CURRENT MISSION

Travelling to South America from jan 2010 to April 2010

ABOUT ME

I'm new to travelling abroad. I've lived my entire life in Toronto, Ontario. After 13 years in an office doing tech work for large internationals I'm ready to make wholesale change in my life.

I'm currently looking to travel to Ecuador, Peru, Chile and Argentina starting in Jan and ending in April. I'm wanting to volunteer, wwoof and partake in some soul expansion while i'm done there. I know it'll be a life changing experience for me. I'd love to meet those willing to host. I'm friendly and easy going.. excited to learn and involve myself in my surroundings.. and yes I can fix your computer too!

When I return I'll be coming back to Vancouver, British Columbia. I'll be looking to settle there for a time and ultimately I'd like to host there as well.

PHILOSOPHY

I'm a big believer in shaking up the status quo. I left a high paying job with a seemingly bright future to work for peanuts but have much more satisfaction by the end of the day. I think its vitally important to the soul to keep on your toes and challenge yourself in ways that often bring about fears and anxiety. Once on the other side of that, however, one often feels ready for even bigger challenges.. hah.. i think thats growth! Thats what I want to put first and foremost in my life right now.. I'm more ready than ever to leave the comforts of job security and sterile office environments for living outside, volunteering and making change in the world.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I'm new to the community and am excited to meet and learn from fellow travellers. I have an extensive plan to travel as far and wide as I can over the next five years with the hopes to host in places that I settle. Right now that looks to be Vancouver and Toronto.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

As mentioned I'm new to all of this but living in Toronto has granted me the opportunity to meet other couchsurfer hosts. A few of my friends have used the site extensively for a number of years so I've had the pleasure to meet hosts and surfers alike. I'm excited to be both of those myself.

Interests

I'm big into community organizing. Here in Toronto I've been involved in a number of projects ranging from arts based to workshops to fet events. I love working with people and hope to do so on my travels.

Another new and current fascination is languages. I'm currently studying spanish for my trip down to South America and I haven't been so taken with a field of study in quite some time. I hope to broaden that over the coming years.

Tech work has always been my bread and butter and while I have a real distaste for enterprise level tech work I've really enjoyed working for small start-ups and community based organizations. I'd love to be able to utilize that while travelling. If you know of any organization that offers that please let me know.. my search continues!

• arts
• technology
• traveling
• languages
• volunteering
• wwoof

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies - I'm big on docs.. I'm always up for learning something new or being challenged on what I think I know. I'm also a sci-fi head.. would love to see more foreign sci fi film. I admitedly have a strange fascination with horror (non-gore). This newer wave of reality based flicks totally wig me out but I like getting wigged out apparently.

Music - Always trying to broaden my horizons. I was a rave kid in the early 90's so my love of most forms of electronic still runs deep. Before that I was a big alt 80's fan. I have a big appreciation for what came before that and am fascinated with what is yet to come. Those currently pushing boundaries and making music that is hard to classify is always on my radar.

Books - These days i'll pick up almost anything. My time is so limited that I gain some serious satisfaction if I have the time to finish a book. My biggest love has always been boundary pushing sci fi from authors like LeGuin and Octavia Butler. Their brand of alternative sci-fi is endlessly fascinating to me. I appreciate classics. I'm always up for further recommendations. One of my favourite things to do when meeting a new friend is to exchange favourite books.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I know i've already mentioned it and perhaps it's not the most exciting thing but giving up my career in IT was something that took alot of inner strength. I'd had enough with being unsatisfied, doing work that didn't feel important all for job security and the promise of some bright future. Yes the pay was great but I was a slave to my work.

Giving that up has changed my life and has opened up so many doors that I didn't even know were there. I'm ready to do and see amazing things and perhaps soon i'll have something more interesting to write in this field but for now that's the biggest change that has happened for me. I hope that others who feel stuck doing what I was doing make the leap and start to get some control over their time.. in the end it's far more important than money!

Teach, Learn, Share

Well as mentioned i'm skilled in the areas of tech. I love to teach and am always willing to bring those two things together.

I also have some experience organizing so skill sharing that way would be fun and exciting to me.

I'd love to meet those willing to practise Spanish and i'd return the favour with some English.

Honestly i'm at a point in my life where i'm excited to learn almost anything.. i want to grow in alot of areas so chances are i'd find what you have to offer interesting.

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