CURRENT MISSION

Playing the guitar left handed.

ABOUT ME

Hello everybody! My Name is Jan and I grew up in Bamberg, a nice little city in the Frankonian part of Bavaria. My parents are from former Czechoslovakia. I have two brothers, a twin and an older one.

I am an open person, like to meet new people and learn from them and about their lives, countries and cultures. People say that I am calm and kind of a "mellow" guy, but at the same time I think I am actually very communicative, like to get people into conversations and have no problems with speaking to strangers. but maybe the best thing is to read what other people write about me...

PHILOSOPHY

Good question... no short answer :)

I always saw myself as a realist with a slight pessimistic drive which is why I get a bit "depressed" from time to time. I am thinking of my life and my place in this world. However, I met for me very important people that showed me a different view on things and life; today I see things more relaxed. There is a reason why things are happening, and why not.

I quite like the surfers' philosophy: "It's better to regret something you did than something you didn't do". There are things you should try out and do before you won't be able anymore. Life is there to make experiences of all kinds.

Furthermore I am convinced that things are always a bit different than they seem to be at first glance. Don't think mainstream, try to get information from several sources and make up your own mind and your own opinion.

Be generous, money doesn't make you happy. Good friends are the most important thing in life. What is life without them?

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I have been couchsurfing during my travels through Russia, Mongolia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan... and the latest destination Turkey.

When I am at home I host and are always happy to meet new people and help them out.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Met my Bamberg CS community and became active, hosted and showed surfers around in Bamberg.

On my travels through Russia, Mongolia, China and Central Asia I met so many cocuhsurfers and stayed with a few of them. It is such a powerful idea, and it provides you with a powerful network from the first day you arrive. I am glad having met all these people.

Interests

I am interested in Media and Art, good films, photography, climbing, slack lining music, guitars, ukuleles, good beer, and so much more...

Before I went to London I was a rather active climber. We have a quality climbing area called "Frankenjura" in Frankonia. Recently (being abroad) I started focusing more on slack-lining which I just started doing again (after a little collar bone accident in August 2009 when I broke that thing into two pieces) I also want to get back into bouldering.

I enjoy clubbing as well as going to the cinema, or to the pub for a beer (the ladder is what I am probably doing most of the time).

I like a good espresso or cappuccino and prefer a good second hand shop before H&M as well as I prefer a Mac before a windows PC :)

I play the guitar and recently bought a Ukulele which is quite fun to play. I am not the best singer but try to improve.

I really like the Simpsons. Unfortunately the "newer" episodes have been remarkably loosing quality. Family Guy is awesome as well.

I like cooking (should taste good, healthy and be done quick) and would love to add some more dishes to my little repertoire.

• arts
• photography
• make up
• cooking
• beer
• clubbing
• pub crawls
• shopping
• movies
• traveling
• bouldering
• music
• guitar
• rock climbing
• communications

Music, Movies, and Books

I am a fan of Jim Jarmusch and his films, also Wes Anderson; many more... I like independent cinema. But I can also have a laugh about Anchorman, The Big Lebowsky, Naked Gun, and all that kind of stuff :)

I like most of the music on this planet, some more some less, but I am open for most of it. For example, my first record that I bought was the "Black Album" by Metallica and today I am listening to almost everything I like, from HipHop to Electronic music, dark wave, independent, Rock, Pop and classical music, musicals, opera, etc.. at the moment definitely electronic music and chilled jack johnson or jason mraz style... :)

Books I enjoyed reading lately: Malcom Gladwell's "Tipping Point"

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Leaving home to go to London for a year was the best thing I have done so far.

Leaving the personel comfort zone once in a while is very important in my opinion.

My 4 months of traveling...

Teach, Learn, Share

I can teach you some slack-lining, some chords on the guitar and the uke, can tell you some tips and tricks about photography, and since I came back from my travels, have also a few good stories to tell...

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Canada, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Greece, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Mongolia, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Tajikistan, Turkey

Countries I’ve Lived In

Germany, United Kingdom

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