CURRENT MISSION

Make Moves

ABOUT ME

I'm a man of the moment. I love to meet new people, try new things, go new places, have new stories to tell. Like most of us CS-ers, I LOVE to travel--new foods, cultures, people, experiences--nothing better! I work part-time as a tour guide (working on making it full-time), which is a great gig cause I get paid to travel to new places across the globe. When I am not gallivanting around the world, however, I often get bored with the humdrum of daily life. Therefore, I am always on the hunt to spice things up in any way possible--on days where I feel I have not accomplished anything new or exciting,I will often walk around until I find something that catches my attention, or I will try to start up conversations with total strangers on the street or subway, just so I feel I accomplished something on the day.

I love living in NY, but am constantly on the look-out for new and fun activities to do, events to take part in, ways to keep life fresh.

PHILOSOPHY

It is not length of life, but depth of life. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Do not dwell in the past, do not dream
of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment. -- Buddha

You miss 100% of the shots you never take. --Wayne Gretzky

Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint on it you can. -- Danny Kaye

Essentially, in a nutshell, while others spend so much time worrying about life, I try to simply live it & love it. Carpe Diem!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I am a people person--I love to laugh, to make others laugh, and to enjoy good company. Which is one of the main reasons I am joining CS. I have lived in NY for 4 months (during this current stint), and while my social network is strong, and my social life acceptable, I find myself wanting more. In a city where people are essentially living on top of each other, it is nonetheless often difficult to meet new people (unfortunately, my innocuous subway conversations often lead people to assume I am either crazy, a predator, or seeking some handout...cause apparently I'm the weird one when I try to talk to someone that is halfway sitting on my lap in the overcrowded car...clearly the NORMAL thing to do would be to pretend like I am in a car totally alone???). But I digress--while my current couch status is questionable (I have 2 roommates who aren't necessarily totally against the idea, but are not quite as gung-ho about offering our couch as I am), I would love to use CS as an opportunity to meet new people from across the globe, show them around NY, introduce them to my friends, hear their stories, etc. etc. I would also love to meet some fellow NYers, expand my network, have some like-minded peeps to swap stories with, etc. etc. Sooo send me a message, hit me up, let's meet up and see what happens from there...

Interests

The usual, I suppose-- New experiences, people, travels, and stories; Checking out new places in NY; Music, movies, and more, obviously; Trying beers I've never had before; World affairs; Trying anything that someone else is enthusiastic about

• beer
• movies
• traveling
• painting
• music
• basketball
• volleyball
• emergency services
• tourism

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

By far the most rewarding thing I've done in my life was raise the money for, and then lead the building of (with my own bare hands) the first ever basketball court in the slum of Mathare, Kenya. With the help of a local youth group and youths from the slum, we mixed truckloads of cement--by hand!, erected new baskets, painted the lines, and had an incredible experience together. Unreal!
Notable mentions: was on a plane that came absurdly close to crashing (you know its a bad sign when one of your engines is on fire following take-off); Got beat bad in a volleyball tournament against a group of 5-foot Peruvian women on the floating reed island of Uros, Peru; Had to personally bribe multiple Kenyan police officers (in Swahili, or course) to avoid being taken to the Nairobi Police station (Long and absolutely ridiculous story; I'll tell you in person if you ask); Got stuck in the middle of a riot (literally spontaneously started on every side of where I was standing)in between upset Palestinians and baton heaving Israeli soldiers; And oohhh soo much more!

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Egypt, France, Guatemala, Italy, Morocco, Peru, Rwanda, Spain, Tanzania, Uganda

Countries I’ve Lived In

Canada, Israel, Kenya, United States