I'm Max. I'm from a little place called Papatowai on New Zealand's south coast. I spent 2021 and 2022 working for a humanitarian NGO in Somalia, Ethiopia, and Uganda (with a few months' break living on my boat in New Zealand). I'm now based in Amman, Jordan, working for another NGO. I have an old but roomy apartment 3 minutes' walk from the city centre, and I'm looking forward to hosting fellow couchsurfers here.

I've hosted plenty of couchsurfers over the years, in New Zealand, Iraq, and Bolivia, and I've been lucky enough to couchsurf with some great people in Norway, New Caledonia, France, Germany, Austria, Iraq, Cyprus, Israel, Hungary, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Croatia, Egypt, and Jordan.

I like travelling to meet people, learn languages and eat tasty (vegetarian) food.

References: I've actually hosted and surfed with a lot more people that it says, because the old hosting references turned into personal references when the website changed. Check out the personal references, too!

Surfing: If you host me, I can promise good conversations, and to be tidy and respectful. Hopefully meet you soon!

Hosting: I love hosting people, but I'd appreciate it if you briefly read my hosting information before requesting to stay. Thanks, and I look forward to hosting you!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I like both hosting and surfing, and I see couchsurfing as a brilliant extension of hitchhiking culture, which I also love.

Interests

My interests include languages, sailing, reading, traveling, tramping (hiking), rock-climbing, mountaineering, pack-rafting, food, and violin.

I'm not sure if vegetarianism is classed as an interest, but I guess I should put it somewhere, to avoid problems. I eat things I can kill, but so far that's only fish, although I eat eggs and dairy too.

• exercise
• movies
• reading
• traveling
• violin
• fishing
• hiking
• camping
• mountaineering
• sailing
• rock climbing
• teaching
• languages
• religion
• food
• vegetarianism
• rafting
• conservation

Music, Movies, and Books

Films: Waltz with Bashir, In Bruges, Guard, American Beauty, Melancholia, Burn After Reading, Winter Sleep, Far From Men/Loin des Hommes, The Hurt Locker, Sherpa.

Books: Disgrace (JM Coetzee), Waiting for the Barbarians (JM Coetzee), The Quiet American (Graham Greene), The End of the Affair (Graham Greene), An Equal Music (Vikram Seth), Norwegian Wood (Haruki Murakami), Ali and Nino (Kurban Said), The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Milan Kundera), Magus (John Fowles), The Remains of the Day (Kazuo Ishiguro), The Far Cry (Emma Smith), In a Strange Room (Damon Galgut), Being Mortal (Atul Gawande).

Poetry: Leonard Cohen's "Book of Longing," TS Eliot's "Lovesong of J Alfred Prufrock"

Music: Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Nick Cave, Gillian Welch, Regina Spektor, The National, Alt J, Obadiah and the Minor Prophets.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Spending a cold winter night in a mosque in the snowy mountain village of Zewe, Iraqi Kurdistan.

Teach, Learn, Share

Well, in theory I'm an English teacher, so I can help out there. Also, if you come fishing with me in Papatowai, where I'm from, I can (almost) guarantee you'll catch a fish.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I can offer any of the following: quality conversation; help with English, French, Kurdish, Spanish, or basic Arabic; beer; food.

An added note:
I like to get to know my couchsurfing guests, and showing couchsurfers around is part of the pleasure of hosting. For this reason, if you are staying with me, I always appreciate it if you ask me my plans for the first evening or morning of your stay before booking out your whole day with other plans. I know it’s not always possible to make time to spend with your host, but I appreciate it if you at least try.

Countries I’ve Visited

Albania, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, China, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, El Salvador, England, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Kosovo, Kuwait, Laos, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malaysia, Mexico, Moldova, Montenegro, Nepal, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Oman, Palestine, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Rwanda, Scotland, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Somalia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Vanuatu, Vatican City State, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Ethiopia, Georgia, Greece, Iraq, Jordan, New Zealand, Somalia, Uganda