Who am I? It's a work in progress, but here is a couple bits: I most love life, everything outdoors, wild places and traveling. I like long walks on the beach and Piña Coladas, but I also like long climbs on rock and snow and tinny boiled water, I most love the colour and rush of markets but equally the cold and the serenity of the mountains so I leave you to figure those ones out... I seem to be at my best when I'm smack in the middle of new experiences, challenges and change. My ethos is to be able to pick any direction and go and enjoy everything along the way.

I'm making a go of being back in Vancouver, working for non-profits and doing a lot of photography and eating. The city is beautiful and I love its intersection of mountains, deep forest and ocean.

I've had a chance to live and work abroad for several years, seeing some wonderful slices of the world. I followed my calling to do development work abroad, passionate about making a difference, and think the amazing experiences and learnings of living and working abroad and in foreign cultures outweighs the challenges and frustrations. I've lived in Chennai, India, London, UK and Cusco, Peru.

I am currently trying to balance between my easy-going traveller personality and career-oriented, ambitious one. Both bring me overseas, but one has more vacation time...

PHILOSOPHY

To quote Bill and Ted, "Be excellent to each other". Seriously. Why is this so hard? Laugh often, especially at yourself and don't get worked up if other people poke fun at you. I have no problems with religion, but hate how much killing and anger (and aforementioned getting worked up) gets done in its name. I don't seek power or fame or money as a measure of success or self-worth, but am not interested in chip-on-my-shoulder, militant impoverished-chic either. I'm a fan of "live and let live" but don't believe in cultural relativism. But I don't always hold up to my own standards (who does?). I love us messy, complex humans and really don't like how we desire for putting each other in boxes. I am always, always open to new ideas and being challenged on mine. Change is the only immutable force in the universe, so you might as well enjoy it. The universe is queerer than we can imagine ...OK, that's enough of that babble for a bit, you get the idea...

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Couchsurfing is an amazing way to meet and exchange with people around the world. I love hosting and all the exchange that comes with it. I feel fortunate to have hosted a steady stream of amazing and interesting people. The number of friendships, memories, learning and fun times I've had with couchsurfers, hosting or surfing, is incredible.

Interests

Life, food, travelling, exploring, good friends and new friends, everything outdoors, the mountains and moving through them, open-air transport, salty air and the wind in my face, bustling markets, countries that trade more messiness for more colour, tattoos, vibrant art.

I'm passionate about photography, love writing (but mostly for myself), and playing with ideas.

Did I mention food? I love all things food, eating food, shopping for food, cooking food, sharing food, talking about food, the works. :)

I love been outside in the mountains and on the water, trekking, rock climbing, mountaineering, surfing, camping...anything.

Philosophy, history, science, politics, art...I have yet to find a subject that isn't interesting, especially when related by someone with passion and excitement.

• fish
• arts
• writing
• photography
• tattoos
• dining
• cooking
• shopping
• politics
• traveling
• outdoor activities
• fishing
• camping
• mountaineering
• surfing
• skiing
• rock climbing
• chemistry
• history
• mathematics
• medicine
• religion
• science
• beaches
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

Well, I never really have a solid list and half forget all the names of all the bands I like every time someone asks.

But for the sake of something on here, I'm listening to a lot more indie these days, and can recommend some solid Canadian bands Broken Social Scene, K-os, Metric and Wolf Parade. I'm a fan of Arctic Monkeys, Band of Horses, Kings of Leon and Vampire Weekend, which a friend got me hooked on. I love electro-tango & electro-swing, particularly Gotan Project, especially to put on while I'm working or cooking. Mellower times, I'm partial to Bonobo, Cat Power, Daughter & Kaya Project. Robyn and Röyksopp separately and together are awesome.

But I listen to all sorts of stuff and rotate through phases. I usually leave my music on random and it's been known to rotate from salsa beats to Britney Spears (yeah, yeah, shut up! :P ). All the better to leave something to discuss when you're here!

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

We all have our memories and stories. I feel I've done a lot of things that blew me away and expect to see many more. That is the point: not the one big fish, but the million small minnows that catch the light any given day if you're looking. Phosphorescence in the midnight ocean. Smiling, laughing children. The sun filtering through the canopy of giant trees. Stormy oceans. Living abroad. Incense and spice and colour of busy markets. Sharp, rarified air that freezes lungs, but invigorates spirits. Standing atop of 120m rock spires you just climbed. Jumping off waterfalls. Working with traditional plant medicine. Touching icebergs & watching the antics of penguins. A million wonders and a million more I hope.

That said, I've extremely partial to mountains and the ocean so many of my stories and memories of what I find the most amazing relate to those. A close third is markets and bazaars and the vibrant crush of colour and humanity that is found there.

But finally to say, there are some world monuments, tributes to humanity's passion and determination, that blow my mind. Lists abound and my own list continues, but so far I've been blown away by what we can build at the Hagia Sofia, the Acropolis, Chichen Itza, the Great Wall, the Taj Mahal, Stonehenge, Ankor, Bagan and Swedagon Pagoda in Myanmar, Machu Picchu, Antarctica. All must-see places.

Teach, Learn, Share

I'm happiest sharing whatever bits and bobs I know and in term love to learn as much as possible from whoever is willing to share back.

Probably the most topical topic (and one I'm always keen to roll around with people) is sharing my experience and lessons from living abroad in developing countries and the challenges and joys of living with your feet in multiple worlds. It is the most fascinating and teaching life experiment I've done to date and is very much an on-going and evolving one. :)

Beyond that, being in the daily trenches of development work, I can share a lot of experience and personal understanding of that complex, multi-disciplinary world or we can chat about camping (the "how to s**t in the woods" type of learning), climbing, skiing & trekking; chemistry, science and math (might as well use my schooling for something!), or whatever comes our way!

What I Can Share with Hosts

A good attitude, a warm heart, an explorers' soul, and an eager mind.
And probably treats.

Countries I’ve Visited

Antarctica, Argentina, Belgium, Bolivia, Cambodia, Chile, China, Colombia, Ecuador, France, Georgia, Greece, Iceland, India, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Laos, Malaysia, Mexico, Myanmar, Nepal, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Canada, India, Peru, United Kingdom

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