CURRENT MISSION

To learn, explore and create.

ABOUT ME

We are a family of four (Andee, Michael, Zia (2003) and Brant (2006)) who lived in NYC, San Antonio and, now, Austin. We started couchsurfing as a family in 2009 and it has been a fabulous experience giving us lots of stories and adventures. Hosting is just as much fun for us as surfing, so feel free to contact us.

We're currently on a world tour with Michael's work (Federation - Internet Identity Security - http://www.gluu.org/). He's also working on a podcast about open source businesses.

Andee is on a quest to discover and share techniques for introducing students to Shakespeare (ImprovEd Shakespeare's Global Hamlet - http://www.improvedshakespeare.com/globalhamlet/). It's an on-going web series starring the youth of the world.

The kids are homeschooling / worldschooling on the road. Zia and Brant are both hoping to meet kids their ages. Zia is into roller derby, photography and film. Brant likes baseball, martial arts and Fortnight dancing.

We all love traveling, history, science, nature, music and art. When we're in TX, we try to focus on sustainability and frequent our local farmers markets and food co-ops.

PHILOSOPHY

The more you learn, the more there is to learn.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

THINGS TO DO IN AUSTIN:

Austin360, Do512 and the Chronicle have listings of events:

http://www.austin360.com/
http://do512.com/
http://www.austinchronicle.com/

University of Texas has:

- The self-guided Landmarks art tour:
http://landmarks.utexas.edu/tour

- Glow-in-the-dark bowling at the UT Union
http://www.utexas.edu/universityunions/texas-union/scene/underground

- A tour of the UT Tower
http://www.utexas.edu/universityunions/texas-union/scene/tower-tours

Sometimes you can find wild parrots:
http://suepatterson.blogspot.com/2012/02/wild-parrots-of-east-austin.html

A swim in Barton Springs spring fed pool is nice:
http://austintexas.gov/department/barton-springs-pool

There's also the Cathedral of Junk:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/cathedral-of-junk-austin?nb=1
(Requires reservations)

You can tour the Capitol building:
http://www.tspb.state.tx.us/SPB/Plan/Tours.htm

Note: You CAN get around via bus, but it's not as convenient as a bigger city - buses aren't as frequent and take a long time to get places.

Interests

Performing arts, traveling, nature, animals, crafts, computers, organic gardening, hats and more.

• animals
• cats
• dogs
• chickens
• arts
• singing
• performing arts
• acting
• dining
• cooking
• crafts
• flying
• gardening
• traveling
• billiards
• music
• piano
• cycling
• equestrian
• fishing
• surfing
• baseball
• swimming
• bowling
• history
• science
• volunteering
• tours

Music, Movies, and Books

We hardly seem to make it to the movies anymore. We like the big sci-fi things like Lord of the Rings, but we're mostly into art flicks or indie flicks. Foreign flicks.

I constantly read fiction, mostly young adult fantasy/sci-fi novels at the moment. My husband only reads non-fiction computer books or interesting fact-oid books.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Our lives are amazing. We're really lucky.

Teach, Learn, Share

Michael is the cook. I like to bake. We'd love to share a meal(s) with you, because we all love to eat. We enjoy biking to activities in Austin. And whenever there is an event/activity, we're usually there. We like to visit living history museums, art museums, science museums. We love to attend quirky/unusual activities, like graveyard stories or tops of towers. We like animals (we have 2 dogs and pigeons). Michael plays the ukulele, Zia is trying to learn it, too, but mostly, she and Brant prefer to sing along.

And there's more. There's always more, but we'll have to chat about that in person.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Good food and great conversation.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Peru, Switzerland, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States

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