ABOUT ME

I am a fun-loving religion professor (world religions, not the Bible), one might better say "global awareness competencies". People say I am relaxed, kind and funny, if eccentric. I now live in Thailand in a place over-looking the old city from my seventh floor hotel room in Ubon, Thailand. I have chosen to live here and am so happy doing so. I pay my way, teaching for the University of Wisconsin and Central Michigan universities, religion and Buddhism online for Linfield College.
James

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I love to meet fellow travelers and offer them a free place to stay. It builds up some good karma for me as I seek to do the same for myself.

I sincerely prefer meeting people and spending money taking them out to their favorite place rather than being alone in a hotel. I want to know the culture when I visit places and what better way to do that?

Interests

I love teaching the religions and philosophical systems of earth, but as a social scientist, not a believer in any single one of them, but a believer in science and to varying degrees, all the religions. I have hundreds of documentaries on religion on the internet, with almost 4 million views. I love talking about religion and science a lot.

• documentaries
• teaching
• religion
• science
• filmmaking

Music, Movies, and Books

I Heart Huckabees is definitely my favorite movie of all time. Stranger in a Strange Land is a favorite book, along with Religion and Nothingness. Beethoven's symphonies, Abba, are among my diverse, favorite music genres.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Apart from traveling, my most amazing encounters are in the classroom...I learn a lot from my students. I have had the chance to volunteer teach in some Thai classrooms and these are most amazing...so very different.

Teach, Learn, Share

I have youtube channel at opensourcebuddhism and there you can see my lectures, if you are bored!

What I Can Share with Hosts

I will be so happy to bring along beverages, take you out to dinners, lunches and the like. Most find me interesting. Probably my facebook page says the most about me: jameskpowell is my address there.

Countries I’ve Visited

Cambodia, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Laos, Mexico, Serbia, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey

Countries I’ve Lived In

Canada, Nepal, Netherlands, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States