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Overview

  • 227 references 144 Confirmed & Positive
  • Fluent in Dutch, English, German; learning French, Italian, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish
  • 45, Male
  • Member since 2008
  • Traveling, Writing, Being the change, Being a father
  • Travel and some university degrees 1 inch short of a phil...
  • No hometown listed
  • Profile 100% complete

About Me

** We are now living in Den Bosch, Netherlands **
KEYWORDS
poetry, philosophy, collaborative economy, organic, food independence, permaculture, arts, theater, no enforced religion, diversity, resilience, self-reliance, no extremism, individual privacy, sharing, family, sustainability, peace, respect for nature, Chomsky, anti-capitalism, anti-system, creativity, modesty, anti-consumerism, human rights, deep green resistance, multiculturalism, helping, natural building, learning, sharing, transition, gay friendly, vegetarian friendly, gift economy.

feel free to contact me or pass this on to people you know who might be interested.
_____________________________________
And this too: CHARITY TRAVEL! KIND*MANKIND!

connecting goodness while traveling this world

I went to school and studied philosophy in the Netherlands (where I was born), came to Berlin in 2002, and have been working all kind of odd jobs (computer stuff, tutoring, translating, teaching). I wrote a PhD on ethics and appear to be a nomad since 2008.

kindmankind.netI am positive about the following initiatives on kindmankind. I have personally been there and recommend independent volunteers and changemakers to work with them:Great Baikal Trail; Social Way Down; Building a Community Excellence Center; COMPA el alto; Microfinance in Western Vitu Levu (MFW); Eph'phatha Orphan home; Guerilla Volunteering! ThreeLeftHands on the Westcoast of Africa.; Saigon Children's Charity ; ACEV; Kagisano; Paseo Los Monos; ADAN - Association de Défense des Animaux et de la Nature - Rabat - Maroc;

PHILOSOPHY

Maybe life is about trying to be as gentle, loving, caring and kind to each other as we can.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Hosting whenever possible and trying to be a good guest.

In my future apartment I will have several couches or hammocks depending on the latitude. Promise. I my current flat you can crash on a mat in a small room.

And I participate by always offering to cook, clean, sharing knowledge and carry heavy things ;)

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

October 16th, 2008. Tallinn, Estonia. Great experience!
October 21th, 2008. Helsinki, Finland. A Perfect host!
October 27th, 2008. Helsinki, Finland. Mesmerized!
November 5th, 2008. Rovaniemi, Finland. Superb!
November 9th, 2008. Muonio, Finland. Great Stay.
November 10th, 2008. Tromso, Norway. Cosy Couch.
November 14th, 2008. Kirkenes, Norway. Fantastic.
November 20th, 2008. Murmansk, Russia. Way cool!
November 22th, 2008. St. Pete, Russia. Most relaxing.
November 27th, 2008. Moscow, Russia. Awesome!
December 3th, 2008. Kiev, Ukraine. Really amazing!
December 16th, 2008. Katowice, Poland. Very special.
January 2009. Lyon, France. Très très chique.
February 2009. Lisbon, Portugal. Marvelous!
February 2009. Rio de Janeiro. Carnival in heaven.
February 2009. Buenos Aires. Vibrating City!
March 2009. Bariloche, Argentina. Way up.
March 2009. Santiago de Chili. Chilly.
March 2009. Cordoba, Argentina. Woof woof!
April 2009. Quito, Ecuador. Lofty lagunas.
June 2009. San Salvador. Great place to relax.
June 2009. Los Angeles. Venice Beach! Hollywood!
June 2009. Taiwan, Taipei. Friendly people.
June 2009. Seoul, Korea. Life's a children's play.
July 2009. Novosibirsk, Russia. A warm welcome.
August 2009. Moscow. Big city and fresh Malini.
August 2009. St. Petersburg. Pushkin and Dostojewski.
August 2009. Helsinki. Best coffee on earth.
August 2009. Berlin. Back home and still surfing...
September 2009. Thessaloniki. Request for yesterday.
October 2009. Ankara. Komapsumnida.
October 2009. Aleppo. Cinq étoiles.
November 2009. Beirut. She's so beautiful.
November 2009. Dimasq. Three most friendly brothers.
November 2009. Amman. Fine Filipino gentleman.
November 2009. Ramallah. Making the peace.
November 2009. Nablus. Big apartment, big thoughts.
November 2009. Cairo. Laid back, paid back.
December 2009. Nairobi. Feels like home.
December 2009. Kisumu. Touch and go.
January 2010. Johannesburg. LA vibes.
February 2010. Maputo. Music Merits.
February 2010. Beira. A lovely family.
February 2010. Harare. Those cool guys.
February 2010. Vic Falls. The spirit is here!
February 2010. Gaborone. We should have stayed Weeks.
March 2010. Dubai. Delicious inspiration.
March 2010. Mumbai. Yes captain, no captain.
March 2010. Delhi. Magic Moments.
April 2010. Hong Kong. Calm, Clean Air, Voltra.
April 2010. Seoul. Cool nights and good food.
April 2010. Beijing. Love the 798 Art Scene.
May 2010. Chengdu. So much mutual interest.
May 2010. Kunming. Laid-back delicious.
May 2010. Vientiane. Cool vibes tonight.
June 2010. Saigon. Awesome hospitality!
June 2010. Battambang. Lovely project.
June 2010. Hua Hin. Fine talks.
June 2010. Ipoh. Follow the Road!
June 2010. Kuala Lumpur. Room with a view.
July 2010. Perth. Batavia breeze.
July 2010. Brisbane. Fantastic OZ surfin'.
July 2010. Sydney. Maroubra miracles.
August 2010. Auckland. Sprawling with life.
August 2010. Wellington. Conchord Flights.
August 2010. Fiji. Phenomenal.
September 2010. Santiago. Nice one.
September 2010. Buenos Aires. Sweet.
September 2010. Montevideo. Maravillosa.
October 2010. Miami. Columbian Greatness.
October 2010. Amsterdam. All good.
November 2010. Leeuwarden. High Arts.
December 2010. Mellensee. Hosted our friends.
December 2010. Kaunas. Happy Newyear!
January 2011. St. Petersburg. Magic and Beauty.
January 2011. Moscow. That Ecoloft is splendid.
January 2011. Ekaterinburg. Paths of Kindness.
January 2011. Irkutsk. Great Baikal Trail.
January 2011. Vladivostok. Fathoming the oceans.
May 2011. London. Those pretty green hills.
May 2011. Malmoe. Fantastic fabric.
August 2011. Vic. Viva la Vida Vic!
September 2011. Rabat. So niiiice!
September 2011. Rabat. Un très bon soirée.
October 2011. Dakar. Gracias mi amigo.
October 2011. Bissau. Living in the ONG.
November 2011. Dakar. Béguéeee! Allez les Xoslu!
November 2011. Istanbul. Very welcome.
December 2011. Istanbul. Laid-back...
January 2012. Utrecht. Family values
February 2012. Amsterdam. A home-brewery-y-y
February 2012. Amsterdam. Friendly Arthistorian.
March 2012. Frankfurt. Lofty Skipper.
March 2012. Frankfurt. Among book authors.
March 2012. Nairobi. Wild Wild Westlands.
March 2012. Nairobi. Making friends.
April 2012. Kisumu. Introducing Couchsurfing.
May 2012. Kampala. A laid-back expat life.
August 2012. Busan. A world of travelers.
May 2013. Manila. The red couch.
June 2013. Singapore. So delicious fish.
June 2013. Kuala Lumpur. Collaborative couch.
June 2013. Penang. Escher on batik.
June 2013. Bangkok. The hosting factory.
July 2013. Worpswede. Berries for breakfast.
December 2013. Luxemburg. Lovely family.
December 2013. Luxemburg. Jammin' good lunch.
January 2014. Carcasonne. Amazing.
February 2014. Barcelona. Hola Can Fenosa.
February 2014. Zaragosa. Monsieur... Periné
December 2014.
January 2015. Hungary.
March 2015. Groningen. Blabla - Serendipity
October 2016. Amsterdam. Poetic family
March 2017. Chiang Mai. Digital detox
August 2017. Macau. Like Europe
October 2017. Germany. Bouldering bravado
October 2017. Belgium. Lucky hitcher
October 2017. France. Yukelele jam!
2018. India. Kiss is it!
2018. Netherlands. Strong men
2019. US/Tibet. Tenzin Tharpa
2019. Kazachstan.
July 2019. India. Monsoon running
August 2019. Colombia. Tocando juntos

TRUSTROOTS PROFILE
https://www.trustroots.org/#!/profile/kamiel79
[Link your trustroots.org profile back to your couchsurfing profile to use the trust you have built up on Couchsurfing. It's YOURS, and YOU should be able to use it. Remember: trust is our social currency.]

Interests

Doing some good. The blogs are at
charitytravel.blogspot.com and creativechoice.org

Creating a platform for doing some good at kindmankind.net

Writing. As long as I can hold a pen, this life is worth living. See my "gently absurd" blog: kamiel.creativechoice.org

Violin Playing. My old hobby. Had lessons for 11 years. Taught a little kid for several years. Love to hear him play the Moldau, the Swan, and Vivaldi concertos.

Traveling.

Philosophy. All the way until a PhD thesis on Jonas the philosopher. I'll stop thinking the day I stop breathing.

Cinema. Movies can really cheer me up. From Antonioni to Woody Allen to Bergman, Fellini, Wong Kar Wai, Lars van Trier, Alfred Hitchcock, David Cronenberg, David Lynch, Wim Wenders, Pedro Almodovar, Emir Kusturica, Kurosawa, Truffaut, Godard, Ozon, Werner Herzog and (especially) the famous Chinese director Namedrop Ping.

Environment. www.green-challenge.org is a website I made with my brother a few years back. Also supporting environmental Causes with Charity Travel.

  • arts
  • writing
  • books
  • poetry
  • theater
  • education
  • environment
  • human rights
  • ethics
  • cooking
  • breakfast
  • coffee
  • vegetarian
  • movies
  • traveling
  • blogging
  • music
  • jazz
  • violin
  • swimming
  • teaching
  • philosophy
  • hitchhiking
  • language exchange
  • volunteering
  • mountains
  • permaculture
  • activism
  • parenting
  • sharing economy
  • p2p

Music, Movies, and Books

Annie Hall, The Birds, Casablanca, Eternal sunshine on the spotless mind, Reign on me, husbands and wives, everything you want to know about sex, love and death, Hannah and her sisters, persona, wilde erdbeeren, cries and whispers, todo sobre mi madre, hable con ella, Mulholland drive, Blue Velvet, inland empire, Amélie, Edward Scissorhands, Bitter moon, Chocolat, Left luggage, Before sunset, la vita è bella, das Leben der Anderen, Capote, Taxi Driver, Chinatown, Badlands, 8 1/2, Swimming Pool, Seven, Brokeback Mountain, Scent of a woman, Magnolia, Black cat white cat, In the mood for love, LA Crash, Jules et Jim, The big Lebowski, A fish called Wanda, der Pianist, Lost in translation, Mulholland drive, Save the last dance, cold mountain, Blow up, Closer, l'Avventura, Matchpoint, Scoop, Midnight in Paris, freedom writers, mar adentro, high noon, breaking the waves, dogville, el doctor alemán, Milk, into the wild, Gravity, blue Jasmin, grand Budapest hotel, wolf of Wallstreet
...

Music.
I use to say I like everything from Bach to Bobby McFerrin. Beethoven's Sonatas, Liszt's works for piano solo, Brahms' Violin Sonatas, Schumann's Kinderszenen, Shostakovitsch.
Brad Mehldau, John Coltrane, Diana Krall, Miles Davis, Oscar Peterson, Bill Mitchell, Dexter Gordon, Zoot Sims, Freddie Hubbard, Joe Henderson, Vienna Teng, Ray Brown, Lester Young.
Neil Young, Jethro Tull, Radiohead, Depeche Mode, U2, Massive Attack, Björk, Pink Floyd, Supertramp, Queen, Stevie Wonder, Sting., tame impala.
Putamayo, Fanfare Ciocarlia, Klezmorim, Goran Bregovic, Thievery Corporation, Gotan project, Monsieur Periné, Zaz.

Books.
Coetzee is great. And Dostojewski, Tchechov, Gogol, Turgenev, Kundera, Tolstoi, Proust, TS Elliott, Coleridge, Keats, Virginia Woolf, DH Lawrence, Nietzsche, Baudelaire, Verlaine, Byron, Schopenhauer, Joyce, Larkin, Rimbaud, Trakl, Sartre, Camus, Deleuze, Barthes, Schiller, Goethe, Stendhal, Grass, Herder, Musil, Hemingway, Bukowsky, Henry Miller, Margetet Atwood, Huxley, Joyce, James, Thoreau, Zizek.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Becoming a father: family.creativechoice.org

Smoked a Cuban cigar in Vinales, Cuba and feel like Che (actually my real last name IS Chè but that is another story)

Hitchhiked to Lapland, rolled naked in the snow after a sauna

Hiked to a mountain top in South Korea in harch weather condition

Drove the US coast to coast in a van

Caught a small time crook together with John the Baptist in Vilnius, Lithuania

Played a street musician's violin in Katowice, Poland and earned him some money with Christmas carols

Spend the night on a rock in the Elbsandsteingebirge

Gave a young girl with a little sled a ride by tying the sled to a small bicycle on the Arctic Circle

Hitchhiking Novosibirsk-Omsk just sounds exotic. Ralf went all the way. We drove 220km/h in an Audi.

Vainly attempted to fry a Guatemalan quarter in a very hot and active volcano.

Overlooked Seoul from my couchsurfer's helicopter deck

Took the transsiberian railroad and loved it

Sailed from Colombia to Panama with sailing Koala via San Blas. The independent Kuna indians served us delicious smoked fish.

Surfed my best friend's couch in Berlin

Getting involved in independent charity http://charitytravel.blogspot.com has changed my life

Traveled through Israel with Hezbollah press card in my pocket

Campaigned for Peace on the West Bank

Helped a poor family in Cairo after riding around the pyramids on a camel

Built a whole orphanage in Kenya (this one is true)

Campaigned for child's rights in Nairobi slums

Crashed when hitching in Mozambique with a drunken driver.

Saw the big five in the wild in Masai Mara

Crammed 97 Kenyan orphans in a 3*3 space to watch Ice Age 3 with my pocket projector - they loved it

Petted a cheetah but hey, he was tame like a cat

Got three flat tyres on one hitched ride in southern Zimbabwe and )/&)(/"$ payed for it

Played a bump on the streets of Mumbai and was totally ignored

Stayed at an amazing orphan home in Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu, and set up income generating projects

Visited the Taj Mahal and lost the camera with all the photos of it

Went to Beijing and instead of seeing the great wall we watched the walls of independent artist studios about to be demolished.

Witnessed the unearthed terracotta warriors in Xi'an.

Climbed Mt. Emei and stayed in a temple.

Traveled in Yunnan on a trike we then donated to a merchant.

Played Dennis Hopper (RIP) on a rented motorcycle in Laos.

Sponsored the education of three children in Saigon.

Bought three cows to support families in Cambodia.

Planted mangroves at Bangkoks only mudcoast

Played with Myanmar refugee children in Kuala Lumpur.

Crossed Bali by motorbike and had fabulous fish at Batur lake.

Was in Australia for 2 weeks and saw only one kangaroo - a dead one while hitching the East Coast

Crashed a rental car in New Zealand's sulfur paradise Rotorua.

Supported a microfinance institution in Fiji while couchsurfing there and swimming with a dog named "CS"

Took in some wisdom of a chief in Uzpallata, Argentina

Helped the family of the boy, my namesake Camilo to generate some income with a juice stand

Licked the salt off the Salares de Uyuni in Bolivia

Painted the housefront of amazing arts centre COMPA in El Alto

Went to Miami Beach to be able to write people emails from Miami Beach.

Gave a presentation on Charity Travel in the heart of Manhattan.

Survived a Berlin winter in a bungalow with a fireplace.

Took the train from Berlin to Seoul in the winter.

Was a veritable resident of a Korean sauna for a few days.

Drove an old transporter down from Berlin to southern Spain then left it there.

Escaped the Fortress of Schengen to live in Morocco for a while.

Crossed the no-man's land into Mauretania in a Guinea-Bissau truck.

Hitch-hiked in the middle of the night in Senegal with big fires.

Crossed the Gambia on foot.

Had a beautiful baby daughter in January 2013.

Burned our family car completely like in the movies, but better.

Walked all night under a starry sky in Portugal.

Caused a forest fire that *exactly* burned down the spot we needed to brush cut, and nothing else.

Drove all through Europe with our daughter being lovely in the back seat.

Teach, Learn, Share

Anybody wants to know what 'hutspot' is?

Anybody interested in the life and times of Hans Jonas or my thesis about that German philosoper?

Helping the needy on the planet! We have gathered a lot of expertise we want to share with you, created the platform kindmankind.net and connecting goodness where we can.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I am in love with the sharing economy.
Apart from keeping you company, I can offer my host cooking, carrying heavy things, language exchange, help with internet stuff, philosophical conversations.

Countries I’ve Visited

Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Cambodia, Chile, China, Colombia, Croatia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, El Salvador, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Laos, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macao, Macedonia, Malaysia, Mexico, Monaco, Morocco, Mozambique, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Norway, Palestine, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, San Marino, Serbia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Syrian Arab Republic, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Vatican City State, Viet Nam, Zimbabwe

Countries I’ve Lived In

Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal, South Korea

Old School Badges

  • 24 Vouches
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