CURRENT MISSION

Teaching, writing, climbing, loving, singing

ABOUT ME

Si hablas español, que sepas que he tenido el suerte para vivir en Chile y España, y el hecho de dedicarme al idioma me abría muchísimas puertas. Se habla mucho español aquí en Aurora, y siempre a mi me encanta tener huéspedes que también habla. Bienvenidos!

你会说中文吗？欢迎! 我一年在成都住了，非常精彩的经验。我的中文越来越不好，那重视要跟其他的人一起聊天！

Traveling, teaching, outdoor adventures, and the great encounters with other folks that come out of all of those. When I was in school I went through four different majors before I found sociology, studying how we form communities and why we don't. In the last 15 years I've been living, working, and language learning in Chile, Spain, China, Egypt, Senegal and now back to the US where I was raised. It's been a wonderfully disorienting couple of years. Sometimes the world seems way bigger than I can get a handle on, sometimes the space between two people doesn't seem very big at all.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

All about the human connect. When I'm traveling alone or with one friend, it's my preferred mode of travel in a place I don't know. I've been fortunate to meet wonderful surfers and hosts. This year, for the first time in awhile I'm in a position to pay it forward and host.

I often host and/or Couchsurf with my wonderful partner Carolyn. You can usually find her working to expand local food hubs in Colorado, teaching rock climbing, salsa dancing, or trying to sock wrestle me. I've seen her charm the pants off a grouchy French philosopher. She's neat, she's in a couple of the pictures, and you'll likely meet her.

Carolyn and I both work full-time, so sometimes we won't be able to spend as much time hosting and hanging out as I'd like. That's just something to know up front as surfer, so there won't be different expectations. The time that I am home, I'd love to cook, laugh, share stories with ya. If you take the time to read through this profile, and send your request in a way that shows, I will almost always accept if I can. On the other hand, if it's a form letter that's been blasted out to 20 hosts, much less likely.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I've used Couchsurfing to travel both inside my own country and outside, from New Orleans to Chile. I've also had mostly great experiences hosting when I lived in Boston. In the years I've been active, Couchsurfing has made the world feel a little smaller and a little friendlier. Sometimes the way Internet anonymity empowers people to be total trolls makes me worried about what that says about us. Couchsurfing is a great antidote.

Interests

Finishing a project tied with meeting new folks tied with seeing new places, hearty meal with friends, frisbee with friends, good book tied with good bike ride tied with good run, morning paper tied with afternoon siesta tied with midnight snack

• writing
• books
• dancing
• dining
• cooking
• running
• traveling
• juggling
• origami
• outdoor activities
• cycling
• surfing
• rock climbing
• philosophy
• sociology

Music, Movies, and Books

Recent Fiction Authors: Tobias Wolff, John Updike, Garcia-Marquéz, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Junot Diaz, The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson, Neil Gaiman, Ursula K Leguin

Recent Non-Fiction Authors: Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell, Sapiens or Homo Deus by Yuval Harari, Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Are you allowed to call something you've done 'amazing'? I think other people might have to name it first. I like pretty rocks and buildings as much as the next person, but I think the most amazing things have either happened to me suddenly and unexpectedly or very, very gradually and deliberately. Living and learning in these different countries has been a cumulatively amazing experience, and so were the million sidewalk and casual run-ins that made up those friendship webs. Eesh, I dunno. A bird pooped on my shoulder the other day, odds of that are pretty small. Is that amazing?

Teach, Learn, Share

I can teach you to make Spanish tortilla, juggle, dance in stilts and do origami. I'd love to practice more Arabic!

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Canada, France, Honduras, Israel, Jamaica, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Peru, Thailand, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Chile, China, Senegal, Spain, United States

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