CURRENT MISSION

To see where life takes me and enjoy the journey along the way.

ABOUT ME

It's a bit awkward to write about oneself, but here it goes! Like many people on CS, I would guess, I am an outgoing person with a wide variety of interests. I am from the US but have been lived abroad. I enjoy new experiences, people, and new types of food!

visited 18 states (8%)

PHILOSOPHY

To enjoy each minute and take pleasure in life's simple things. We are surrounded by beauty and wonder in everyday life in the little details. I think this is what appeals to me about street photography, stopping to open my eyes see what is immediate, happening and around us everyday.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING
Currently not hosting regularly as I stay quite busy, butgreatly enjoy hosting when I do.
COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Host and attended gatherings. I had heard of CS a few years before I began as I have friends who've been doing it for a long time, but I did not CS until later. I met another traveller while out taking photos in Tbilisi and we started talking. Serendipitously, it happened that he was on a journey from Europe to China which was taking him through Kazakhstan. We exchanged info and he wrote to me when he neared Almaty. I told him he was welcome stay at my place if he chose; which he did and we later talked about CS. I knew about CS but never really thought of participating in it and he casually mentioned that I already was. I thought to myself "well, yeah" and have been hosting and going to local CS meetings since.

Interests

Street and travel photography, biking and travel.

• arts
• street art
• avant-garde art
• photography
• tattoos
• dining
• motorcycles
• traveling
• cycling
• camping
• languages
• film photography

Music, Movies, and Books

Books: A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole; The Good Earth; Imperial Woman, Pearl S. Buck; Invisible Monsters, Chuck Palahniuk; Crackpot, John Waters; Pale Fire, Nabokov
Movies: Even Dwarves Started Small, Werner Herzog; Toby Damnit, 8 1/2, Fellini; Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf; Female Trouble
Music: opera, classical, cheesy pop, Belle and Sebastian, Montserrat Caballe, Johnny Cash,

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Parachuted from an old Soviet made AN-2 biplane

Teach, Learn, Share

Teach: English, of course, as I teach English for my local school district and have taught all levels from kindergarteners to university, adults / recent immigrants in New York City, to Russian speaking pilots in a former Soviet republic.
Photography: I shoot and process + print my own film; I love to chat about taking photos when I'm not taking them.
Learn: I enjoy languages, and while I'm not particularly good at any of them (other than English, and even that's debatable ha ha), they are fun for me.
French: classes at L'Alliance Francaise when I lived in New Orleans, often listen French radio (Radio NOVA) and look over French from time to time, although I am far from a proficient speaker.
German: studied at uni and enjoy German language.
Russian: I'm currently studying Russian as I live and work in the Rusophonic world and it would be a shame to spend time here and not learn any Russian.
Spanish: I took in high school- it is one of the few things useful things I learned in high school!
Chinese: Took class and picked some up while living in China.
If you put the keyword “Marigny” in your request to me I’ll know right away that you’ve read my profile before sending a request.

What I Can Share with Hosts

How to shoot film, process black n white film

Countries I’ve Visited

Belgium, Cambodia, Canada, China, France, Georgia, Germany, Guatemala, Kazakhstan, Laos, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Russian Federation, Spain, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

China, Kazakhstan, Spain, United States

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