CURRENT MISSION

Love, of course.

ABOUT ME

I like to meet cool people. I like adventures a lot!
I think the most important virtues are hospitality, generosity, and being non-judgmental.

PHILOSOPHY

There's NO excuse for contempt.

Life works out and works out and works out (and then you die).

Don't let people make you feel bad about yourself. It's a waste of time.

That said, don't ever be afraid to say you're sorry.

Perché sono iscritto su Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I've surfed, hung out, and hosted! Currently, I am travelling from Istanbul to St. Petersburg via the Caucasus and Central Asia, so I'm getting hosted a lot - sometimes on couchsurfing, a lot with friends of friends.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

The first time I did it, the guy told me he had everything I needed. Sheets, blankets, everything. It turned out his couch was vinyl, and he didn't have sheets, so I kept waking up all night because my skin stuck to the couch! I was *so* tired all weekend.

That first experience turned me off a bit.

Since then, however, my experiences have been FANTASTIC. Couchsurfing is such a great opportunity to be inspired by the generosity of people. And hey, even that guy with the vinyl couch totally let me stay at his place for free.

Interessi

People. What people think. How people live life. Religions, philosophy, culture. FOOD, reading, teaching English and French, yoga, and trying to not take myself too seriously and be delighted! All the time!

(Despite my prolific use of the exclamation point, I am not in fact delighted all the time. But I try. Really I do.)

• culture
• dining
• cooking
• yoga
• reading
• traveling
• wrestling
• religion

Musica, film e libri

Waltz with Bashir, Sita Sings the Blues, Persepolis. I also enjoy a good Bollywood flick, my favourite being Om Shanti Om. Then there's the Dekalog The Wire, Orange is the New Black. I once took a class on Eastern European film, so now I can drop esoterrifying references to obscure-in-Canada Eastern European film directors. It was a good class. And if you are into Eastern European Film, I can try to use all my introductory-class-knowledge to talk about it with you.

As for books: I highly recommend you read William Dalrymple's travel writing. It is fantastic. You might discover you're into Indian history. Or Christian populations in the Middle East. Or just really good prose. Other than that, I am currently enjoying working through some John Irving and Carol Shields. My all-time favourite English Canadian author has to be Margaret Laurence. For francophone writers, I recently discovered Abla Farhoud. Le bonheur a la queue glissante made me cry, if not buckets, at least thimbles. Oh, and most recently, Elif Shafak.

Una cosa incredibile che ho fatto

I saw my Mom give birth to my brother. That's been a hard one to top.

Insegna, impara, condividi

I can ululate, but I'm usually too embarrassed to show people. I am also really good at gold panning. And thumb wrestling.

Cosa posso offrire ai padroni di casa

I speak English and French, so if you need language practice I can help.

I am also a good cook (and I love cooking) so I can do that too. And I can write anything into a limerick! Seriously - give me an hour and I can write about between three and five on the subject of your choosing.

Paesi che ho visitato

Armenia, Azerbaijan, France, Georgia, Greece, Israel, Turkey, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, United States

Paesi in cui ho vissuto

Canada, Turkey, Uganda