CURRENT MISSION

Discovering Zagreb... and myself.

Right now drowning in work - sorry, but I haven´t got time to host or meet up. Hope that´s gonna change soon...

ABOUT ME

I´m a teacher, subjects: German and Religion. I used to teach at a boarding school for highly talented children, a very satisfying and interesting work. Now I´m living abroad for some time with the goal to learn Croatian and to build a personal "connection" to Croatia, a country that is both familiar and strange to me.
I´m thrilled about life in Zagreb. What a beautiful city! Come and see for yourselves!
I consider myself an honest, caring, open-minded, reflected person and would like to meet nice people face to face.

Ein Luftgänger ist ein Mensch, der nur auf sein Herz hört. Er gehorcht niemandem auf der Welt. Der Luftgänger tut, was er will. Der Luftgänger hat vor nichts und niemandem Angst. Vor allem nicht vor sich selbst. Und weil er keine Angst hat und immer auf sein Herz hört, kann er durch die Lüfte gehen.
(An air-walker is a person who only listens to his heart. He doesn't obey anyone in the world. The air-walker does whatever he wants. The air-walker is not afraid of anything or anyone. Especially not of himself. And because he has no fear and always listens to his heart, he can walk through the air.)
(Robert Schneider)

PHILOSOPHY

So God created mankind in his own image, / in the image of God he created them. (The Bible, Gen 1, 27a-b)

Handeln ist leicht, Denken schwer, nach dem Gedanken handeln unbequem. (Acting is easy, thinking is hard, acting according to the thought is uncomfortable.) (Goethe)

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost, that is where they should be. Now put foundations under them.
(Henry David Thoreau)

Wer Sicherheit der Freiheit vorzieht, ist zu Recht ein Sklave. (Who prefers security to freedom deserves to be a slave.)
(Aristoteles)

Eine Million Sterne sind zwei Augen, die sie anschauen. (One million stars are two eyes beholding them.)
(Antonio Porchia)

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Originally, I started using Couchsurfing to find hosts on a planned trip. But, as time goes by and experience grows, I start to value Couchsurfing as a platform for getting in touch with open minded people who like to share what they have, who like to learn new things, to exchange views, to change perspective, to make the best possible of human life, and "the world a better place" (although that sounds corny).

Wenn unsere Sinne fein genug wären, würden wir die unbewegt ruhenden Felsen als tanzendes Chaos erfahren. (If our senses were fine enough, we would know the motionless resting rocks as dancing chaos.)
(Friedrich Nietzsche)

Interests

In my free time I practice Martial Arts and love to be outdoors, do any kind of activity like biking, hiking, running... I used to work as a volunteer in a dog asylum and enjoyed being with my four legged friends. We also have a dog of our own, Švrćo.
I love cooking, reading and music, playing cards (Skat, now learning Bela), going out with my dog and friends and learning new things.
When I travel I like to learn about the cities and places I visit. I´m particularly interested in sacred buildings.

In spite of the cost of living, it’s still popular.
(Kathy Norris)

• dogs
• poetry
• acting
• dancing
• dining
• cooking
• vegetarian
• vegan
• reading
• traveling
• survival
• music
• outdoor activities
• cycling
• hiking
• badminton
• teaching
• volunteering

Music, Movies, and Books

Books: Kingkiller-Trilogy, LOTR, Song of Ice and Fire, Die Wand (Haushofer), Baal (Brecht), Kafka, Dürrenmatt, Kleist, Hesse, Austin,... I´m a big fan of poetry (and spoken word, in that context), e.g. Pablo Neruda, Antonio Porchia, Leonard Cohen, Else Lasker-Schüler, Rainer Maria Rilke, Bert Brecht and many present poets like Enzensberger, Scheuermann,...

Music: Only a guitar and a voice and clever or thoughtful lyrics and I can listen for hours, especially if it´s live music! On record I like e.g. Laura Marling, Anna Ternheim, The National, Of Monsters And Men. I also love Ska, ofc a live concert makes a world´s difference again, I have records e.g. of Django3000, Talco, Irie Révoltés... And I like Classical music, guitar and piano are my favorite instruments, but I also listen to clarinette, cello, choral music and others. Ketil Bjornstad is one present artist whom I like very much.

Ohne Musik wäre das Leben ein Irrtum. (Without music, life would be a fallacy.)
(Friedrich Nietzsche)

An example for damn good lyrics: "Never again/in perfect clarity/see the day in childlike vision/where does it lead from here/on without that guidance/disaster role model without a part/our search is wider/cast off those wide-eyed hopes and dreams/mind matters, matters not (Dark Tranquillity: Mind Matters)

Movies: Those that make me marvel and wonder. E.g. "Underground" by Kusturica, "Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain", "Schindler´s list", "Shatter island", "Bin jip", and some German movies like "Das Rauschen".

Series: Downton Abbey. I relax while watching it. I can watch DA over and over again. A simple, sound world amongst the chaos...

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Starting a new life, the most painful, but also most amazing thing a person can do.

Jeder, der fällt, hat Flügel. (Anyone who falls has wings.)
(Ingeborg Bachmann)

Teach, Learn, Share

Teach: Taekwon-Do / Karate, German, Slacklining, vegetarian cooking...
Learn: Croatian. Bela. How to live apart from civilization (survival). How to disdain and live without money. How to live a vegan life in Croatia ;)
Share: Faith in "our" people, the human race; music, lyrics, poems; 350 dogs; good vegetarian food; hugs.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Italy, Malta, Montenegro, Netherlands, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland

Countries I’ve Lived In

Croatia