I've been living in Monterey since March 2018, after living overseas for about seven years before that. I'll be here for about three years total until March 2021 before I move back to the Middle East. I grew up in South Texas and this is my first time living in California, so I can’t really claim to be a local here. I've been living in various locations around the world for my job for seven years. I hosted in Italy and then Japan for the last three years and I’m looking forward to hosting some in my home country if not my home state.

I'm generally a very quiet, reserved person and although I do try to break out of my shell occasionally, my inner introvert still keeps coming out. I spend a lot of my time studying Arabic now so I probably won’t have time to do much with my guests. You’re welcome to join more for a jog in the morning or we can go for a walk after I get back from class. I'm not the type of person who enjoys going out dancing and drinking all night long.

Over the past seven years I've lived in Kamakura, Japan, just south of Tokyo; in Naples, Italy, the largest city of southern Italy; in Bahrain in the Gulf region of the Middle East; and in Guam in the West Pacific. I've been fortunate to have had the opportunity to travel throughout much of Asia and Europe, as well as some of Africa while living overseas.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I started hosting just to see what it was like, but the more I host the more I realize that hosting people is something that keeps me busy and that I enjoy helping people out with their travels and showing them around places that I've only discovered and learned about a year or so ago.

I additionally enjoy surfing when I get the chance myself and enjoy bringing my hosts a little bit of the culture of the United States. By staying with my hosts often outside of the normal tourist areas I'm exposed to places I would never have thought of going on my own.

I'm willing to host anyone and have hosted just about anyone regardless of age, gender, nationality, or number of references. However the more I host the more I realize the frustration of finding a host even for an experienced host, so I give preference to fellow hosts with hosting references. If you do not host or do not have references at all, I will still consider hosting you, but I may not confirm you as a guest until closer to your stay in order to give couchsurfers who do host a chance to request to stay with me. If you host (and particularly if you have many hosting references) and are looking for a host, please send me a request. I will do everything I can to give you a place to stay at my apartment.

Interests

Other than travel in general I am particularly interested in Africa both professionally and personally. So far I've only been to Egypt, Djibouti, Tanzania, Mozambique, Madagascar, and South Africa as well as the Addis Ababa airport in Ethiopia and the island nations Seychelles and Mauritius, but I'd like to travel more in the future. Senegal and Southern Africa both sound very interesting.

When traveling I enjoy sending postcards to my friends and family. It started for my seven year old niece but in the last few years my list has grown quite extensive and I now send about 20 postcards from each place I visit. I end up spending a considerable amount of time looking for the right postcards, finding a post office and buying stamps, writing the postcards, and sending them all before I move onto another city.

I'm a collector and I love making lists. In addition to my postcards, I collect fridge magnets and I make lists of all the countries I've visited. The CS app feature that tracks countries you've hosted people from is wonderful. If you're from a country I haven't had a guest from yet, you can be sure I'll make every effort I can to host you.

I read as much as I can, mostly nonfiction and particularly history.

I exercise, but mostly just to stay in shape: mostly running and strength training.

Music, Movies, and Books

I like reading, listening to music, and watching movies, but I've always hated trying to rank my experiences according to what I enjoyed the most, more, less, and the least and I don't like making long lists of every band, song, movie, and book I like. I used to put specific music, movies, and books in this square just to humor the website, but I would always get requests from people saying how they like that music, movie, or book too. It always seemed so forced. I'm on couchsurfing to meet people not like me, not to meet people that have read the same books, or listen to the same music, or watch the same movies as me. You don't have to pull some specific detail out of my profile to put in your request just to prove to me you've read it. I read every request I get and usually respond as promptly as I can. I don't get enough requests to make that difficult.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I'm not sure. I'm not good at answering questions like these.

Teach, Learn, Share

I can share my travel experiences and would love to learn about yours in exchange.
I could teach you how to play card games: bridge, spades, hearts, euchre, etc. or we can try to play one of my board games if you're interested.
I'd really love to learn anything you want to teach me. I really think every new experience I have makes me a better person.

What I Can Share with Hosts

In addition to the postcards I send to my relatives I also send postcards to myself to keep as mementos. I like to keep them as small handy mementos of the places I've been to. Besides just my travel experiences, I can share my postcards with my hosts.

I'm not going to say I'll cook for you, because let's be honest I know that's not going to happen. I actually used to cook a lot and liked trying new recipes and experimenting, but it's been several years since than and I haven't cooked much in the last five years.

Countries I’ve Visited

Albania, Andorra, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Bahrain, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Djibouti, Egypt, England, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Guam, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Laos, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macao, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malaysia, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Netherlands, North Korea, Northern Ireland, Northern Mariana Islands, Norway, Oman, Palestine, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russian Federation, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Scotland, Serbia, Seychelles, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Vatican City State, Viet Nam, Wales

Countries I’ve Lived In

Bahrain, Guam, Italy, Japan, United States