CURRENT MISSION

To be a constructive schizoid- no matter where I am in the world

ABOUT ME

**Seeing how people stick to stereotyping, generalizing and having prejudice never fails to amaze me! There are so many CSers who seem to regard individuals as direct representations of their countries, (assumed) cultures or (assumed) religions. You are of course free to imagine anything, but please don't assume your imaginations have to be correct. Otherwise you become rude when you're trying to be 'considerate'. When you respect "individuals" and ask things before making assumptions, then you are considerate**

Since my childhood, people have been telling me I'm mature for my age. Not sure if I'm lucky or unfortunate. Now slowly I'm becoming more "normal" but spending less effort. I don't associate myself with things, and go my own way.

Whatever I do, I try to make the most of it. I'm always eager to learn old&new things, and curious to figure out how things work. I'd say I'm a person with scientific curiosity -even though my approach is generally highly post-post modern.

When I was freshman at university I wanted to be a linguist, but now I'm more interested in the uses of language as a tool. A social scientist at heart, but trying to be as less boring as possible :) I still like languages though, so systematic but with many exceptions, so humane.

Recondita armonia
di belleze diverse! (Ah, I love that aria from Puccini's "Tosca")

PHILOSOPHY

Why do I live my life? To witness the world and convey what I see in useful ways. Actually there is too much to write here... But these days I realise more that I was made to waste such a long time during my childhood. It makes me feel compelled to compensate for it by studying, learning and sharing more and more.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I like travelling alone, being alone in foreign countries and handling the adventure myself. But when I was in London on Erasmus exchange and felt bored a lot, my traveller friend Misa recommended me this site.

Interests

Literature, languages, reading&writing short fiction, meeting great people of all kinds, meeting irritating people of kinds -up to the degree that they become inspiring, queer theory, classical music, listening to opera (Hopefully will sing one day too), hiking, walking, playing backgammon, healthy baking (Especially different types of bread- a habit I gained in China!), calm places with beautiful scenery.

• wildlife
• literature
• vegetarian
• walking
• reading
• classical music
• opera
• hiking
• languages

Music, Movies, and Books

I don't watch movies much so don't have a "film culture", maybe because I'm too selective. You can recommend some you like. So far I enjoyed watching films by Kieslowski, Pasolini, Fassbinder and Kim Ki-duk. Books, I like old literary works and German romantics as well as Asian literatures. Music differs depending on my mood at the time, I listen to all types of music (I really mean it) and usually listen to jazz, lounge, pop-opera and 80's pop.

http://www.lastfm.com.tr/user/Vfrei

Recently when I'm not reading about my area studies, I'm reading Rollo May's Love and Will. A very insightful book. And yes, being a "constructive schizoid" is what he puts forward as a means of dealing with... being an intellectual.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Not to mention the food and other adventure stories, I went into a pool which had electricity in it in Japan (at a sentou).

Teach, Learn, Share

Maybe I can introduce a different perspective with usual things. Who knows?

Countries I’ve Visited

Azerbaijan, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Malaysia, Netherlands, Sweden, Thailand, Tunisia

Countries I’ve Lived In

Belgium, China, Finland, Japan, South Korea, Turkey, United Kingdom

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