CURRENT MISSION

Living life to the fullest, learning everything there is to learn.

ABOUT ME

I want to see the world and volunteer as much as I can.

On the other hand, if you still want to know: My name is Ben Vess and I’m a native signer of American Sign Language. ASL is my primary means of communicating backed up with pen and paper (English, French, y un poco Español). My whole family is deaf, myself included, and we all attended deaf schools for most of our lives. Some of my former occupations include being an ASL teacher for high school, Apple store specialist (Corte Madera and Santa Rosa, California), graphic designer (some of my works include NAD, DeafHope, Sonoma Wine and Sign), web developer (remodelwithoutremorse.com , sonomawineandsign.com , and this one!), fashion model (NYC), photographer, one-time puppeteer, Christmas elf, artist ( artbybenvess.wordpress.com ), and a lot of volunteer work.

PHILOSOPHY

Hakuna Matata.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I don't quite understand this question.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

My sister got me into this. She did it during her seven weeks stint at Indonesia and then hosted a French guy. Thought it was right up my alley; so, I signed up!

Interests

People. Languages. Life. Colors. Art. Ideas.

Currently, I spend my time traveling; however, for the most part, I am in my best when I live my life like the movie, "Chocolat." Some places and people require more time and interaction, others are better at a simple hello and a goodbye. I just want to experience it all and I'm living my life to achieve that goal.

• arts
• design
• graphic design
• fashion
• photography
• sketching
• dining
• wine
• modeling
• traveling
• volunteer work
• painting
• teaching
• languages
• sign language
• volunteering

Music, Movies, and Books

Books: Anne Rice's Vampires, Hunger Games, Roald Dahl (Witches, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, Matilda), Michael Crichton (all of them), Richard Preston, Steve Berry...and tons more.

Movies: Wit, documentaries, indie films, Amelie, Delicassen, City of Lost Children, Tim Burton/Johnny Depp, Chocolat...

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

My first day in New York, I was 11 years old, coming from a pretty homogenous place: Virginia. Needless to say, I fell in love with the fact there were so many looks, cultures, languages, food, and all that. That place still blows my mind, even after living there for four years at one point.

The other was when the school principal, at a deaf school, came in one of my classes for observation and wrote in French, and when I started to figure out parts of her notes, she switched out to German with ease. I knew then I gotta learn these languages by living the life. Not from classrooms.

I think I'm in a constant state of awestruckness, haha.

Teach, Learn, Share

I know American Sign Language (native). Also, I'm a computer freak. I'm an artist as well (painting, sketching, photography)

Countries I’ve Visited

Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States