Some personal insights about Bonnie:
Scuba Diving
I am a PADI Divemaster, and have dived in France, Egypt, Senegal, Guadeloupe, the Dominican Republic, and the UAE. I have trained new divers, both in pools and in the ocean, and have experienced a huge variety of emotions while on this journey.
Photography
I am an enthusiastic amateur photographer, and have had photos accepted to online photo sharing sites for years.
“Desktop Publishing” and Web Design
I was one of the first to embrace the power of computers to facilitate publication, and early on was a professional creator of newsletters for companies. I prepared several books for reputable printing firms, and learned web development before it was “WYSIWYG”. My first website, for the American Church in Paris, was coded entirely by hand in html. I am currently a competent WordPress developer and website creator.
Art
I enjoy creating art through a number of mediums, including acrylic, mosaics, crochet tableaux, cyanotype, and many others.
Language and Writing
I write, read, analyze, teach… language and about language. I have studied linguistics and literature, and every learning moment in the early days continues to echo in my daily life. I’ve written text for technical manuals, translated film scripts, kept journals and a blog, and edited numerous texts written by others.
One of my passions is learning foreign languages. I studied German first, then French, then Japanese, a bit of Russian, some Khmer… am now trying to tackle Arabic.
All of my young life, I wanted to learn French. Perhaps this was due to the fact that my mother was trying to learn French while pregnant with me, and listened to hours of recorded lessons. I didn’t have the opportunity to learn French in school, but finally was able to begin my study of French at age 18. I was intent on learning the language well enough to pass as a native speaker (perhaps inspired by spy novels I read about the hero being able to go about unnoticed in a foreign land.) One of the accomplishments I am most proud about is that I can fool most native French-speakers into thinking I’m also a native French-speaker.
Learning
I am a passionate, lifelong learner.
Reading
Iam an avid reader and miss the days when I had time to read books.