I grew up in a small town in West Virginia among the mountains and hills. I am very easy to get along with and laid back. I have spent a few years living in Ireland from 2006-2009 and want to see other countries while hosting others wherever I live.

I have worked as a counselor/case manager in mental health dealing with adults with mental disability so I am deeply involved in psychology.

I believe we should treat the cause of an illness and not simply focus on the symptoms. It is ethically wrong to treat symptoms of patients for life to profit from this.

I currently live in Berlin Germany since July 2015 and recently got a Freelance Visa to work anywhere in the EU primarily as an english teacher but I feel my best skill is wood sculpture. I am still new here and getting to know people but I do have a good sense of where things are in the city but still learning each day.

I am a bit unusual, I care about learning and experiencing truths about people in society instead of living in a fantasy land where everything is happy and perfect. I am very open to other perspectives so do not get offended or so uptight when I say something controversial. Scottish comedian Billy Connolly once said that we need to look beyond literal words to understand a greater meaning.
I notice homeless people on the streets and I wonder how they ended up there. Why the reality of my homeland, the United States is worse than a third world country in many areas but my government will go out and make war or give money to other countries.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I am here to host people and be hosted when I travel, make new connections and enjoy cultural and culinary diversity. I did not join to use couchsurfing as a dating site. I did not like the late night environment at the couchsurfing meetup in berlin but a lot of alcohol was going around also. I have an okcupid profile so if someone wants to date me or I am interested then I write to them there so I dont need to use couchsurfing as a dating site.

If you are using couchsurfing as a way to meet someone for dating or fun then that is ok but if we dont connect well or you dont find me attractive please keep the couchsurfing review professional. I just got one bad review over a misunderstanding from someone using couchsurfing for a dating site. If I am hosting you, it will be very well organized for you, you will get an extra set of keys to come and go as you like and I will give you exact directions to my place or meet you in an agreed spot. If I commit to host you, I never change this at last moment and I will not leave you out on the street with no place to go.

Interests

I like shopping, learning about the different food that I never saw in America, art, festivals, and getting to know new people. I enjoy being out in nature and watching animal documentaries. I would like to go to Lithuania and look for the amber stone that has insects inside millions of years old. I want to look for dinosaur bones on the jurrasic coast in England. Look for pink diamonds in Australian Bush. I have in America, a large collection of Native American Indian artifacts that I found over the years. I enjoy fossils, petrified wood, having pieces of meteors that came from outside planet earth.

• animals
• wildlife
• insects
• arts
• documentaries
• festivals
• environment
• dining
• drinking
• shopping
• traveling
• teaching
• freelancing
• law
• psychology
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

I like a wide range of music that varies. I think there is something in everything I like. Movies, I like action, comedy, romance depends on how I am feeling. I like reading some fiction by authors such as brendan behan, walter macken, also stories about peoples experiences during a famous time in history. Lately I been reading books by Eckhart Tolle.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

My grandfather and my 94 year old neighbor who died back in 1999 spoke to me about Mulberry trees in West Virginia and how in my area they were so many in number and how the fruit fed whole families and wildlife. There are no more mulberry trees now, a blight killed them. In 2012, I planted 2 special Ilinois everbearing mulberry trees that cost $40.00 each and built a fence around to protect each one from animals eating them. Now, three years later, the trees are much taller than me, the fences removed, they are producing many fruits that myself, my family, and the local wildlife come to enjoy. My hopes are the animals will spread these seeds and more trees will appear. Sometimes planting a tree is not enough, a fruit bearing tree to give to animals is what a forest needs also.

Teach, Learn, Share

I do have a lot of handyman skills and grew up helping people build my parents house. I also do some wood sculpture and do have a few tools with me that I use here in Berlin. If you do come, bring some kind of interesting food or drink from your country that is unique and share with me because I would really like that alot and in return I share with you unique food and drink of Germany & United States. I can make really good guacamole!

Also, I dont drink a lot but I have a nice collection of world liquers that you can sample and we talk about.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Anything you want to know about America, places to go, contacts. Do you want to practice better english? Maybe you want to see some things in Berlin if you want me to host you? Meet some locals?
If you host me, I always show appreciation by contributing food and not taking advantage of my host's hospitality. I do expect to know where to go before I arrive and a plan once I arrive. I can do things with you if invited or I can be very independent and do my own thing. I like the idea of making dinner together and learning about each others travel experiences. I am a comedian and enjoy making people laugh or giving them things to think about in deep conversation.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Northern Ireland, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Germany, Ireland, United States