CURRENT MISSION

To build the kind of world we want to live in.

ABOUT ME

I really like the former Soviet Union probably because I like climbing tall things in old industrial sites. There is something about the spirit of the place, wild and libertine. It's hard to put your finger on, but I like it. The reason I bring that up is because I've been living there for a while now so it is a bit more relevant to me now than my childhood or something. I won't go that far back into my biography, but suffice it to say I had a pleasant childhood that did not leave me psychologically battered or carrying lots of emotional baggage that may come up at inappropriate times. So, hosts need not worry!

I have been traveling quite a bit lately and enjoy it for many of the same reasons that most people enjoy it. New people, adventure, and the like.

I like most people as long as they don't have despotic personalities or something. I don't even care what your politics are necessarily and will probably be willing to talk about it without getting too heated, unless you have a despotic personality in which case I may redden in the face and raise my voice.

I like physical activity and adventures, among other things. I'm not too picky really as long as I'm not sitting around doing nothing.

PHILOSOPHY

Man is the master of his own fate. Or, in Russian: Человек кузнец своей судьбы.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I've surfed with a lot of people and met up with people from the site. I haven't hosted so far because I haven't been home for about a year and a half and/or I go to school in a place that does not attract too many travelers.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I have surfed and met people in the former Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, Turkey, and Western Europe.

Interests

language, literature, politics, rock-climbing, healthy-living, snowboarding, skiing, hiking, bike-riding.

• literature
• politics
• traveling
• guitar
• cycling
• hiking
• sailing
• skiing
• snowboarding
• rock climbing
• geography

Music, Movies, and Books

Modern Russian literature: Solzhenitsyn, Nabokov, Pasternak, Bulgakov, etc.

Folk music, pretty music: Bonnie Prince Billy, Belle and Sebastian, Midlake, Jens Lekman, Pete Seeger, and so on.

I don't watch too many movies, but I really liked this one movie about coal miners in Donetsk, Ukraine called "The Other Chelsea" I think. I usually give that as an example of a movie I like.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Being robbed at machete point in Africa.
Marching in a communist rally in Moscow (just for interest's sake).
Spending a few days in an unrecognized break-away region of Moldova.
Meeting a gay priest in Eastern Ukraine.
Traveling the Republic of Tuva.
Looking into North Korea from a nearby mountain.

Teach, Learn, Share

I can help with Russian language. I can sail small boats. I have a pretty good handle on geography and the demographic makeup of a couple of different regions. I've done some small scale wood-working and play the guitar and the flute (a bit). But, it's still imperfect knowledge.

Countries I’ve Visited

Bosnia and Herzegovina, Estonia, France, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russian Federation, Serbia, Tajikistan, Ukraine

Countries I’ve Lived In

Bosnia and Herzegovina, Russian Federation, Ukraine, United States