CURRENT MISSION

Just try to be of service. It's been a pleasure so far and I hope it keeps up that way.

ABOUT ME

Social worker for the Air Force. Getting ready to move to Okinawa for the next 2+ years. I like outdoorsy things, adventures, and having long talks sitting on the floor (feels like that's everyone on here really).

PHILOSOPHY

I've come to believe that life is about adjusting and changing our worldview. A series of thinking we understand things and then having to realize we don't know what we're talking about before doing some new learning. Then, just when it begins to make sense, we start over again.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I've hosted a few people and given my input on travel to a good deal more. As a guest I try to be non-invasive get to know people who I'm staying with. I make dinner if they let me too. One of my favorite sharing activities is teaching folks how to make bagles :-D (My current home doesn’t have an oven so this activity is out when I’m hosting. I can show you when I surf though)

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I've hosted a few people and stayed with a couple more. I was really participating in all of this long before I knew there was a website for it. I love staying with locals and seeing a place through their unique perspective. Hosting people is a blast too. I've met people from all different walks of life and loved hearing their stories. Love this website.

Interests

I could talk about stuff that I care about for a while, but what I really find fascinating is getting people to talk about themselves more. I love asking people to tell me about their "soap box" or reminisce on their happiest memories, or describe what they find themselves thinking about when they're not thinking about anything else. I just really like to try to get to know people for who they are in their most ordinary and regular ways because I find that stuff amazing.

• traveling
• guitar
• hiking
• tourism

Music, Movies, and Books

Music: Bob Dylan, Kendrick Lamar, Beirut, Kanye, The Tallest Man on Earth, Oasis, J. Cole, Sufjan Stevens, The Smiths and many many more - to be honest I mostly listen to podcasts these days.

Movies: I honestly don't really watch movies any more.

Books: My favorite book is The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt and I love to talk about it. Factfulness by Hans Rosling and I think it's the most important thing I've read since college. After that I'm into other psych non fiction or the sci-fi/fantasy genres for fiction. Loved the Mistborn series and ASOIAF.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

There's a lot of really great nature out there. Mostly things I've seen hiking. I really like grand and magnificent landscapes. Wyoming, Utah, the Swiss Alps, Jordan, Capidocia, and Uganda were particularly good for this.

I'd probably rate Victoria Falls as the most magnificent thing I've seen (or more like experienced) to date.

Teach, Learn, Share

I met an Israeli guy on a turtle conservation project in Greece. He was one of the wisest people I've ever encountered. What he mostly talked about was understanding how life goes on anyway. In his words "You want to play guitar but you're afraid you won't be good at it until you're 46. Who cares? You're going to be 46 anyway. You may as well be good at guitar when you get there!" Of all of the people I've met this fellow gave me the most material to contribute to "Couchsurfing U"

What I Can Share with Hosts

As I mentioned above, I like making bagels. I'm also pretty good at just pulling things out of a cabinet and turning it into something delicious most of the time. I've had a lot of different experiences professionally and personally that I enjoy talking about, but I genuinely prefer to learn about someone else's experience. So I've found a lot of ways of breaking the ice with people and getting them to talk about things they really care about. I've found people in this community are pretty big on sharing their experiences, strengths, and optimism in general. I can definitely resonate with that.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Bahamas, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Cambodia, Canada, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, England, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Liechtenstein, Montenegro, Mozambique, Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Rwanda, Scotland, Serbia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, United States, Viet Nam, Wales, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Countries I’ve Lived In

Greece, Hong Kong, Japan, Jordan, United Kingdom, United States, Zambia