CURRENT MISSION

Enjoying Jacksonville, Fl

ABOUT ME

We are Sam and Noby. We met in Japan, then lived in San Francisco for a while, moved to Athens, Ohio for graduate school, then to Walla Walla, Washington, and now we're living in Jacksonville, Florida.

Noby has been a hard working graduate student for many years and now she is finally a bonafide 'Social Psychologist' working at FSCJ. She loves dogs and learning everything she can about dog behavior. I've had a few careers--English teacher, Event manager, and most recently, Supply Chain manager. I love eating Spanish tapas and Asian street food. I enjoy swimming in the ocean, kayaking, reading, and I plan to learn how to motor-paraglide someday soon.

We both love to travel and when we do, our goal is to plan as little as possible, and just follow our noses as we go. We've been lucky so far; we've met many wonderful, kind and interesting people during our travels, which is what it's all about.

PHILOSOPHY

Don't fret, be here now.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Couch surf and host.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I spent a week couch surfing in Walla Walla while looking for a place to rent. It was a great experience. Not only were the hosts informative about the local community, they became our first friends in Walla Walla.

Interests

Hiking with our dog, Charlie; Camping, visiting National Parks, Learning; Reading novels;Watching movies; Snorkeling/Scuba Diving;Traveling/Meeting interesting people; Vipassana meditation; Dog training; Laughing, Random road trips; Most things on the "Stuff White People Like" list. (Sad, but true.)

• dogs
• singing
• dancing
• dining
• meditation
• flying
• movies
• reading
• traveling
• hiking
• kayaking
• camping
• surfing
• scuba diving
• snorkeling
• soccer
• paragliding
• swimming
• world cup
• teaching
• psychology
• road trips
• parks
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

Music: Sample of artists on our Pandora list are Nina Simone, Avett Brothers, Cat Power, Alabama Shakes, John Prine, James Carr, Adelle, Blaze Foley
Books: The Girls (by Lori Lansens), Me Talk Pretty (by David Sedaris), Their Eyes Were Watching God (by Zora Neale Hurston), Charlotte's Web (by E.B. White) Huckleberry Finn (by Mark Twain), Bastard our of Carolina (Dorothy Allison)
Movies/TV: Adaptation; The Big Blue, Dirty Pretty Things, Amelie, 30 Rock, Daily Show, MadMen, Breaking Bad

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Watching Spain win the World Cup in a small Spanish town in the middle of the Pyrenees mountains. (We're not really soccer fans, but it was so fun/beautiful to see everyone in the small town, including the oldest members of the community, singing and dancing in celebration.)

Flying in a hot air balloon in Sedona, Arizona with my Japanese middle-school students during a 'home-stay' trip to the US.

Countries I’ve Visited

Costa Rica, Indonesia, Mexico, Thailand

Countries I’ve Lived In

Bermuda, Italy, Japan, Spain, United States

•