My name is Oswald / Ulric, as you want.
I live in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.

I'm a teacher (french and english) and a photographer (www.oswaldwittower.com if you want to check my work).
I write a lot and I also make videos (and, as you might guess: I adore movies).

I don't really like to reduce and limit myself to factual things. I am many things, not just this or that, and these things are constantly changing and evolving. Then, I'm probably not the same as I was yesterday.
Let's meet and you'll find out.

I am really easy-going, I like meaningful things, even the smallest ones, and I am not good with small talk.
I guess, in ways, I'm quite extensive.

IG: @porygonwantsrevenge

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I've been hosted and hosted myself a couple of times (some impromptu ones are not referenced here) and it always turned out to be (very) good experiences.
Once I even did a 3 weeks road trip in South Africa with strangers from CS who contacted me after I let a very random message on the forum of the "South Africa" page...you know, the kind you can only access with a computer.
But I mostly use the website/app to just meet local people or travelers, for drinks, walks or whatever.

[About HANGOUTS : it's a great concept, yet I don't like this whole "group thing"...if it even works out! so if we do hang out via hangouts, let's not make it a random group of 46 people]

Interests

As I said before, I am a photographer so you can guess I like images and all visual things in general.
Same goes for words.

Being in the wild (and feeling it), but also the boisterous dynamics of very large cities.
Coffee and beer = basics.

I love mysteries, unusual things, people and places.
Show me that part of your town or of yourself and I'll be a happy man.

• animals
• insects
• literature
• poetry
• photography
• traveling
• music
• karaoke
• hiking
• mountains
• art
• cinema
• nature
• linguistics
• videogames
• mysticism
• communication
• beers
• virtual reality
• ambient

Music, Movies, and Books

I'm a big big big movie fan.
My favorite one is Koyaanisqatsi by Godfrey Reggio.
Some directors I love : David Lynch, Lars Von Trier (wrote him a letter once!), Peter Greenaway, Terrence Malick, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Wong Kar-Wai, etc...

About music, I really love many different kinds but I must say the 80's were definitely a blessed era.
I'm especially fond of ambient, some electronic, oldies in general, ethiopian music and japanese citypop. Oh yeah and...north Korean music (my only DJ set ever was about that!)
Some artists I love : Radiohead, Philip Glass, Tatsuro Yamashita, Suicide, Pink Floyd, Yellow Magic Orchestra, Simon and Garfunkel, Death Grips, etc etc... (so many, actually!)

About books, I'm completely in love with Yukio Mishima's work. "The sea of fertility" is part of my holy literary trinity along with "One hundred years of solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and "The waves" by Virginia Woolf.

Videogames : huge Nintendo fan here. Also, if you know Disco Elysium, consider us friends already.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Played in dramas and commercials in Japan.
Visited both Chernobyl and Fukushima.
Lived on 4 continents.
Went to "the last freakshow in the world" in the US.
Wrote a long poetry book (yet to be published).

Teach, Learn, Share

I'm up to learn anything I don't know and to teach anything I know.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Let's try to find something meaningful enough?

Oh and also I would love to take your portrait?

Countries I’ve Visited

Albania, Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cambodia, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Djibouti, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, Netherlands, Oman, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uzbekistan, Vatican City State, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Belgium, Djibouti, Estonia, France, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Switzerland, Tajikistan, United States