Hobbies

My two greatest passions are photography and traveling. I try to combign these whenever possible. I will have a great opportinutiy to do so in October when spend 6 months traveling around South America! My goal is to spend about 2-3 months in Buanos Aires, 2-3 months in Santiago, and vist most of the other countries in the process.

I believe that to understand a culture, you have to live there. Two to three mothhs is a short time, but it should be long enough for me to get a good feel for the culture.

My goals for this trip are to learn Spanish, understand the culture, do a lot of photography, meet new people and visit old friends. Learning Spanish will be the most dificult for me. My language skills are dep in the 'poor' side of the scale. I figure that living in South America will be the only way I will have a chance to lean the language. Unlike Amsterdam, English is not spoken on the streets by the locals.

For my photography, I will continue two series I have been working on. One is photographing people in their homes. The other is a study of cemetaries around the world. I have photographed cemetaries in London, Paris, Ciaro, and Prague. I will add to this cemetaries throughtout South America. Once I have a healthy collection, I will put them into a book.

Toys

I currently have two toys. My car and my bike. My car is a 1959 Austin Healy Sprite. His name is 'Good Boy'. He is mostly in perfect condition (he needs a new first gear). He currently spends most of his time in the garage. I has been a wet summer in Amsterdam. I don't lke taking him out in the rain, so he ends up sleeping happily most of the time.

My bike is a standard Dutch bike. Unlike the other bikes in Amsterdam, this one has not been stolen since for at least 7 years (I bought it used from a shop, not a 'street dealer'). That is a feat worth noting in the city where each bike has had at least 5 owners.