CURRENT MISSION

trying to like Brussels

ABOUT ME

a Russia born former resident of Vienna, where I moved at the age of 9 with my family after the breakdown of the Soviet Union. Thoughtful, culturally interested and genuinely curious, I do enjoy in-depth conversations as well as different kinds of cultural activities and festivities (especially if good music is involved).

I have recently moved to Brussels and would love to meet up and join activities in the capital of Europe!

PHILOSOPHY

better to have something to remember than nothing to regret

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Some 10years ago, during a lunchbreak of my internship, I embarked on a search for one of my first trips, to the Middle East and then came across hospitalityclub.. becoming CS member soon after made perfect sense and disrupted the way I used to travel, meet people, and discover the world.
I used to host quite a bit when l lived in Vienna and was very active in organizing events and regularly traveled to meet fellow CSers at eclectic meetings an all parts of Europe. Belonging to the old generation CS with best times had around 2008-09, I do feel that the new CS community has lost a bit of its charme and quite a few other quality elements (and unfortunately, people). But it might also be the age thing, after all :) Nostalgia aside, I still hope to share new experience and common interests of course.

Interests

I'm very interested in politics, foreign affairs, international relations, countries in transition (Myanmar in particular) and more generally Europe/Middle East and Asia in particular.
I am also a big music junkie, particularly if it comes to jazz - you may easily bump into me in a jazz bar in any given European capital and beyond.
I am fascinated by linguistics and like learning new languages in general.
and last but not least.. I'm quite a sociable person and particularly enjoy wine drinking and tasting + conversations evolving around wine drinking and tasting.

• politics
• traveling
• socializing
• music
• jazz
• piano
• international relations
• languages

Music, Movies, and Books

movies:
Pedro Almodovar, Jim Jarmush, Tony Gatlif, Michael Haneke, Francois Ozon, Nikita Mikhalkov, Amos Gitai, Ari Folman, Michel Gondry, Woody Allen, John Cassavetes, Aki Kaurismäki, Elia Suleiman, Jafar Panahi, Bahman Ghobadi
Berlinale and Sarajevo Film Festival!

books:
the pack of russians is always a good read - Dostojewski,Gogol and Nabokov being among my fav's. and a fair amount of non-fiction literature (mostly political in the narrowest sense, else everything is political).

currently reading Peter Pomerantsev's "Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible" - a book that could almost be a satire about Russia in transition, but is not.

music: this could take a bit longer :) extensive musical taste with an elaborated jazzy, (contemporary and European jazz in particular) neo-classic/experimental and post-rock side.

my last.fm profile (nick: mashulja) should reveal more.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Survived an 'investigation' with the Hezbollah in Southern Beirut. (taken a very broad definition of the word 'amazing')

Teaching in Burma/Myanmar was a great experience, as well as traveling with a monk.

Teach, Learn, Share

definitely languages, always up for language tandems! want to take my Italian from basic to intermediate at least!

happy to share my music collection! just bring your device.

i'm very interested in all kinds of rare and astonishing instruments. for now I'm just able to play some very classical piano

Countries I’ve Visited

Albania, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Latvia, Lebanon, Macedonia, Malaysia, Malta, Montenegro, Morocco, Myanmar, Norway, Palestine, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Syrian Arab Republic, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United States, Vatican City State

Countries I’ve Lived In

Austria, Netherlands, Russian Federation, United Kingdom

• 

•