CURRENT MISSION

Explore the world slowly, teaching as we go

ABOUT ME

Cate: I am easily excited, enthusiastic about life, and generally a positive, upbeat person. I love to try new things (especially food!)

Mike: I like music, movies, football(us yanks tend to call it soccer), and travel. I love stepping off the tourist path everywhere I go...I yearn to be with the locals, and to understand the way they live, eat, and have fun.

PHILOSOPHY

Cate: I believe everyone has a lot to share, and you can learn a ton just by being open to other people

Mike: I try to make all of my dreams a reality...I just don't want to be that old guy telling his grandchildren "I could have _______, but I had to ____."

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

We're getting settled in Seoul and have nothing but bare hardwood floor, but we would love to meet up for coffee, tea, drinks, and sightseeing. Once we can get our hands on a couch, we'll be keen on hosting.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

We stayed with some great folks throughout the UK, and met up with a few amazing people in Thailand...can't wait to meet more people through this great site.

Interests

Cate: cooking and baking (particularly interested in natural ingredients and authentic ethnic cooking), triathlons, training for and running races, yoga, reading novels and interesting nonfiction, taking public transportation as much as possible, taking pictures of food for my blog, getting to really know people and places when I travel

Mike: Reading, listening to music, watching movies, organizing my pictures into neat little files, football, philosophy, tweeting, checking news.bbc.co.uk obsessively, seeking out good local music, getting in a good workout, rearranging furniture, packing my backpack for the next trip, and using oxford commas.

• dining
• cooking
• coffee
• baking
• yoga
• running
• drinking
• news
• movies
• reading
• traveling
• blogging
• music
• backpacking
• soccer
• sightseeing

Music, Movies, and Books

Cate:
Favorite Books: Harry Potter, Beloved, Song of Solomon, The Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns, The Cider House Rules, The Bean Trees

Favorite Music: The Clash, Bob Marley, The Cool Kids, the Kooks, Glasvegas, Bedouin Soundclash, Vampire Weekend, K'Naan, Daby Toure, Keane, Elton John, Simon and Garfunkel, Mana, Juanes, Toots and the Maytals

Mike:

Movies: L'auberge Espagnole, Love Me If You Dare, Role Models, Cinema Paradiso, Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Bringing Out The Dead, The Black Book, Bullet Boy, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Waking Ned Divine, Shaun of the Dead, City of God, City of Men, The Gods Must Be Crazy I & II, Y Tu Mama Tambien, The Pianist, Monty Python's Holy Grail, Stargate SG1 Box Set (seasons 1-10), Arthur and the Minimoys, Titan AE, Princess Mononoke, Spooks (BBC Series), Alfie, The Jacket...and many many more.

Music: Glasvegas, Oasis, The Cure, Blur, Delroy Wilson, Bloc Party, Little Brother, The Clancy Brothers, K'naan, Junior Reid, Gentleman, Luciano (reggae...not opera), Supergrass, The Kinks, The Kooks, The Specials, Does It Offend You Yeah?, Dandy Livingstone, John Holt, Ali Farka Toure, DJ Zebra, Flogging Molly, The Streets, Gogol Bordello, Gorillaz vs. Spacemonkeyz, Barrington Levy, Muse, Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band, The Cherry Coke$, Seeed, Shane McGowan & The Popes, MC Solaar, Klashnekoff, Arctic Monkeys, Ensiferum, and Turisas.

Books: Inheritance Cycle (Eragon, Eldest, Brisingr...), Siddhartha, The Alchemist, Veronika Decides to Die, Harry Potter series, Nightwatch, Foundation, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, The Traveler, The Dark River, Rebel Hearts: Journey's Within The IRA's Soul, and Peaceful Warrior...I'm a bit of a SciFi/Fantasy nerd.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Cate: I've seen/done some amazing things on my travels, but there's still TONS more out there to see, so I'm working on that.

Mike: I once saw a man drink an entire bottle of syrup in 10 seconds...then heard him recount the night of puking that followed...apparently the syrup gave him a lot of energy, and he was awake all night.

Teach, Learn, Share

Mike: I'd love to learn how to build websites, and to use Final Cut Pro.

Cate: I know my way around a kitchen but am always up for learning more about ethnic cuisines! I'm a pretty good cookie-baker, too.

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Belize, Chile, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Fiji, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Peru, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Uganda, United Kingdom, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, South Korea, Thailand, United States