CURRENT MISSION

Meeting people drawn to the fine arts, languages or both. In your request, please state what we have in common.

I lived in Chicago from 2010–19, relocated to Hong Kong from 2019–22 and traveled in Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and East Asia in 2022–23. I will be in Asia, Europe and North America in 2023–24.

ABOUT ME

I love cultures, languages and music. My work involves all three. Nature has its place, but urban landscapes are better. English and German are my best languages, but I can function in French and Italian, and I fare moderately well in several others.

PHILOSOPHY

I strive to be helpful, whether in a small way or a big way. I know that good deeds are contagious.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Hosting or showing people around was easier in Chicago, but after relocating to Asia, hosting became more difficult as local apartments are generally small. Hosting you wherever I am when you find my page could work, but in any case, meet-ups are possible.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Lots of experience as a host in Chicago and some in Hong Kong, plus more while traveling. Limited experience as a surfer. Strong preference to host, not to be hosted. Already hosted surfers from:

Australia,
Brasil*,
Canada*,
Chile,
China* and Hong Kong*,
Côte d'Ivoire,
Czech Republic*,
Finland,
France*,
Germany*,
Hungary,
India*,
Indonesia*,
Japan*,
Kazakhstan,
Malaysia*,
México*,
the Netherlands*,
Nicaragua,
Norway,
Perú,
the Philippines*,
Russia*,
Singapore*,
Slovakia,
South Korea*,
Switzerland,
Taiwan*,
Thailand*,
Turkey*,
UK*,
USA*,
Uzbekistan, and
Vietnam*

(* = multiple guests from this country)

Interests

Aesthetics,
agnosticism,
architecture,
art cinema,
badminton,
bike-riding,
board games,
bowling,
Cognac,
hiking,
history,
humour,
languages,
literature,
music,
painting,
philosophy,
Scotch,
swimming,
tennis,
trains,
travel,
vegetarianism, and
whiskey/whisky

• arts
• humanities
• literature
• architecture
• design
• graphic design
• movies
• board games
• traveling
• painting
• coding
• music
• classical music
• cycling
• tennis
• swimming
• bowling
• history
• languages

Music, Movies, and Books

Fiction is great, but I am also apt to peruse dictionaries and reference works. I have read books by K. Abe 安部 公房, Achebe, Aira, Akutagawa 芥川龍之介, Auster, Babel Бабель, J. Baldwin, Banville, Beckett, Bellow, J. Berger, Bernhard, Böll, Borges, Bradbury, Bulgakov Булгаков, Burgess, Calvino, Camus, Can Xue 残雪, Cervantes, Coetzee, Conrad, Dagerman, Dazai 太宰 治, DeLillo, Diop, Döblin, Donoso, Dostoyevsky Достоевский, Endō 遠藤 周作, Ernaux, Erpenbeck, Fallada, Faulkner, Flaubert, Fonseca Suárez, Forster, Fosse, Fuentes, Galgut, García Márquez, Ge Fei 格非, Gide, Goethe, Golding, Grass, Greene, P. Griffiths, D. Grossman דויד גרוסמן, Guo Xiaolu 郭小橹, Gurnah, Han Kang 한강, Handke, Hawthorne, Hemingway, Hesse, Houellebecq, Hrabal, Hustvedt, Huxley, Ishiguro 石黒 一雄, Jelinek, Joyce, Kadare, Kafka, Kawabata 川端 康成, Keret אתגר קרת, Kertész, Kiš Киш, Kleist, Koestler, Kosiński, Krasznahorkai, Kundera, Le Clézio, Lem, Leung Ping-kwan 梁秉鈞, Li Juan 李娟, Lispector, Maalouf معلوف, Mann, C. McCarthy, Melchor, H. Miller, Mishima 三島 由紀夫, Mo Yan 莫言, Modiano, Molinaro, T. Morrison, Herta Müller, Muñoz Molina, Murakami 村上 春樹, Murata 村田沙耶香, I. Murdoch, Nabokov Набоков, Natsume 夏目 漱石, Nin, Flann O'Brien, Ōe 大江 健三郎, Pamuk, R. Powers, Proust, Pynchon, Rizal, Robbe-Grillet, P. Roth, Rulfo, Sade, F. Sagan, Sanmao 三毛, Sansal بوعلام صنصال, Saramago, Sarraute, Sartre, G. Saunders, G. Schein, Schweblin, Sebald, Shakespeare, Sholokhov Шолохов, Shuang Xuetao 双雪涛, Sjón, Solzhenitsyn Солженицын, Steinbeck, Swift, Tanizaki 谷崎 潤一郎, Tawada 多和田葉子, Tóibín, Tokarczuk, Tomasi di Lampedusa, Tournier, Tse 謝曉虹, Vonnegut, Vương, B. Washington, Patrick White, Whitehead, Wilde, Woolf, Wu Ming-Yi 吳明益, Yan Lianke 阎连科, Yanagihara, Yourcenar, Yu Hua 余华, Zamyatin Замятин, Zola, and Zweig recently.

Beloved filmmakers include Akerman, Bergman, Bertolucci, Bresson, Ceylan, Costa, Diaz, Fassbinder, Godard, Greenaway, Haneke, Hong 홍상수, Hou 侯孝賢, Jarman, Jia 贾樟柯, Kiarostami کیارستمی, Kieślowski, Kore-eda 是枝 裕和, Lee Chang-dong 이창동, Loach, Ozon, Pasolini, Resnais, Reygadas, Rivette, Tarkovsky Тарковский, Tarr, von Trier, Truffaut, Tsai 蔡明亮, Varda, Weerasethakul อภิชาติพงศ์ วีระเศรษฐกุล, and Yang 楊德昌.

I listen mostly to classical music from the past and from today, but sometimes pop music is perfect. Tindersticks is my favourite band.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Amazing? I am unsure. For me, what is most amazing is often what is simplest.

Teach, Learn, Share

I am good at absorbing languages, I have been told, and am able and willing to offer insight into the languages that I speak to varying degrees of fluency.

Also, with my background in musicology, I could gladly impart an appreciation for classical music.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Surfers have given compliments on generosity, knowledge of Chicago and Hong Kong (or wherever I may be!) and, of course, the comfort of the apartment.

Countries I’ve Visited

Albania, Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Denmark, England, France, Georgia, Germany, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Macao, Mexico, Netherlands, Philippines, Poland, Qatar, Romania, Scotland, Serbia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States, Uzbekistan, Wales

Countries I’ve Lived In

Hong Kong, United States

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