Not Verified
Üsküdar, Istanbul Province, Republic of Türkiye
@OKGAGO
Member since 2009
CURRENT MISSION Meet new people, make new friends, and enjoy ABOUT ME After working for a long while (13 years to be precise) in the IT industry, I got sick and tired of the corporate world. And pursuing my dreams, I started my own business in tourism, organizing experience based boutique cultural tours. So, I know professionally what traveling is; and I know what a tourist would expect :) I do a PhD in Business Administration, since 2006 (long time eh?). Writing my dissertation nowadays. Hope to graduate within a couple of years :) I am an amateur musician (clarinet and kanun) Requests coming from musicians will have high priority :) I travel as much as possible. I've been to quite a lot of places around the world so far. If I had the chance I'd travel much more. I consider myself as a "professional tourist" :) I love to see/do/taste new things As a monkey in Chinese Astrology, I'm quite curious for anything I do my best to live a healthy life (no cigarettes, eating natural things, exercise 5-6 days a week) I've been following the Paleo Diet since 2009. So this might mean two things for you: 1) If you are so kind to bring me any gifts, please do bring the things that I can consume :) I do not eat sweets (no chocolates, no deserts) and I do not drink alcoholic drinks containing sugar (like cocktails, liqueurs, etc.) 2) There's no bread, jam, marmalade, cereals, mayonnaise, ketchup at home. If you fancy those things, please buy them yourselves. I enjoy drinking alcohol at a social-drinker level (2-3 times a week, especially on the weekends). If you are a non-drinker (i.e. no alcohol at all) there might be a frequency mismatch between us ;) When I offer you a drink please never ever tell me "Oh no thanks, I'll have a glass of water"! PHILOSOPHY Being happy is my motto. If you're happy, nothing else matters. "Carpe Diem" is cool, but "sustainable" happiness is even better ;)
Interested in Adventure Sports
Fluent in English
Pioneer Badge
5 Vouches
Why I'm on Couchsurfing
HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING Wherever I go, whoever I talk to, I mention about the CouchSurfing system, and try to establish a consciousness/awareness. COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE Until now, I have hosted 32 groups of surfers from 21 different countries (56 people in total), surfed two couches (in Krakow and London), met a lot of surfers abroad, and attended plenty of CS meetings/parties all around the world. As you can see, I have more experience on the hosting side of CS (not intentionally, it just happened like that). Since I joined CS, I have met so many nice people and built so many nice friendships. I'm really happy being a part of CS and I believe I'll continue to be a part of it forever.
Music, Movies, and Books
When it comes to movies, I have a weird attitude:) You know, there have been so many movies shot till today, and I know that I cannot watch every single one of them. So I usually rely on the awards & reviews. I usually watch only the moview which got some awards or great reviews. But I also love watching documentaries, mainly on world issues like global warming, terror, monetary system, food and GMOs (mostly conspiracy type of stuff such as Michael Moore, Alex Jones, Zeitgeist, etc). I also like watching movies of most kinds, if not all. And I try to read as much books as possible. It's interesting how I changed the types of books I read throughout my life. When I was a teenager I was really interested in "evolution of human" and how intelligent could animals get. After that, I got interested in political issues. And recently I've been reading a lot of business books. 4 Hour Workweek is a must for every CSer: I listen to many different genres of music: jazz, blues, rock, metal, Latin, Turkish classical. When I go out, I prefer to listen to live music (in a bar, at a concert, etc.) but I also like hanging out at clubs where they play dance-pop music. I do like electronic music too, but it's not my favorite.
One Amazing Thing I've Done
Well the best experience in my life was living abroad for more than a year. But as a single event, I think it was the skydiving I tried.
Teach, Learn, Share
I can teach you how to play the clarinet and kanun.
My Interests
Well, I'm quite open to learn anything new. I have tried many things like windsurfing, horse riding, para gliding, skydiving, skiing, hiking etc. But my main hobby is music. I both like to listen and play music. I play the kanun (a traditional Turkish instrument) and the clarinet, mainly Turkish classical music. So I can play for you if you come over. And I'm a huge Jazz fan. I want to learn how to play Jazz with clarinet; that's why I switched from the Turkish G-clarinet to a Western Bb-clarinet; but I still have a way to go. I like to listen to live music, mostly Jazz. So I can take you to the Jazz clubs in town. Fortune telling by reading the coffee cup And people say that I have the skills to read from the coffee cup. I like doing it when I'm in the mood for that.
