CURRENT MISSION

To run rings round burnout!

ABOUT ME

I'm an enthusiastically open-minded Scotsman doing anthropological fieldwork in Andalusia. I'd describe myself as driven to the point of obsessive compulsiveness (well not quite but I do try). I do like to be good at things though and just generally try and excel in whatever I find myself doing. I've been fortunate enough to have experienced quite a lot for my age and intend to keep the intensity of learning up!

PHILOSOPHY

Sylvain Tesson once said "Aventurier n’est pas vraiment un métier" roughly translated as "Adventurer isn't really a career". That struck me as a nice way of putting it. "Adventurer" is still, of course, an option...

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I've both surfed and hosted in the past - but as I'm currently doing fieldwork and have a flat I'm up for doing more hosting at the moment.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

If a couchsurfing experience can be defined as experiencing the generosity and goodwill of people who were previously strangers then I've been on the receiving end of this a lot.
Such experiences range from sharing a hot chocolate with a bishop in the outer Solomon Islands to being rescued from hypothermia by Norwegian bakers to a barbecue and pancake session with a holidaying family in Finland. Human kindness is sometimes shocking!
I was introduced to the concept of CF by a stranger who I met on a plane, a stranger to whom I later gave a lift to his hotel in darkest Ayrshire! I've been hosted by people from Istanbul to Urumqi to Ulaanbaatar and have been bowled over by how easy to make friends and keep them it is when you embrace this attitude.

Interests

Reading, Learning in general, Food, Cooking/Baking, Music, Languages, Travel, Running, Equitation , Judo, Karate, Kaerobics, Mountaineering, Camping, Climbing, Being in thrall to cats!

• cats
• horses
• books
• dining
• cooking
• recipes
• chocolate
• bbq
• baking
• fitness
• running
• reading
• traveling
• music
• camping
• adventure races
• mountaineering
• rock climbing
• languages
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

Books: Islandia - Austin Tappan Wright, L'Alchimiste - Paulo Coelho, Colin Thubron's works - Too many to list, I find myself reading a lot though - travel books, non-fiction, fiction - anything I can lay my hands on!
Music: Have a soft spot for melancholic music but generally am very hard to displease music-wise. Every place and mood has its music!
Films: Love cinema in general - Amélie Poulain is a favourite along with sad/epic films like Hero, Gladiator etc. I love film soundtracks - lots of very evocative music there!

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Nothing quite beats being in the mountains - especially in a whiteout. When the mist or the snow comes down a tingle always goes down my spine and I feel like I could be running anywhere - it's otherworldly.

Teach, Learn, Share

Well technically I'm qualified to teach English but I always end up just talking and sharing ideas! I like working with horses and helping people with their homework too! My cooking/baking 'skills' could be labelled 'dangerous and experimental' but I like learning to cook different ways haha. I can follow recipes to the letter and create masterpieces (cakes) but it is when I read between the lines and experiment that things go bang - enthusiastic but inept without a book in other words! Fitness, motivation and encouragement are areas that I deal with a lot as well - ride leading is my job afterall. Stopping there otherwise I'll get big-headed!

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Dominican Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Gambia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Mongolia, Morocco, Netherlands, Norway, Romania, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey

Countries I’ve Lived In

Solomon Islands, United Kingdom

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