CURRENT MISSION

Enjoy life through food, travel, and meeting new people!

ABOUT ME

We are vivacious couple who loves travel, various cultures, food, music, tea, and new adventures. We tend to steer away from conformities...we are not fond of cubicles, the corporate world, ties, suits, or easily prepared packaged foods. We would rather embrace a life of living from hammock to hammock, paycheck to paycheck, and adventure to adventure even if this is deemed the unconventional way of doing things. Chris' interests include long hours in the kitchen with fresh and amazing local ingredients, heavy metal music, strumming the guitar, enjoying a fine sake or asian green tea, and sleeping under the stars. Michelle's interest include all things yoga, taoist & buddhist philosophy, drinking fine asian teas with Chris, and strumming an occasional ditty on the ukulele.

PHILOSOPHY

Live fully. Live with curiosity. Live with respect for yourself and others. Hold compassion for all that surrounds you, that includes the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

We love to receive people from other parts of the world and share the gems of our hometown with them. We too, then get to see our city from different perspectives! Also, traveling isn't just about old sites and history...it's about the people and the culture alive TODAY...staying with others as we travel immerses us into the culture and vibrancy of THAT place.

Interests

We are both interested in ethnic foods and the preparation of foods and meals in other countries....we love cooking! We appreciate the small farmers on this planet and enjoy their stories of trials and triumphs. We love music of all kinds including folk, bluegrass, electronica, world, metal, big band, jazz, and anything quirky. There is nothing better in life than sharing music and food cross-culturally. We also enjoy hiking in the outdoors, camping, and kayaking. Film, movies, dance performances, and museums fill our rainy & winter days with ease.

• culture
• dancing
• dining
• cooking
• yoga
• instructor
• drinking
• movies
• traveling
• knitting
• music
• jazz
• guitar
• metal music
• outdoor activities
• hiking
• kayaking
• camping
• history

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies: Spring Summer Fall Winter, Together, Eat Drink Man Woman, Ratatouille, Cinema Paradiso, Ciao Professore!, Seven Pounds, Kings Speech, The Warriors, Little Miss Sunshine, Biutiful, Tampopo, Run Lola Run, Bourne Identity, Dancer in the Dark
Books: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, The Great Gatsby, To Kill a Mockingbird, Owen Meany, Ghost Rider, Across the Nightingale Floor, Mrs. Oriku, Waking, The Book of Tao, Broken Open, Stroke of Insight
Music: Bjork, Sigur Ros, Iron Maiden, Rush, Elvis, Jonsi, Ditty Bops, Jason Mraz, Billie Holiday, Tom Jones, Ivy, Imogen Heap, Frou Frou, Evanescence, Ella Fitzgerald, Talking Heads, David Byrne, Edie Brickell, Bia, Cat Power, Jack Johnson, Portishead

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Chris: In the crisp late Fall staying at a hidden Onsen in Hokkaido Japan where the mountainous hot spring formed the warm soaking pools and the owner was a former chef who foraged our multi-coursed dinner from the land.

Michelle: Sitting amongst hundreds of buddhist monks in Dharamasala, Inda while the Dalai Lama walked by and stopped to bless and acknowledge us. To be in his presence, as well the many monks around us, was life-changing and inspiring.

Teach, Learn, Share

Michelle is a certified yoga instructor and yoga therapist and willing to share those skills with you. She is also an avid knitter and has taught hundreds of people to knit....this is a skill that every woman and MAN should have in life! Every hula-hooped? Michelle's the gal to get you started!

Chris is passionate about cooking and would love to have you in the kitchen if you want to learn a few of his humble but yummy techniques for roasting, sauteeing, grilling and pickling! He is very knowledgeable in the ways of asian tea as well as the various tastes of sake. He can teach ANYONE to ice skate as he has been skating since he was 3 years old. Want to learn a few guitar basics? He's your man!

Countries I’ve Visited

Canada, Finland, India, Italy, Japan, Laos, Switzerland, Thailand

Countries I’ve Lived In

Japan, United States

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