I'm optimistic, friendly and open kind of person. I love travelling, which I do a lot since I've moved to Slovakia — I come from Belarus originally, which is quite a nice country, by the way.
I'm a cyclist, I use my bicycle all the time, even during winter, which is snowy in Belarus and — sometimes — in Slovakia. And no, I never wear any special cycling stuff.
Apart from this, I'm a computer programmer, and I'm an enthusiast of free/open-source software, if you know what I'm talking about ;)

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I rarely use Couchsurfing, but when I registered I liked this idea of letting people stay with me so that I can get to know them.

Interests

Have I mentioned I love cycling? It’s not a sport activity to me, since I use it as a transport to move around the city (even though cycling is a physical activity indeed). I’m trying to get involved with cyclist organisations in places where I live to help make the environment more suitable to cyclists and pedestrians — and as a result, more pleasant for everyone.
I love travelling, be it for work or for leisure. I think that I just like the feeling of being somewhere else, even if I’ve been there before many times. And of course I like visiting new places and learning things about the country I visit, and meet new people.
I contribute to OpenStreetMap, a free map of the world anyone can edit (even you!). It’s a lot of fun to explore places and add them to the map, and I like the feeling of helping someone else who may use the map of this place in the future.
That is also why I am part of many open-source software projects: it’s fun creating things together which other people can use!

• cycling
• languages
• travelling
• maps
• open source
• linux
• free software
• openstreetmap

Music, Movies, and Books

The type of music I listen to depends really on my mood; it can be B.B. King’s blues, or classic rock, sometimes it's Kraftwerk or ELO, at other times it’s something from Britpop. When I don’t know what to listen to, I put the Absolute Radio on, they usually match my taste.
I really liked books by Douglas Adams, and it’s a pity there won’t be any more of them. When I was younger I was really into science fiction, having read most of the books from the sci-fi section of a local library.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Travelled to India and Mexico with my girlfriend Martina. Those two countries are vastly different, but have a similarity in that there’s huge inequality between different parts of the society, unfortunately. I loved both, in different ways, and I would love to come back one day.

Teach, Learn, Share

I can teach you how to map. I can try teaching you how to read or write Cyrillic, or speak Belarusian, Russian or Slovak. I know lots of fun facts about languages… but not everyone finds them fun, unfortunately, haha :) I can tell you lots of things about Belarus or Slovakia — but I’d love to hear something about your country from you too.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, India, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Serbia, South Africa, Spain, Ukraine, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Belarus, Slovakia