I'm an LDS British outdoor instructor living in Pocatello Idaho with my wife Elisabeth.
I may not be a pro chef, but my crumpet recipe is a hit.
I was planning on following the family trade to become a doctor, but over in the United States we have enough doctors. I wanted to go somewhere I'm needed so I'm working to become a high school math teacher. It seems like most over this side of the pond dislike math and I want the next generation to overcome that.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Travelling is expensive. You could bring the cultures of the world to you or travel for less. Couchsurfing does both.
We've had a lot of friends use our couch as a base of operations when travelling and we thought we'd try opening it to some others once in a while. Every now and then I'll have to travel when the weather is not friendly to camping - mud season (snowmelt turning camping spots and trails into mud pools).

Interests

I am an outdoor enthusiast, and if there isn't an engine involved, chances are I've done it. Skydiving, caving, spelunking, rock climbing (trad, sport, and top rope), canyoneering, cliff diving, rappelling, mountaineering, ghyll scrambling, potholing, canoeing, white water rafting, white water kayaking, scuba diving, hiking, camping, hammocking, slack lining, long distance running, cyclocross, triathlons and gliding.
Of course there's always room for some croquet.
Drawing family trees is an odd hobby, but I enjoy the challenge of making an infographic represent complicated history without explanation to assist. One chart I drew spilled over 9 pages, connecting a few hundred living relatives, mostly through in-laws.

• baking
• rock climbing
• mountain biking
• drawing family trees

Music, Movies, and Books

Nowadays I stick to the beaten path with bands like Coldplay, Red hot chili peppers, Ed Sheeran, Olly Murs, Imagine dragons... so mostly rock, indi, and alternative. Just this last summer we saw Coldplay in Paris, that was intense.
As far as movies, the ranks are filled with action, comedy, psychological thrillers and mind benders, marvel, and some sci-fi. If it messes with time and all the nonsense that comes with it, I'm a sucker for it. I'm thinking primer, the time traveller's wife, memento, next, looper, the butterfly effect, source code, donnie darko, mr nobody, and predestination. But to be honest, if it stays away from sex, nudity, extreme violence, and excessive swearing, I'll probably watch it. Just not frozen. Anyone with nieces or daughters has seen that film too many times.
Books.... I'll get back to you on that one. I don't read as much as I should. Harry Potter, The Hobbit, and Lord of the Rings were pretty good.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Ok, go to bucketlist500.blogspot.com for a more comprehensive list. I'll describe just one - the proposal. So as the president of ISU Outdoor club I had a rappelling clinic arranged at a climbing spot in town. It was leap day 2016, we had quite a crowd of friends and there were some cameras floating around; nothing out of the ordinary for club events. After a few pairs had gone down the twin rappel lines it was time for Elisabeth and I. We're only courting at this point. Half way down the rappel we put on the brakes with a leg wrap when suddenly, down below some people start paying music - rhythm guitar and percussion. While Elisabeth was distracted looking down I gave the sign to my friend up top to lower the guitar via a cord. Better still, it's Elisabeth's old guitar, firewood.
Together with my surprise band we play Elisabeth's favorite song, 'The Scientist' by Coldplay. I was on lead guitar and vocals - both got pretty messed up and not just because of rappelling or nerves, I'm just not that good. But it worked great. We finished the rappel and at the bottom I got down on one knee and said, "this is where I give you a rock". Elisabeth still doesn't quite know what's going on, perhaps I was displaying just how safe the leg wrap is while rappelling.... Well I reach over and grab a rock and hold it up to her. Then I open the rock, which was actually a ring box that had been mod podged and disguised to look like Pocatello columnar basalt. Inside was my great aunt May's wedding ring re-sized to Elisabeth's specs.

But that was not all. As the club members finished the rappelling clinic on their own we went to a room on campus I had reserved, filled with fake trees and fairy lights and set up an artificial picnic in the woods within. We had a crockpot dinner and chocolate ganache I had made earlier. Only one time had Elisabeth ever told someone her dream proposal and it was to some friends I sneakily tracked down. A picnic in the woods with fairylights was the order of the day.

Needless to say it went quite well and we are now happily married almost 2 years.