**** NOTE TO ANY POTENTIAL GUESTS OR HOSTS *** --- My wife, Naomi, and I are both fully vaccinated from COVID-19

Also please note that we have no cats, but we have an aggressively friendly dog who can be a lot of fun but also a bit of a pest at times.

We are an empty-nest couple who are still living in the home where we raised two sons . . . now adults and not living at home. I am working at learning German as I have time between other commitments. We love to host people and love hearing about other cultures and ways of life.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

We are interested in interacting with people from other cultures. We have done house-swaps with families in the UK and Ireland at different times, which was great fun. But, it does not allow for much conversation with your fellow "swappers," since you are still far away from each other during the swap. This format allows for shorter commitments and the opportunity to chat.

Interests

My favorite pasttime is sitting around a table and getting to know people better by having good conversations with them.

• hiking
• history
• biking
• raquetball
• discussing culture

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies: Coen Brothers Movies (Raising Arizona, No Country for Old Men . . . ), Forrest Gump, Millenium Trilogy, spy movies and generally anything that does not insult my intelligence.

Books: Too numerous to name: historical fiction, philosophy, psychology, culture, historical, comparative religions, politics. And, of course, Agatha Christie novels, esp. Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple.

Music: 80's pop, classical, celtic.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Most amazing thing I did was marry my wonderful wife of 25+ years, after being widowed suddenly with two kids at the age of thirty. She brought up our sons as her own, and they are wonderful 30-somethings who seem to still like us. She said she preferred having kids that way: no pregnancy, labor pains, and she got them after all of the nasty potty training.

Teach, Learn, Share

Both of us work or have worked for organizations with an overseas focus. Naomi works for Ten Thousand Villages, a fair-trade retailer that purchases crafts from overseas artisans and sells them in North America. Neal also worked at Ten Thousand Villages for 17 years, and later worked for a nonprofit aid and development organization that is related to Ten Thousand Villages.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Lancaster County history and heritage. We live midway between Washington, DC and New York City, a 3-hour trip to either place. We have a lovely home with two full-sized guest rooms. We enjoy being local tour guides if we have the time. We live in a quiet, wooded neighborhood, but near all of the conveniences of a small city. We live very near both a large, wooded park and a large, open public park with a public swimming pool and 18-hole golf course.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Bangladesh, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Northern Ireland, Switzerland, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States