I enjoy meeting new people and experiencing new perspectives. I'm back home in Portland after a summer travelling in Europe. I mostly host during the summer and during breaks in the school year.

Our family loves to travel together and explore our common passions: art, music and the outdoors. We enjoy getting to know the people that we host and who host us.

I was a German Studies major in college, and I currently teach at a high school in Portland, Oregon. Most of the classes I teach are math, but I have taught elective courses on modern German history, Geometry + Art, board games, genocide in the 20th century, the history of alternative music. Since 2017, I've teamed with students to offer classes exploring equity and identity topics with an emphasis on intersectionality. We have had a three year cycle: Race and Ethnicity, LGBTQIA+, and Feminism. Next year we are adding a fourth course on Disability.

Interests

My biggest hobby is board games. I have a lot of friends who like solving puzzles and using our brains for recreation. I play twice a week with two different groups. During my 2012 trip to Europe, my family and I connected up with boardgamers in nine different countries through BoardGameGeek. On my 2015 trip, I couchsurfed via BGG in Iceland for a week. BGG user name: themilkcrate

I also enjoy music, photography, hiking and art.

• arts
• photography
• board games
• traveling
• puzzles
• music
• alternative music
• hiking
• history
• mathematics

Music, Movies, and Books

Music: Indie from post-punk to the present. Favorites include the Bunnymen, Wedding Present, Hefner and Sea Power. ONSIND and The Front Bottoms are my favorite new-to-me bands from the last fifteen years.

Movies: I was really into foreign film for a while, but haven't prioritized movies lately. Old favorites include the Wizard of Oz and Blade Runner, and Pride. Visited the 50th Karlovy Vary Film Festival in 2015.

TV: Binge-watched Battlestar Galactica (twice), Black Mirror, Newsroom, House, The Wire, Orange is the New Black, Sense8, Dark and Babylon Berlin. Haven't been watching as much lately.

Art: German Expressionism - Der Blaue Reiter, Die Brücke and Neue Sachlichkeit. My favorite artist is Franz Marc.

Books: Mostly non-fiction and YA (from my son or students), although I like dystopian sci-fi as well. My library at home is filled with German history, art history, books on indie music and travel books.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I unintentionally drove through the center of the LA riots in 1992.
I was pulled out of the crowd to introduce The Alarm at a gig in Munich.
I met my wife because I heard her on the radio and had to go meet her.
I was calmed down after losing my wallet by a family of bunnies frolicking around me by moonlight.

Teach, Learn, Share

I'm happy to share my experiences from traveling in Europe over the last 38 years (and to India in 2016 and 2018) as well as those from living in Los Angeles (in the early 90s) and Portland, Oregon (the rest of my life).

I am (of course) willing to share my enthusiasm for board and card games, and I'm happy to teach several games if folks are interested.

I love to learn about local food and history and to talk about each other's experiences.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Scotland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Wales

Countries I’ve Lived In

Germany, United States