I was born and raised in Brazil, and I currently live in California with my wonderful (and wonderfully supportive!) wife and many great friends. In between now and some 32 years ago, I've also been fortunate enough to live in Argentina (great tango and some of the best cafes in the world!), Belgium, Germany (both Redwitz -- 3,000 inhabitants, look it up -- and Dresden -- was there for the great flood of 2002) and Japan (京都 -- six months there and I still didn't manage to see all the temples and shrines I wanted to visit), which may explain my love of learning languages. I'm passionate about tea (as a drink, as a ceremony, as a connection between friends all the way back to the land and to those who planted, tended, harvested and processed the tea), about biking (as a method of transportation and a way of life), about dancing (as community, as self-expression, as meditation, as exercise), about our stewardship of this incredible planet we're living in (the first answer I ever remember giving as a kid to "what are you going to be when you grow up?" was "environmentalist"), about science (in the way everyone who's endlessly curious about everything around tends to gravitate towards science). I'm looking forward to being back in Japan this Fall, meeting new people and learning and spreading ideas on living both better and more lightly on this planet! よろしくお願いします。
As I type, the team, under the careful guidance of Eri-san, is currently busy making the very first batch of BEE Natural Soap! Eri-san guided us through the process of using lye to saponify vegetable oils (along with some essential oils — orange and rose — for that extra nice smell). After about 40 minutes [...]
The south of Hokkaido was full of dragonflies. It’s hard to think of a ride when we didn’t get to see them fluttering around the path, wings glittering in the sun. This one was taking a break at the same rest stop we used on a bike path (converted from an old railroad track, with [...]
Hirosaki, the city where we stayed yesterday, lives at the foot of Mount Iwaki. It was a bit cloudy, but it did make for some very nice views along the way.
Only 9 days to go before the BEE 2009 Ride gets started in Wakkanai! And we’ve just received our official 2009 BEE Japan bike jerseys from Mt. Borah — they not only look great (thanks to Eddy Tang, who designed it), but they’re also made with 47% recycled material by Mt. Borah. We may have [...]
Want to make your own custom sports drink, save some money and reduce plastic bottle usage? Here’s a very quick recipe: Ingredients sugar, 2 1/2 tablespoons (about 32 grams, or “a handful”) salt, 1/8 teaspoon (about 0.75 grams, or “a pinch”) flavoring of choice (fruit juices work great, e.g. lime) Take all ingredients, add to [...]
