CURRENT MISSION

"work for a better future"

ABOUT ME

love people and knowledge and ideas! I'm hungry to understand the world and to somehow contribute towards it in a positive way. I spend too much time thinking. I'm passionate about leaving space for wilderness and for a diversity of other species as well as humans to live together on this planet. I believe in working for peace. I believe in living within our share of resources and not messing everything up for our children. I love meeting new people and learning new perspectives; on trains, in the street, for coffee, through my work and travel, online and through couchsurfing.

PHILOSOPHY

Respect, integrity, kindness, understanding, passion. I believe everything we do makes a difference and I find people like Gandhi and the Dalai Lama incredibly inspiring. I try to live lightly, share what I know, make people happy. I have some faith that 'small is beautiful' and that keeping a human scale on things is important. I am deeply curious about the world and everything in it.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Being an active couchsurfer! Hosting a lot, surfing when I can, welcoming new members, organising some meet-ups, being friendly!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I've lost count of how many guests we hosted, I guess around 250 when I lived in York through CouchSurfing and Hospitality Club, it was wonderful hearing their stories and insights! I can still remember most of their names! We had guests from Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Lebanon, Morocco, New Zealand, Norway, Palestine, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Taiwan, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, UK & USA! I have been lucky enough to stay with CS hosts in Morocco, Germany, Denmark, India, China, Turkey, Jordan and the UK and have been welcomed in a way I could never imagine.

Interests

People, ideas, wisdom, love, beauty, sustainability, equity, learning, peace, NGOs, diversity, languages, anthropology, social enterprise, capoeira, music, coffee and turkish delight, cooking and creating things, long evenings talking, exploring beautiful places, philosophy and social theories, the desert, forests, beautiful textiles and crafts, markets.

• beauty
• music festivals
• festivals
• capoeira
• human rights
• cooking
• recipes
• coffee
• yoga
• clubbing
• crafts
• politics
• traveling
• knitting
• music
• surfing
• anthropology
• economics
• languages
• volunteering

Music, Movies, and Books

Music: I love music! world music, folk, arabic, reggae, blues, jazz, choral and classical music. My current favorites are Lena Chamamyan, Tiris, Omar Faruk Tekbilek, Rim Banna, Souad Massi, Ali Farka Toure, Toumani Diabate, Salif Keita, Angelique Kidjo, Susheela Raman, Manu Chao & Tinariwen
Books: I do not read enough! I loved 'Small is Beautiful' by E.F.Schumacher, 'Small Change' by Nabeel Hamdi and 'Limits to Growth' by Donella Meadows. Some of my favorite authors are Aldous Huxley, Hermann Hesse, Charles Darwin, George Orwell, Jorges Luis Borges, Franz Kafka, Graham Greene, Richard Dawkins, Arundati Roy, John Gray and Kahlil Gibran.

Films: I recently loved Slumdog Millionaire, Persepolis, Caramel and Story of the Weeping Camel. I always seem to enjoy short films and love films by Ken Loach and Ingmar Bergmann. Others I've enjoyed: Immortel, Amores Perros, Lost in Translation, Run Lola Run, Cidade de Deus, Brazil, American Beauty, Dancer in the Dark, Fight club, Y Tu Mama Tambien, A Constant Gardener, The Life Aquatic, Together

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Life amazes me every day

Teach, Learn, Share

I'd love to learn: better arabic and french (if you speak one of these, please force me to speak to you in it!), perspectives on politics, human rights, philosophy, development, equity and economics, your recipes, beautiful places you've been to, music festivals you know about, inspiring projects you've seen or worked on, acrobatics, yoga, knitting, how to make chapatis, spices for chai, your favorite dal recipe, how to spend less time at my pc

I can share: my passion for life, my faith in people, how to build a shelter in the forest, perspectives on sustainability, my questions about life, cooking, creativity, anything you might want to know about industrial hemp, volunteering opportunities, my passion for capoeira - see this link for a sample of the beautiful game!

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