Christine Piontek:  

Life Basically, Ive lived a lot of places - Ecuador, Mexico, Spain, UK, Rwanda, South Africa, Italy... spoken a lot of languages (or tried to), eaten some really interesting, sometimes scary food and done a little good work for a pittance, made some colorful mistakes and made a difference in a handful of lives. Have developed an ecclectic if not bizarre palate of sorts: -tastes in food leaning twd Thai/Japanese/Mexican/Indian/Middle Eastern/ Mediterranean -world music fusion (Bangra, medieval, swing, African & Dixie jazz, what my mother affectionately calls whiners or female vocalists like Vonda Shepard & Dulce Pontes) -foreign, indie films, bollywood -and oodles of printed bits (The Sun creative arts mag, Shambala Sun buddhist, short stories, history esp ancient, abraham-hicks, rumi) Have hobbies like gardening, jewelry-making, creative writing, cooking, when, that is, I manage to pry myself away from work. Tend to do most things to excess, embracing the essentials of my ethnic heritage - travel like a Polish refugee, entertain & lose my temper like an Italian. En fin, biographical keywords would be something like: gypsy, adventurer a-la-pippi longstocking, liberal, global citizen, Renaissance woman, satisfied but still seeking. School Memorable moments: failing chemistry (one day perhaps I will repent not having memorized the periodic table…), humanities & creative writing classes and their applications, some amazing & gifted teachers and friends that crossed my path, clubbing at lunch time for a good cause, the sheer and utter joy of opting for ‘adult school’ and not having to deal with a graduation ceremony or the prom, ah. College Completed the college buffet program option went all over and enjoyed learning what I wanted, somehow managing to pull together a degree, small miracles do happen. Schools Ive attended… Ecuatoriano Mixto (Quito, Ecuador), Reading Area Community College (Reading, PA), University of Barcelona (Spain), World College West (Petaluma, CA), University of Morelia (Mexico), Toledo & Gasset Foundation, Toledo (Spain), University of Barcelona (Spain), Grossmont Community College,(San Diego, CA)…leading to a degree from the University of the State of New York (the one school which I never attended)…then on to University of California (San Marcos, CA) and wrapping up with the School for International Training. Now have student loans larger than the GDP of some countries...actually have paid those off ...Expand for more