Hey, traveler and friend! No need to look for secret questions, words throughout my profile to make sure you've read it. But if you would like an ice breaker, tell me what name you would give to your next pet :). Look forward to your request!

Alright, where were we...

I'm open, cheerful and a little quirky, the type you can get excited about anything - a hard-boiled egg, a cold cup of tea, a friend, a slightly overbaked butternut squash, a bus that says 'Have a good day' (more of those please).

I aim to keep taking life less seriously, wait less, think less and exert myself less. Walking around with an open heart does a whole lot better!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I am looking for laid-back, inspiring hosts for short weekend trips, for a refreshing shift in perspective, for something new here and there I haven't seen or learned before (or enough).

Interests

• books
• design
• photography
• cooking
• baking
• yoga
• walking
• gardening
• reading
• puzzles
• music
• languages
• squash
• comedy
• fermentation
• the next new thing

Music, Movies, and Books

I played the violin for 6 years in my early childhood (still do), which infused an early age love for classical music. These days, I enjoy it along with jazz of most kinds. Electronic music came along around middle school, and matured into a strong passion for deep, meditative and playful house.

My favorite movies are Groundhog Day, Prince Avalanche and Grandma, though from time to time, I enjoy a strange sense of comfort I get from gems like James Bond or Fast and Furious. Very much into stop motion, 3d animation and all the experimental madness curated on shortoftheweek.com.

So far as books go, I am much inspired by Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha and Demian, and a humble reader of novels by Bohumil Hrabal (CZ), Terry Pratchett and Kurt Vonnegut, and short stories by John Sayles, István Örkény (HU) and Dezső Kosztolányi (HU).

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I biked across New York City from the Hudson river to far Brooklyn, during evening rush hour, sipping a freshly tapped coconut.

I still find that the coconut can most effectively trick my mind into thinking that the world is much more peaceful than it seems.

Teach, Learn, Share

My parents are both teachers, and I think it stuck. From early middle school I enjoyed tutoring sciences and English. I now see web development as a tool to share novel ideas and opportunities with the general public - the next college planner, product design applications geared to non-designers, interactive tutorial series - all ideas I like to toy around with, preferably with like-minded people.

I generally have a heck of a good time talking through other people's ideas. It keeps resonating in my head that the most exciting ones lie at the intersection of personalities and disciplines.

What I Can Share with Hosts

- nerdy jokes
- linguistic puzzles
- recipes
- vague things learned from different cultures
- reading ideas
- other ideas
- music
- a good story or two
- enthusiasm

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Indonesia, Netherlands, Romania, Russian Federation, Serbia, Slovakia, Switzerland, Tunisia

Countries I’ve Lived In

Denmark, Germany, Romania, United States