I'm a Dutch guy with a mixed background: father was born in Surinam, grandmother was from Indonesia with Polish ancestors and it gets so complicated that nobody tried to explain it to me. My grandfather used to say that I'm a civilian of the world and that works for me.
From childhood onwards I have had a passion for nature; reading different books about animals and exploring the outdoors in search of critters. I like it so much that I made it my profession. But I'm not just focusing on nature conservation, but also the sustainable exploitation of nature. It is my dream to become a fisheries manager and improve the socioeconomic conditions in coastal communities while ensuring that the ecosystems upon which they depend stay in a healthy condition.
But my life is not all about nature: I like to visit historical sites and art museums and soak up the information and visual creativity as a sponge.
The best trip for me is one that balances nature with history and art.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

There is no better way to become familiar with other cultures than to stay at the place of a local.

Interests

• soccer
• field hockey
• history
• art
• mountain biking
• nature
• biking
• fisheries

Music, Movies, and Books

I'm currently reading a lot of books about culture of different ethnic groups.
This includes mostly the folk tales of groups such as the Native Americans and the Arctic tribes.
I collect books of the humorous fantasy series Discworld and comic books of the Belgian strip series Spirou, although I had to leave my collection behind when I started my study abroad.

I've mostly seen western movies with Sin City being my favorite movie. However, I've recently started to explore movies from other continents.

I have a relatively broad taste of music, but nu jazz (elements of jazz blended with other music styles such as funk, soul and electronic music) is what I listen to most of the time.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I did an internship in the Philippines with WWF (those of the panda logo). I helped develop a documentation system to track and trace tuna from the fishing vessel to the airplane before the tuna were transported to Europe.

Teach, Learn, Share

I'm good at recognizing animals, so if you have an animal that need identifying I will likely figure out what it is. I'm a pretty good cook that can make dishes from multiple cuisines due to my multicultural background. And my friends often say that I'm a walking encyclopedia, so you can start a conversation with me about almost anything.

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Philippines, Portugal, Romania, Scotland, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Netherlands, United States