CURRENT MISSION

Dick Dale? You don't play no strings, dude. More like Pop-Up Bounce House.

ABOUT ME

Hello, hola, wie geht's? My name is Norman, I love learning languages and about different cultures. Typical DC government employee. I am interested in photography and music. I fancy myself a decent cook and am happy to cook for others!

PHILOSOPHY

Pondering why Potkin, Kansas is the default location

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Like meeting and learning about new people.

Interests

Music, ancient ruins, learning languages(poorly), film photography, fried cheese, public transportation, cooking, football (the soccer kind), Newcastle United, DC United, history, weird attractions, television, movies, foreign cultures, bicycles, urban development, The Middle East, Palestine, beer, food

• photography
• dining
• cooking
• cheese
• beer
• movies
• music
• surfing
• soccer
• history
• languages

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies: Buffalo '66, Ghost World, Le Samourai (anything from Melville really), Ikiru(everything from Kurosawa as well), American Splendor, Plan 9 From Outer Space, Jules Et Jim, Dr. Strangelove, Harold and Maude, Being There.

Music: Yo La Tengo, The Fall, Sonic Youth, Slint, Neu!, La Dusseldorf, Can, My Bloody Valentine, Titus Andronicus, Guided by Voices, Bethany Curve, Japandroids, Grimes, Public Image Ltd., Wire, Mission of Burma, Do Make Say Think, 2 Chainz, Explosions in the Sky, Mogwai, Broadcast, Dinosaur Jr., Theoretical Girls, Spacemen 3

Books: A Gift to Those Who Contemplate the Wonders of Cities and the Marvels of Travelling by Ibn Battuta, The Travels of Ibn Jubayr, anything from Dostoyevsky, Master and Margarita, Heart of a Dog, Rosenthal's A Grammar of Biblical Aramaic, Wheelock's Latin, anything from Naguib Mahfouz.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Sunrise on Mount Sinai, Sleeping the White Desert, being evacuated from Lebanon during the 2006 war, smuggling diapers across the Georgian-Armenian border

Teach, Learn, Share

I can teach you how to make some pretty baller baklava and how to speak Arabic.

Countries I’ve Visited

Algeria, Armenia, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, Georgia, Germany, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Mexico, Moldova, Nicaragua, Palestine, Poland, Romania, Switzerland, Syrian Arab Republic, Turkey, Ukraine

Countries I’ve Lived In

Egypt, United States

•