Hey There, I am Joe (Joao) from Brazil. I've been a couchsurfer for about 18 years (i used to go to meetings and go out for coffee more than host or be hosted since my places were never that suited for hosting). I am a lawyer/Internationalist and I used to work with human rights and refugee assistance (still very much passionate for humanitarian organizations). I am really into cultures, and I lived abroad pretty much all my life (my family is from Italy, I went to high school in the USA, then I moved to China for some years, then Spain, Poland, Italy, and finally Egypt and Ireland).
I also have been a backpacker for many years so I dont think I'm very high maintenance at all. I do love languages, history, and society in general.
If you are hosted by me, be aware that my house is a 100% safe haven for open-minded people, who are not racist, homophobic, Islamophobic, misogynist and etc.
I am openly gay and live with my husband (we’ve been together/married for over 10 years) cleiton. He is a psychologist specialized in paleative care.
I get along well with people, and i am a really independent traveller (so, don't feel obligated to entertain me cuz everything is a plus, there are just no rainy days).
A year ago i needed to change careers (or pause it) because of external forces (i.e. trump closing aid to humanitarian projects) and i needed to sell my soul to a corporate job. Which worked well because i could forget the problems of the world and search for hobbies that would take my mind of work. I started crossfit, boxing, pilates, yoga (cant do a pose to save my life), went back to studying french, toom tons of photography classes, joined a naturist organization and even stared as a background extra in movies lol
I guess that's pretty much it, i am not hard to figure out, i like meeting people and knowing about different cultures as well as loving sharing Brazilian culture (by the way, fuck bolsonaro).
If you are being hosted by me and my husband, welcome, and hope you feel at home.
If you are hosting us, we swear we are really clean! :)

Ps: I'm glad to see so many people are back to CS, I lost my account cuz I deleted Facebook and somehow could not log in back here (oh yes, my husband and I are completely technology-illiterate, so imagine your 80-year-old grandpa and take some years off, that's us..I am actually fighting myself to don't write this text all in caps)

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I got to CS many years ago when i was living in china. it was a great way to meet chinese people and practice mandarin. But it escalated and i started going to meetings, meeting people, making friends...and many years later i can say i met some of the best people here.
Now we use CS pretty much to meet locals where we travel (even if you cannot host us, we are always up for coffee or meeting in general). You never get what a country is like if you only stick to being a tourist and dont actually talk to people who live there.

Interests

Music, psychology, travel, languages and culture, diplomacy, human rights, LGBT rights

• arts
• fashion
• photography
• humanitarian relief
• human rights
• traveling
• hiking
• boxing
• languages
• psychology
• nature
• naturism
• humanitarian aid

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies: A clock work orange, the stoning of soraya m., paradise now, dogville, le petit nicolas, les chansons d´amour, persepolis, transpointting, amelie polain, The pianist, ragoon, all the invisible children, any from almodovar, bertolucci, felinni, pasolini, moodysson...and so on, and i'm a fan of documentaries(among them i would say born into brothels and human trafikking are by far the greatest).

Music: i am the guy you will find on a room listening to some weird tibetan music, or some old indian hit... when i am not you will find me listening to bob dylan or cat stevens.(also the xx , moby, foster the people, skye, morcheeba, any kind of indie or trap, dubstep and trance).

Book: Every week i'm reading a new one and usually my favorite ones get "overtroned" by other great ones. But im into biographies a lot (any real account)

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Living in an elephant sanctuarium, going backpacking in spain from north to south, backpacking southeast asia. I was working in egypt during the arab spring, so that was actually something.

Teach, Learn, Share

im very good in writing and i speak some different languages, i've been studying different cultures my whole life as well as brazilian culture. I devoted my life to humanitarian works and NGO management, so if you are into human rights and protecting minorities i am a full plate to talk to lol.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Share experiences, teach languages (mainly english, portuguese, mandarin and spanish....french and italian i am no good at all to be honest).

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Cambodia, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Hungary, Laos, Mozambique, Poland, Scotland, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, United Kingdom, Viet Nam, Zimbabwe

Countries I’ve Lived In

China, Egypt, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Spain, United States

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