CURRENT MISSION

to find the world in Brussels and somewhere around it

ABOUT ME

I am a bloke who grew up in a small village but who always felt the need to know more, to experience new things and to get to know a whole bunch of different people. According to my friends I am a 'wauwelbak', a guy who likes to talk about whatever ... In my opinion, I do like talking to others, especially if they like talking to me. But I think I am also a good listener ... at least I hope so.

PHILOSOPHY

I am still not sure about whether there's a Supreme Being or Energy, and what that may be and how you would have to call that. I even ask myself if it really matters ... What I surely do not beleive in is a preset belief with deeply anchored rules of what you can and cannot do. More spirituality and philosophy and less religion, please ... Also importantly, respect seems most important to me: respect for yourself and for others, the last follows from the first.
I try to take things easy, sometimes that's easier to say than to do. However, I am not the constantly worrying type o' guy. I love feeling a 'soulbrother vibe' with new people: having the feeling I have known a NEW person since years, feel that hard to explain connexion. And what really blasts me off is that sometimes you learn most of people of which you wouldn't have expected ... Life's an eternal paradox: that might somehow be the beauty of it. It's great how human beings have resolved (and sadly also provoked) so many problems using science and technology, but suppose human kind would cease to exist without anyone suffering, let's say in two seconds, would that be a bad thing?

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I have both hosted people and surfed couches, though I have surfed much more than I have received others in my house, generally due to practical reasons. At this moment, I would love to host some more. Brussels is a good place for hosting!

I just love the spontaneous cultural crisscrossing that CS is! I hope to teach some of my knowledge to others and generally get wisdom in place! It's all about the exchange!

I have a blog with messages and pictures of my travel journeys in South America. This is the link: peetopreis.skynetblogs.be. The last couple of messages are in English, the older ones in Flemish. But of course you´ll understand the pictures ... Yes, it's true it hasn't been updated since eternity ...

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Couchsurfing just seems endlessly interesting! So far I have hosted quite some people and stayed in other people's houses and up till this moment my experiences range from nice to overwhelmingly beautiful! Couchsurfing shows that the big majority of people is actually well intentioned ... Every time I enter a new house or someone enters mine, it's a whole fresh experience. A bit like hitchhiking actually ...

Interests

Musiclike there's quite some rockmusic I like, plus some electronical music and recently, I am listening a lot to all kinds of Latin music, but I am certainly not a walking music encyclopaedia. When I have some time, I like to grab a good book (fiction or non fiction). Since some time I am also getting introduced in the marvellous art of capoeira ... and what might be most characteristic for me might me my undying urge to travel the world. And, oh yeah, a party from time to time!

• arts
• books
• beauty
• make up
• capoeira
• walking
• partying
• technology
• traveling
• blogging
• music
• latin music
• religion
• science
• hitchhiking

Music, Movies, and Books

Traveling in South America I got to know a Chilean eighties band I love: Los Prisioneros. Check it out. An incredibly interesting book I think of right now would be 'Crime and Punishment' of Dostojewski, so tormented and such a unique, melancholic atmosphere! It blew my socks off!

Furthermore: Arsenal (the band), Las venas abiertas de America latina (Eduardo Galeano), Anna Karenina (Fjodor Dostoyewski), Cidade de Deus, the Pianist, Faith no More, the Mars Volta, Tool, AC/Quo, cumbias colombianas, Novos Baianos, Roberta Sa ...

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Seeing, hearing and feeling Tungurahua volcano (Ecuador) erupting while the sun was setting is one of the most overwhelming and amazing things I have experienced in my life. The sheer power of nature, I'll never forget ...

Other amazing things: seeing a puma jumping from tree to tree in Calilegua National Park in Argentina; touching and observing an anaconda in Venezuela; observing the Perito Moreno glaciar in Patagonia

Well, I just realize that the most spectacular things I have seen or done have to do with nature and all of them took place in South America ...

Teach, Learn, Share

Enjoy the unexpected. Making too much plans on a travel trip destroys the whole vibe. And ... missing that bus might mean you meet a person that you'd have never met if you had taken it!

Some random questions and answers? Here we go ...

1) Which was the first completely alphabetised people in the world?
2) Relatively speaking, how many people in the world live in Asia?
3) Which, according to a study you can find on wikipedia, is the most globalised country in the world?

1) the guarani people of Paraguay (no, not a European country, nor the US). Paraguay was by far the most developed country in South America in the 19th century but a devastating war left the country in ruins and decimated its population.
2) two out of every three persons (China and India together make up almost 50 percent of the world population)
3) Belgium

Do these results surprise you? Well, now, surprise me!

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Colombia, Mongolia, Morocco, Nepal, Netherlands, Paraguay, Poland, Slovakia

Countries I’ve Lived In

Belgium, Brazil, Spain

•