CURRENT MISSION

To live life, damage nothing but write about, photograph and share the experience.

ABOUT ME

Alex:I love to experience the day to day joy of seeing the weather change and nature showing its multitude of faces to the world. Creative people are a joy and to make things, garden and cook are some of my biggest pleasures.

Asa: Being a freelancer working with what I love, I've tended to work a lot when I can. A bit of a workoholic, to be honest, but have recently taken steps to enjoy free time and people more... I like fresh air, food, good conversation, playing games, telling/hearing stories and dancing.

PHILOSOPHY

Alex: That life is better with difficulty and excitement. We should seek happiness in people and experiences. We should never deny ourselves pleasure except when it hurts others.

Åsa: Less is more. Feminism will make the world a better place, for boys and girls alike.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Alex: In the long term I would like to live in a community where anybody can stay and contribute with work or creativity. Now I would like to find a network of people who are already doing that or are interested in the idea.

Asa: Very similar to Alex, really...

NEWS! We have moved Sweden this summer, to an old farm on the Baltic coast a couple of hours north of Stockholm. We will welcome couchsurfers who don't mind going out in the sticks, and can handle a paint brush... :)

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Alex:I am new to the online version, but I have often invited people I have met on transport and who need somewhere to stay to sleep on a sofa or spare bed where ever i happen to be living.
When traveling and hitch hiking abroad I have often been given places to stay by friendly people I have met.

Asa: Our most intense period of couchsurfing with the online version, was while making our way from southeastern Mexcio to New York, mostly hitch hiking and couchsurfing along. For me, travelling has never been the same since. The trust and kindness of the people who crossed our paths have made me look differently at strangers, and wanting to be a better stranger myself.

Interests

Alex:I am interested in human rights and freedom of expression. I am curious about the sociology of indigenous people all over the world. Connected with that I am interested in how people collect wild honey, gather wild food and farm in traditional ways in different parts of the world.
I like to write and take photographs.

Asa is interested in people and their habits and relationships, dreams and their architecture, myths, rituals, charged objects, film, theatre, making things (preferably large),graphic novels, reading, talking, playing the saw, sewing... More recent interests are connected to our first and very own home in Hallen - I want to build furniture, tree houses, yurts, go kajaking, learn about solar power, create an art studio and performance/ meeting space in the barn...

• arts
• singing
• performing arts
• architecture
• documentaries
• film making
• dancing
• environment
• human rights
• womens rights
• dining
• cooking
• yoga
• gardening
• news
• reading
• traveling
• knitting
• painting
• drawing
• guitar
• outdoor activities
• hiking
• freelancing
• geography
• sociology

Music, Movies, and Books

Alex: Manufactured Landscapes, Ten Canoes, Films by Wong Kar Wai like Happy Together and Chungking Express, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Pulp Fiction generally documentaries about humanity and political/sociological issues.
Any music with accordions are a favorite now especially Zydeco and Balkan Gypsy music.
Favorite book is War and Peace, also like travel literature like Norman Lewis, Peter Fleming, Eric Newby

Åsa: Tom Waits, Dolly Parton, Nina Simone, Ani DiFranco, Björk, Ane Brun, Bow Wow Wow, Anna Ternheim, Johnny Cash, Kidnap Alice, Joni Michell, Emmylou Harris, Ryan Adams, First Aid Kit... and many more.
Film: Miyazaki, David Lynch (Mulholland Drive especially), Paul Thomas Anderson, Roy Andersson, Thomas Alfredson, Sofia Coppola.
Books: Siri Hustvedt, Tove Jansson, Daphne du Maurier. 1984 by George Orwell etched in the back of my head. Margaret Atwood! China Meiville's and Philip Pullman's conjured universes. I retreat to Astrid Lindgren when I need to remember who I wanted to be when I was little.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Alex: I and a friend in Argentina carried his malnourished child and his other child out through the forest of the Chaco to catch a bus to the clinic in a town 6 hours away by bus through the 40 degree heat so saving the life of the child. I saw him again a year later in perfect health.

Teach, Learn, Share

Alex: I know a lot about nature, growing things and the social and physical geography of certain areas and the world in general. I am very good at exploring new places and remembering the routes and treasures I find.
I want to learn more practical skills to do with making, building and using the outdoor environment.
My latest interest is film making. Preferably documentary about real but extraordinary groups of people and communities.

Asa: I'm a problem solver. I can teach you some good drawing techniques (used to teach life drawing), tell you stories from Norse and Greek mythology, basic sewing and knitting and crouché, Swedish and English,and how to make great papier maché. Would like to learn Spanish, French and German,to sing better in harmonies, play the guitar and cello, stories of all kinds - true and made-up,yoga and all kinds of dancing (of which I don´t do enough...)Would also like to learn CAD programs and to play melodies on the saw I got from Alex. At the moment it doesn't sound great, so tips are welcome.

• 

•