CURRENT MISSION

Actually I'm just trying to find out.. I guess right now my mission is to get started with real life (jobwise, etc.) but also learn from people and discover other's worlds.

ABOUT ME

This is the most difficult of all. Basically, I'm an easygoing and mostly happy person, many people tell me that they like my smile. I truely care for others.
I like long discussions and am always eager to learn new things, especially languages, I can spend hours with new words, funny sayings in other languages - and of course, it's all about speaking and exchanging, I love being taught by a native speaker and I'm a good German teacher as well - especially for the little fun things in a language. By the way: Every German learner should read what Mark Twain said about the German language, he had some suggestions on how the language could be simplified - it's incredibly funny. I could go on forever, but please, just write me, so we can meet and talk.

PHILOSOPHY

As I said, I'm trying to find my way through this world, trying not to do any harm, and also to meet learn from people from all over the world, make friends..

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

recently moved to Abu Dhabi and can offer you a space on a sofa but actually only in winter, because right now most people desperately need air conditioning (most houses are actually freezers) whereas I feel extremely comfortable with 30-32 degrees Celsius at home. So right now, I can't host you.
I guess everybody does couchsurfing in his or her own way and I have to admit that I actually just continue living my life while you will be at my place, I'm not very keen on showing you around... prefer to say that right away. During the week I'm working and will mostly get home and go to bed rather early meaning at 10pm... So if you want somebody to show you around etc. just try to find somebody else to hang out with - you can still stay on my couch :-)

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

My first experience was with Yao in New York and it was really interesting since he works for a painter and took me see the pictures in progress and all the colours he mixed himself and so I could really get an insight in his work!

My latest couchsurfing experience was in Qingdao, with Shelly - and it was just great. Hope that there are many more experiences to come.

Interests

Well, I like languages, and not surprisingly I'm quite good in French and Spanish, since I lived there for quite some time, but living in Beijing I also eventually picked up some Chinese, it took a while. It's difficult to describe my interests, since I have the feeling that after one year in Beijing, there is not a lot left of those things I used to like doing and do frequently. So okay, I used to sing classical music in a choire (Vivaldi, Bach, such stuff), used to take singing lessons, used to go to concerts and opera, used to be politically active in the Green Student Group... In Beijing I stopped everything, but plan to restart after going back to Germany. Otherwise, I'm interested in good food from everywhere. What else - literature, I recently read some books by Amy Tan and other people who are between Chinese and American or German culture. But since I'm busy taking out the dog, plus I found a cat on the street and nursed her, now she is staying on the balcony... I feel like there is no time to read.

• cats
• dogs
• culture
• books
• literature
• singing
• concerts
• dining
• music
• classical music
• opera
• teaching
• languages

Music, Movies, and Books

This is the thing, I don't know what books, movies, music I like. I am fine with everything. Last time I really listened to music it was Mozart's Requiem and I tried to study a little bit of the Soprano part (failed but had a lot of fun). My favourite opera of those I saw till now is Norma, and I also like Othello. To be honest, there is very little non-classical music I truely enjoy. Some latino melodies, maybe. But I'm fine with everything as long as it's not too loud.

Just lately I was talking to a friend, about how I could not find any books I liked. Well, some books I liked are Klaus Mann's "Mephisto", I admired "100 years of solitude", Stefan Zweig's "Ungeduld des Herzens". My latest discovery is the American author Jonathan Franzen, I recommend Freedom and The Corrections, which I read almost without taking a break.

Movies... well one movie that was really very impressive was Idi i Cmotri, Come and See, a Russian movie. I truely recommend it, it is the best war movie I have EVER seen in my life.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I was picking cotton in Tajikistan, only one day, but looking back, that I was actually there, feels just so unreal. It was an amazing experience.

Teach, Learn, Share

I like learning from people who know how to disentangle complicated situations, who are emotionally mature. And I like learning about new books, now lifestyles, theories, facts, opinions,...

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Czech Republic, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Netherlands, Oman, Poland, Qatar, Switzerland, Tajikistan, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

China, France, Germany, Spain, United Arab Emirates

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