SORRY ABOUT NOT RESPONDING TO SO MANY REQUESTS GUYS, I AM CURRENTLY NOT IN OXFORD AND NOT ABLE TO HOST...POSSIBLY I' LL HOST AGAIN IN THE SUMMER...

It´s so strange to think about how my life has developed in the past few years and the alternate realities that could´ve been. Four and a half years ago, I was doing my daily things, working a somewhat boring job in a call centre in Amsterdam and preparing my portfolio for European Voluntary Service in Turkey. Then, I got two couch requests...one from a Taiwanese couple and one from a Mexican girl. I remember I was first leaning towards hosting the couple, but then the girl wrote me another message which said "Oh, and I just wanted to let you know I like Super Nintendo games, especially this one". " Hm, interesting", I thought, "sure, I´ll host you". Little did I know that this decision would lead me to move to Mexico for three and a half years, get a Ph. D. in Oxford and weirdest of all...have a baby with that Mexican girl! Who knows what would´ve happened if I had hosted that Taiwanese couple, maybe I would´ve been in a love triangle while running a chocolaterie in Osaka...or something ;)

I´m a laid-back guy with a strange sense of humour that may not be for everyone I guess. As I mentioned, I got a Ph. D. in Oxford, which I´ve been working on for almost half a year now. I´m an anthropologist and the project is about identity construction among Turkish entrepreneurs in Holland, interesting stuff if you ask me. On a normal day, I read or write some stuff for my Ph. D. and spend time with my wife Luba and our baby Karim (I like to call him Tortugita because his little mouth looks just like a turtle´s beak sometimes, awww so cute =))))) and at night watch a series, read or game. It´s a calm life, but considering how much stress we´ve had in the past few months concerning housing, permits and Karim being born that´s just fine with me for now =).

我为什么加入 Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

We´ll be happy to host you for several days. I´ll probably be working during the week, but will try to entertain you as much as possible. We can explore the city, cook or bake together, play games (backgammon!) and most importantly: share stories and experiences. Even before we had a baby, Luba and I weren´t exactly party animals ...it´s fine if you want to go out but it won´t always be possible for us to come with you.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I heard of Couch Surfing years ago through a friend, met some of her Couch Surfers in fact. The idea always appealed to me, but I didn't create an account of my own until I went to Egypt for an extended period of time. Through CS, I met some wonderful and welcoming people. When I came back to Amsterdam, I figured it would only be fair I host some Couch Surfers myself. I've mostly hosted in the summer in Amsterdam and also a bunch of times with Luba in San Miguel de Allende in Mexico. We haven´t hosted a lot in Mexico City, but we had a great time with our last two guests, Tatu and Sho =))).

兴趣

Movies, music, sports, cooking, reading playing video games and drawing. One of the many things Luba has taught me is that drawing can be fun.. even if you´re not to good at it like me ;)

• writing
• dining
• cooking
• chocolate
• news
• movies
• video games
• reading
• music
• surfing
• sports
• anthropology
• social work

音乐、电影和书籍

Books: The Wind Up Bird Chronicles (Haruki Murakami), Animal Farm (George Orwel), Persepolis (Marjane Satrapi), Necronomicon: the best weird tales of H.P. Lovecraft, Watership Down (Richard Adams), The Joke (Milan Kundera), Life of Pi (Yann Martel), Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (Philip K. Dick).

Movies: Birdman, For those in peril, Nightcrawler, La Haine, No Man's Land, Princess Mononoke, Pan's Labyrinth, John Carpenters The Thing, Carre Blanc, Tekkon Kinkreet, Das Leben der Anderen, Lost Highway, Brazil, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Mad Max: Fury Road and lots more I can' t think of right now.

Music: A healthy mix of triphop, downtempo, hiphopf (some nice examples: Glen Porter, Portishead, Blockhead, Kasabian, Lamb. Thievery Corporation, Aesop Rock). Sometimes I get nostalgic and listen to Rage Against the Machine or Blur real classics like The Beatles or Ray Charles. Lately, I´ve been listening to reggae with our baby, he seems to like Alpha Blondy =)

我做过的一件不可思议的事情

Watching the sun and moon and the clouds at different places.

教，学，和分享

Be very careful in judging others.

我可以与沙发主分享些什么

Smiles, stories and hugs.

我游览过的国家

Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, England, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Spain

我居住过的国家

Egypt, Mexico, Netherlands

•