Dear Couch requesters, if the calendar is blocked then it means we cannot host you.

YOU MUST HAVE REFERENCES OR YOU WILL RECEIVE 'NO' FOR AN ANSWER.

IF YOU WANT ME TO SAY YES, WRITE A SUPER RIDICULOUSLY AWESOME REQUEST WITH THE OLD SCHOOL CS FLAIR OR FORGET IT. I'm even going to give you a hint about what I mean. Go here: https://support.couchsurfing.org/hc/en-us/articles/200640010-How-do-I-write-a-good-couch-request- and pay special attention to the area of "Find Common Ground".)

Current Mission: To travel with my daughter as much as economically possible

I really enjoy meeting people and feel good about it because I lived the transient life of a kid with a father in the US Army. With friends and home changing every four years you learn how to be cool with just about anyone (minus racists). I was also a high school science teacher which kept me grounded in the reality that people are simply different and those differences can be quite fun. At this point in life, I have come to the conclusion that it´s a miracle to find random occurrences of like-mindedness yet, I'm certain that couchsurfing is the place where that kind of magic happens.

As for how I like to live, I strive to be simple about life, preferring to spend money on travel and cultural experiences than consume material things but...new socks sure are nice!

PHILOSOPHY

Doubt is paralyzing. In general people are motivated to do the right thing. Trust!

Don't be afraid to set personal boundaries. Niceness is not an admirable quality.

I believe in Couchsurfing Karma. Offer your couch and one will be offered to you.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

We have hosted interesting travelers from Germany, Brazil, Italy, England, Japan, US, Belgium, Ukraine, France, Russia, Australia, Argentina, Canada, China, Poland, and most recently from Turkey!

I also like to attend CS events especially the little ones organized by local members. I'm much less likely to attend a CS meeting because hanging out in bars is not really my scene.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE (my own)

It's adding up: San Francisco, CA (Summer '10), Salt Lake City, UT (Winter '11), Halifax, Canada (Spring '11), Amsterdam (Summer '11), Albany, NY (Winter '12), Austin, TX (Spring '12), Athens, Greece (Summer '12), Italy: Bari, Siena, Florence (Summer '12), Jaèn, Spain (Fall '13), Albacete, Spain (Spring '14), Nerja, Spain (Summer '14), Mexico City (Spring '15), Albany (Spring '16), Albany (Fall '16), Bonn, Germany (Winter 2023

Interests

reading, swimming, playing outside, meaningful conversations, smart practical people, gardening, vegan cooking/baking, tea, rational and critical thinking, my inquisitive nephew, sexuality, ways of relating, improvised music, improv comedy, truth, palindromes, atheism, craigslist, composting, yoga, insects, spanish language & culture...

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies: Me and You and Everyone We Know, The Celebration, Precious, Blue is the Warmest Color (La Vie d'Adèle), Little Miss Sunshine, Exit Through the Gift Shop, Craigslist Joe, anything by Michael Moore, and many foreign films.

Books: Summerhill: The Radical Approach to Child Rearing, Non-Violent Communication, I am Malala, Teach Like Your Hair is on Fire, Siddhartha, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, A Happy Death, Letter to D, Brave New World, No Exit, Fastfood Nation, Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?, God is not Great, Grapes of Wrath, East of Eden, Tuareg, The Plague, Damien, Galapagos, I Know Why a Caged Bird Sings, Garden of Eden, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Caligula, Love in the Time of Cholera, Normal People Don't Live Like This, Wonder, & One Hundred Years of Solitude. In general, books that unintentionally inspire and make one reflect on life.

Music: Fleet Foxes, Death Cab for Cutie, Bon Iver, James Taylor, also anything singer song writer or world music especially flamenco.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Drank fresh goat milk and sweet mint tea in Jordan with a Bedouin goat herder, his three wives, and their 18 children
OR
came to terms with death after a very intense and vivid dream
OR
http://stasio225.blogspot.com/ (10 months of living in Spain)
OR
http://vopstories.blogspot.com/ (2 weeks of volunteering in Jordan)
OR
Had a baby at age 39! Best decision of my life.

Life is always amazing me....can't decide.

Teach, Learn, Share

I can probably whip up something good and vegan to eat from anything in your cabinets and show you how.

I'd like to learn more Spanish and German.

To share, many stories I hope!

What I Can Share with Hosts

You will get a clean place to eat and sleep (towels, sheets and such). We will give you keys. You must be an independent person especially during the week. You will always be welcome to attend musical performances of Andreas or house parties with our friends. There is always good home cooked food for offer...just help with the clean up.

This is a treasure chest of info I gave when hosting in NYC in my past life. Some might be outdated so please verify before following the suggestions…
Suggestions and tips for your trip to NYC:
The public museums who ask for a “suggested donation” don’t require you to pay that amount. Examples of these are the museum of natural history by Central Park, the Brooklyn museum of art, AND the Metropolitan museum of art. If you say, “I would like to pay $2”, they HAVE to accept your donation and you can enter for that price. The suggested price is usually around $20 which the tourists pay because they won’t know what New Yorkers know!

Make a plan to 1. Walk over the Brooklyn Bridge with a tip that the trip from Brooklyn to Manhattan has the best views. 2. Visit the World Trade Center monument. 3. Take a free ferry ride from South Ferry Station to Staten Island and back. 4. Walk along an old rail road track that was converted to an exotic garden called the Highline. 5. Walk through Central Park. 6. Ride the Q train to the last stop in Brooklyn and visit the Coney Island amusement park. All of these are fun and FREE.

Other cool spots:
1. Williamsburg for a great artist vibe and second hand shopping at stores like Buffalo Exchange or Beacon’s Closet. The Brooklyn beer brewery is also there with free tours on weekends.
2. Visit the big squares: Washington Square Park and Union Square for a good people watching adventure.
3. Visit Strand Book Store for an insane used/new book store experience.
4. Go to the MoMA which is free but crowded on Fridays.
5. Visit the bonsai tree collection at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.
6. Finally, check out Chinatown (there are 3!), Little Italy, and Koreatown.

Small but notable music venues for jazz and world music:
Brooklyn: The Owl Music Parlor, Barbes, Bar Chord, Bar Tabac
Manhattan: Fat Cat, Smalls Jazz Club, 55 Bar

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Bahamas, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Germany, Greece, Italy, Jordan, Mexico, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, Spain, Switzerland, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Spain, United States

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