"The roots of all goodness
lie in the soil
of gratitude for goodness."

Dalai Lama

"I went to the woods because I wished
to live deliberately,
to front only the essential facts of life,
to see if I could learn what it had to teach,
and not, when I came to die,
discover that I had not lived."

Henry David Thoreau

"People will forget what you say.
People will forget what you do.
But they will never forget
how you make them feel."

Maya Angelou

.........

Hello!

I am a volunteer
teacher and mentor

to students
overlooked

living in the shadows,

with ability

but without hope.

My fiancé, Jenessa, and I
find joy
in the beautiful struggle
of the classroom,
believing in students
so that they may
believe in themselves.

We are alive
to the possibility
in people,
the potential
of profound human resilience. 

Each
in our own way
has learned
suffering is
the secret language
of the world,
giving us empathy
to grow.

Jenessa and I are
on a journey.

We both love to see
through the eyes
of others,
embracing
d i v e r s i t y
in people
in cultures,
in Nature,

luxuriating
in laughter◇conversation.

We hike,
swim,
and sing,
however off-key.
We revel in nëw experiences.
We adore authentic music
from the heart,
in every culture,
the sounds of
intense human emotion,
the universe
beyond°•°•°°•
language.
We are fascinated
by in
ventive
art+architecture,
new ways
to s€E

We both love

ideas:
intensity,
c°mplexity,
amßiguity,
nuance,
the pleasure of difficulty.

We spend four hours
discussing
a two hour movie.

We love
surpr🤸ses.
We savor
drinking the bitter buzz
of coffee
with the sweet tang
of oranges,
apple slices
dipped in ¶eanut butter,
how (=^ . ^=) roll over ~~
when happy,
reading a novel
aloud together,
making people laugh
*without words,
the t^ngle^^on^^the )skin(
after a g¤¤d
workout,
the aroma
of the soil
when it rains
after many dry days,
learning words
that have no =
in English,
making sil.ly puns,
getting wet in the rain,
painting each toenail a
different (olor,
finding a fl{}wer
we have never seen,
staying up all night to
watch
the sun r!se,
letting all
our hair/////grow~~long|||||
making a list of life's
((((pleasures))))

Jenessa has taught me to see
through the eyes
of a woman of color,
to be a better listener,
to be more sensitive,
to be a better man.

*****************************************************

Please see Jenessa's profile, under the user name (((( Jenessa )))). https://www.couchsurfing.com/people/jenessa-tran

Что привело меня на Couchsurfing

What better way to free ourselves from the prison of suspicion, to find freedom and joy now in this ball of confusion, than to believe in a world without strangers? In this painful historical moment, it is a comfort to find those who are curious, without borders, who treasure diversity and compassion. To paraphrase Charles MacKay, delusion takes many people quickly in a contagion, but healing is made slowly, one by one.

Интересы

to be sensitive, sensory, sensuous, sensual, sensational...

• cats
• books
• poetry
• theater
• architecture
• photography
• body art
• flamenco
• exercise
• yoga
• pilates
• politics
• painting
• live music
• jazz
• blues
• hiking
• camping
• swimming
• anthropology
• teaching
• history
• political science
• volunteering
• nature
• naturism
• stargazing
• friendship
• reggae
• feminism
• conversation
• improv
• trance music
• mentoring
• surrealism
• picnics
• night walks
• psychedelics
• vegetarian cooking
• bluegrass
• snorkelling
• flea markets
• cannabis
• museums and exhibitions
• fkk
• social psychology
• empathy
• peanut butter
• teaching english
• bossa nova
• puns
• orange
• abstract art
• learning spanish
• word games
• thrift stores
• rocksteady
• infographics
• nudismo
• expressionism
• swimming in the sea
• mbalax
• patience
• art deco
• wit
• nightswimming
• zydeco
• body painting
• charades
• purple
• camping trips
• true stories
• cueca
• pillowfights
• rumba catalana
• figure modelling
• jota
• sardana
• mbaqanga
• computer drawing
• conversation circles
• magic of reality
• scientific evidence-based living

Музыка, кино и книги

Music
Van Morrison: "Astral Weeks"
Bruce Springsteen: "Nebraska"
"John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman"
"B.B. King Live at the Regal"
Muddy Waters "Live at Newport"
"The Swan Silvertones"
"The Complete Hank Williams"
Louis Armstrong: "The Complete Hot Five and Hot Seven Recordings"
"The Balfa Brothers Vol. 1, 2"
"Camerón de la Isla con Tomatito Paris 1987"
Astoria Piazolla: "Libertango"
Bill Monroe Anthology
Cachao: "Master Sessions, Vol. 1"
João Gilberto: "Chega de Saudade"
Milton Nascimento: "Cluba da Esquina"
"Azymuth"
Cumbia Soledaña: "Pa' Gone El Carnavá"
Violeta Parna: "Gracias a la Vida"
Youssou N'Dour: "Set"
Various Artists: "Ghana Special"
Mohotella Queens
Studio One: Birth of a Legend
Jimmy Cliff: The Harder They Come

Books

"Factfulness: Ten Reasons Why We Are Wrong About the World and Why Things Are Better Than You Think" by Hans Rosling
"Guns, Germs, and Steel" by Jared Diamond.
"All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr.
"Thinking Fast and Slow" by Daniel Kahneman

Movies

"Ikiru (To Live)" by Akira Kurosawa.
"Paths of Glory" by Stanley Kubrick.
"The Verdict" by Sidney Lumet.
"Nights of Cabiria" by Federico Fellini
"Local Hero" by Bill Forsyth
"The Apartment" by Billy Wilder

Классная вещь, которую я сделал(-а)

I have a beautiful, difficult career: affirming students without hope. I aim to be the best teacher I never had, aware that effort and ability are often blunted by many factors beyond students' control, including learning differences and personal turmoil, the accumulated poison in family and in society. Even on disheartening days, I try to savor my successes, the respect I offer returned in trust, building a classroom community. We laugh, we cry, we leave in June better than we arrived in August.

Учу, учусь, делюсь опытом и информацией

We love conversation about journeys on the map and in the mind: efforts, experiments, and experiences, lives lived in full.

Our favorite questions are:

What is your favorite word? Why?
What is your idea of Happiness?
What is your identity?
What have you changed your mind about?
What do you know now that you didn't know before?

Чем я могу поделиться с хостами

Humor.
Energy.
Concentration.
Listening.

We are endlessly curious.
We live in wonder.
We match their generosity with our gratitude.

Где я побывал(-а)

Austria, Canada, Czech Republic, England, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Romania, Slovakia

Где я жил(-а)

Canada, United States