CURRENT MISSION

Travel and help other travelers.

ABOUT ME

Curious, funny, sometimes serious and self-irony. ;)

More about us:

Alexander (30 years old). I'm entrepreneur. I have a small business of providing rental of presentation equipment - Projek.ru. Previously I was doing IT-project management (web-development, CRM-systems), and now I'm working on my own IT-project - Dilerator.ru. This is a convenient service in b2b for entrepreneurs engaged in wholesale, dealerships, distribution. My interests: business, start-ups, cycling, photography, nature, movies, swimming, good music, cognitive psychology, usability, industrial design, architecture, urbanistics, local history, place names, the etymology of words. I'm speak in English (Intermediate). I'm non-smoker.

Elena (30 years old). Elena is also an entrepreneur. She has online shop funny luggage tags and other useful accessories for travelers - puteshtuchki.ru (bagtags.ru). Previously, she was a regional manager of one brand of youth clothing store and manage large store Seppala \ Stockmann. Now Elena advises small and medium businesses on visual merchandising and retail space optimization. Interests of Elena: aesthetics, social psychology, anthropology, trending, hispanic music, bachata, reading. She visited Laos, Myanmar (Burma) and lived in the Dominican Republic, so it can tell you about these countries, if you're interested. Elena spoke in Spanish (intermediate) and English (beginner). Elena also non-smoker.

What do we expect from the trip to Spain?
Meet new interesting people. Anything to learn from them. Something to teach them. Get new experience. Listen to people's stories and tell our stories. Live the life of ordinary Spaniards. I also would be very interesting to see how organized the city's infrastructure in Spain. To get new ideas for business. And of course, I dream to ride a bike on the national parks and swim in the Balearic sea, taste the real sangria, eat fresh fish and local fruits. ;)
Elena wants to "dive into the language environment" to improve her Spanish. Also, she wants to be inspired by the Spanish shops and coffee shops, then to use it in her consulting activities in which it engages in Russia. ;)

PHILOSOPHY

Do anything you want, if it does not interfere with others.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I am ready to host guests at 1-2 days in Ekaterinburg.

If you're going to Ekaterinburg, this info may be interesting:

Our local CS group (en, ru): http://www.couchsurfing.org/group.html?gid=7311 (Join it, and you can learn about local events, meet with local CSers and travelers for a joint exploring of the city or leisure activities.)

Article on Wikipedia (en): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yekaterinburg

Ekaterinburg City Guide (en): http://ekaterinburg.com/promo/EkaterinburgCityGuide.pdf (PDF, 3,83 MB)

2GIS - offline city map for mobile (ru): http://ekaterinburg.2gis.ru/about/mobile/

Awesome interactive gigapixel panorama view (ru): http://www.ekburg.ru/aboutcity/pano/

Gorgeous professional photos (ru):
http://gelio-nsk.livejournal.com/169905.html
http://gelio-nsk.livejournal.com/179244.html

Ekaterinburg Red Line (ru): http://redline.dev.zavode.ru/ (points of interest)

Konzhakovskiy kamen - it's 1569 m mountain in 350 km from Ekaterinburg to North direction: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/99bq02c7x5heix8/auCVuWiJ39/ (photos from camera of my brother)

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I've already hosted more 35 couchsurfers in my home. Also, there's someone else, who stayed at other host, but cycled on my bikes together with me. :)

Me as host:
2011-July: Oleg from Russia (Blagoveschensk)
2011-July: Max from USA (San Francisco)
2011-July: Andrey from Russia (Ryazan)
2011-September: Rafi from Israel (Tel Aviv-Yafo)
2011-September: Yavuz & Selchuk from Turkey (Antalya & Istanbul)
2011-October: Toru from Japan (Tokyo)
2011-November: Remi & Sophie from France (Orleans)
2012-June: Michael from France [ride my bikes together]
2012-August: Andreas & Thomas from Germany (Bohum & Cologne)
2012-August: John from England (Manchester)
2012-August: Сhris from Germany (Leipzig)
2012-September: Anna from Russia (Magnitogorsk)
2012-September: Damir from Craotia (Sisak) [ride my bikes together]
2012-September: Martin from Czech Republic (Prague)
2012-September: Dani & Sam from England & Australia
23-25 September 2012: Andrea & Manuel from Germany (Cologne)
02-04 October 2012: Ruben from Italy (Livorno)
08-11 October 2012: Joeri from Netherlands
15-16 October 2012: Rebecca from Austria
18-19 October 2012: Lut & Elsemiek from Netherlands
15-18 November 2012: Misha & Olga from Russia (Spb)
30-31 March 2013: Olesya & Sasha from Russia (Kazan)
17-18 April 2013: Vitalik from Russia (Tyumen)
16-17 May 2013: Tanya from Russia (Novokuznetsk)
22-23 May 2013: Valera from Russia (Ivanovo)
27-28 May 2013: Katya & Vova from Russia (Tyumen)
06-07 June 2013: Jakob from Denmark
06-07 June 2013: Karol from Poland
06-07 June 2013: Katalin from Hungary
13-14 June 2013: Maria from Russia (Chelyabinsk)
14-15 June 2013: Kio from China (Makao)
22-23 June 2013: Rita from Russia (Tyumen)

Me as surfer:
23-24 May 2013: surfed Andrey's couch in Tyumen
24-25 May 2013: surfed Ilhom's couch in Tyumen

Interests

Mountain biking, hiking, traveling, foreign languages, toponymy, etymology of the words, digital photo, collecting coins, web designing, usability, gadgets, anime, ecology, renewable energy.

Also I like: winter, sunsets, thunderstorms, huskies, clumsy pandas and rubber ducks. ;)

And of course: tovarisch, ikra, ak-47, kalashnikov, matryoshka, balalayka, bolshoy theatre, gagarin, ushanka, medved, vodka, putin, rasputin, mouzhiki, samovar, siberia, babushka, sputnik, sarafan, hohloma, bliny, gulag, tzar, lenin, stalin, kommunizm, kalinka-malinka, na zdorovye! ;)

• fish
• architecture
• design
• photography
• perfumes
• bachata
• environment
• coffee
• shopping
• clothing
• anime
• movies
• reading
• traveling
• music
• cycling
• fishing
• hiking
• swimming
• anthropology
• business
• ecology
• entrepreneurship
• etymology
• history
• languages
• psychology
• tourism
• parks

Music, Movies, and Books

MUSIC (groups): Alai Oli, Audioslave, Brainstorm, Brazzaville, Bebe, Coldplay, Celentano, De-Phazz, Enya, Fleur, Jazzamor, Keiko Matsui, Mogwai, Morcheeba, Muse, Otto Dix, Placebo, Ryan Farish, Moby, Sigur Ros, Starsailor, Travis, God is an Astronaut, Hooverphonic, En Declin, Klimt 1918, Elsiane, Collide, Poets of the Fall, Husky Rescue, God is an Astronaut, Russian Circles, Pelican, Red Sparowes, If These Trees Could Talk, Explosions In The Sky, Caspian.

MUSIC (styles): alternative, brit-pop, darkwave, fusion, gothic electronic, gothic rock, indie, jazz-metal, j-rock, lounge, new age, new jazz, pop-punk, post-rock, post-metal, instrumental, reggae, ska, symphonic metal, synth-pop, trip-hop.

MOVIES: Being John Malcovich, K-PAX, Forrest Gump, The Green Mile, The Science of Sleep, Tokio!

MOVIE DRECTORS: Danny Boyle, Christopher Nolan, David Fincher, Guy Ritchie, Frank Darabont, Robert Zemeckis, Fatih Akin, Michel Gondry, Clint Eastwood, Woody Allen, Lasse Hallström

TV SHOWS: Dexter, Breaking Bad, Walking Dead, Fargo, Game Of Thrones

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Oh...

Teach, Learn, Share

I can teach you Russian language and tell about Russia. :)
And I can confirm or refute the well-known stereotypes about us and our country. ;)
In the wintertime I can teach you how to ride a bike, when outside -30°C. =D
And of course, we can make a tasty pizza together. 8-)

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Estonia, Germany, Laos, Latvia, Myanmar, Russian Federation, Spain, Thailand, Ukraine

Countries I’ve Lived In

Russian Federation