CURRENT MISSION

I want to be exposed to as many adventures and people as possible. I love being in unfamiliar territory and have found that everywhere you go there are people willing to share their country, town, or home with you. We are never alone, we are everywhere!

ABOUT ME

I tend to take notice of and appreciate the art, the funky, the obscure, the fun in life, my sense of humor could be defined as a bit twisted..I blame my mom for this. I smile a lot. I feel lucky in this life. My business is successful and gratifying and leaves me plenty of time to travel , cook yummy, healthy food, enjoy hikes in the morning and to see live music.

PHILOSOPHY

Do good things and you'll go good places,
Leap and the net will appear!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I have been traveling for years and have always taken in travelers, now I am doing it all legit like on CS

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I have hosted and surfed just a bit so far.

Interests

Travel,Organic food,Hiking
Live Music,Snorkeling
go cart racing,odd movies,reading
artistic stuff,things that make me think,dancing
house plants and gardens,sleeping in,gatherings with friends.I get a massage at least once a month.

• arts
• culture
• dancing
• dining
• cooking
• wine
• beer
• organic food
• running
• movies
• reading
• traveling
• music
• live music
• hiking
• snorkeling
• business
• languages
• law
• nursing

Music, Movies, and Books

I love music! The Be Good Tanyas, Wilco, Tom Waits, Middle Brother, Greyboy Allstars, Cake, Feist, Rebirth, Kruder and Dorfmeister, Stevie Wonder, Radio Citizen, Portishead..old school, funk, 80's, classical anything done well. Whatcha got?

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

While traveling in Africa, I was over charged for a first class bus ticket because I'm a Mzungu (Westerner). When I arrived at the bus station I walked down the row of parked buses, large and oh so comfortable looking, to arrive at the end of the row where the dinkiest most run down bus was waiting, clearly for me. I showed them my ticket and how much I paid for it and they had a look on their face's because they knew that this was not the bus intended for me, I had been had. This was not new to me, while traveling in 3rd world countries it comes with the territory. Being the only white person I was appropriately placed in the back of the bus. Crammed in the tightest corner, I readied for what was supposed to be a 5 hour drive to Lushoto, a mountain town in eastern Tanzania. I will admit that 2 hours into the drive, my leg sweating against the woman next to me, I became a little bitter about my situation. And then the bus broke down. Not knowing exactly what was happening because I couldn't understand the Swahilli language all around me. I joined the others sitting outside on the side of the road, mostly woman nursing and caring for their babies. So I pulled out the little sheet of paper that I had taken notes on while in Dar es Elaam, how to say "What's your name", "hello ", "beautiful baby " and other useful phrases. Their faces lit up. Their smiles melted away my bitterness of the situation. After 3 hours of sitting on the side of the road with these beautiful people I asked if they would send another bus to get us soon. They all began to laugh. "Who would pay for that?" they said. My silly spoiled, American train of thought, we will wait for them to fix it. There we sat on the side of the road, next to nothing but a little hut selling only hot water, hot pepsi and hot beer. Yes, I am emphasizing HOT. It was hot, we were all hot and hungry. Thinking ahead I had bought a bag of popcorn, banana chips, crackers and cashews for the ride. I pulled these out and shared them with everyone and knowing the universal law of "respect your elders " I bought the oldest woman on the bus a bottle of water. She repeated again and again "asante"..."thank you ". And I became a part of the "broken down bus tribe ". They wanted my contact info,they wanted to be sure I had a safe place to sleep when we arrived where we were going, they knew we were friends. When after four hours had passed and our bus started up I yelled "YAY!" and began dancing and everyone laughed. Once back on the bus my little cramped corner felt like the best place in the world to be. With my new friend Anastazia next to me I knew I would never regret paying way too much for my 11 hour bus trip.

I wanted to be exposed to something challenging, a completely different culture. I wanted to be shocked and I wanted to be reminded of my strength and ability to adjust, groove, flow through with a smile and my head held high in confidence even though I have no idea which way to go. Confidence in knowing that even though it may seem like the wrong way, it is always the right way to a new experience, a strengthening of my intuition and an unchaining of any bit of fear that try as it might can't hold on to my freedom to roam any land. Thank you Tanzania.

Teach, Learn, Share

I can teach you how to cook veggie meals with unique mixtures of ordinary foods. I can learn a few words in other languages..usually thank you, please and where's the toilet? I will share stories with passion and comedy..and I will share my wine.

Countries I’ve Visited

Belize, Cambodia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Ireland, Malaysia, Mexico, Myanmar, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Singapore, Spain, Tanzania, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Thailand, United States

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