calligraphy.

Countries I’ve Visited

Belgium, Bolivia, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Jordan, Mexico, Morocco, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Palestine, Peru, Poland, Puerto Rico, Switzerland

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, Belize, Canada, Costa Rica, Israel, Spain, United Kingdom, United States

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