CURRENT MISSION

"I travel in large part in search of hardship - both my own, which I want to feel, and others', which I need to see. Travel in that sense guides us toward a better balance of wisdom and compassion - of seeing the world clearly."

ABOUT ME

i'm in the peace corps. most of the time, it's a pretty good deal (so thank you, fellow americans, for paying your taxes and supporting my wanderlust). before i was actually in the peace corps, i had a lovely mental image of lounging in a hammock, eating tropical fruit, and chit chatting with locals under the shade of banana trees while looking out at blue water. i did not picture a dependency on long underwear, snow, crumbling concrete high rise apartments, women with beards or freezing my ass off. hello, eastern europe. i have a cat, because despite all my most valiant efforts to deny it, i am a cat person. no one really likes cat people, not like dog people. i don't understand why this is. people who like animals are usually good people, regardless of the animal they like. except maybe snake people. or horse people, they tend to be a little whacky. i like cats because i like independence in other living things. and i like living things that can crap into a box. it really is a valuable asset in a pet. i suck at finding new music, but when i do, i like it. some people can't imagine life without music. i can't imagine life without silence. i like reading, but i'm picky about what i'll read. i hate oprah's book club, because i usually like the books she selects, and that makes me feel like an extension of her massive franchise. and i hate it that she's stuck her logo on the literature of dead people (i.e. steinbeck) like she discovered them. that crosses a line, although i don't know what line it is. it might be parallel to not fucking with the dead. i drink a lot of tea. this started when i quit smoking, it's probably better for me. when i lived in japan, i had a karate sensei who said drinking more than 2 cups of water a day would make me fat. sometimes the japanese can be crazy. can't we all. i miss living in japan sometimes. it was insular, which was good and bad for me, but the food was blissful. although i'm still waiting for the exportation of mexican food. when that happens, i'll never need to go back to the united states again. but i probably still will, just because it's a hell of place to take a vacation. i took a personality test recently. this was prompted by a discussion about these types of tests, and i felt like i was lacking a label or a point of view or something i needed to wave around like a banner. my test said i'm an INTJ. from what i gather, that means i'm bossy and i prefer my own company to that of most other people. that can be true of me some of the time, although i hope not always. it's good to keep evolving. i really like smart people, particularly articulate smart people with large vocabularies. or who know a lot about science, like andy and bill nye and stephen hawking. i have a fairly monochromatic wardrobe; i love all shades green. it makes me think of living, breathing, evolving, fresh things. and because i am not hanging out under the banana tree looking at blue blue blue water, i need artificial reminders that those places are out there. someday i'll get back to them.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

i'm new to this couch surfing thing, but a firm believer that the world is best seen through the eyes of others--it's a gift to be able to participate on this planet, and like all good gifts, should be shared.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

i'm a couch-surfing virgin. stories will come once i live them...

Interests

• animals
• pets
• cats
• dogs
• books
• literature
• dining
• mexican food
• drinking
• clubbing
• reading
• traveling
• music
• surfing
• boxing
• science

Music, Movies, and Books

Favorite Music:
sufjan stevens, the killers, lyle lovett, ray lamontagne, patty griffin, johnny cash, emmylou harris, bonnie raitt, U2, death cab, mojave 3, ladysmith, gypsy kings, sigur ros, marj j blidge, colin hay, annie lennox, dylan, kanye west, david wilcox, over the rhine, marc cohn, peter gabriel, paul simon, daniel lanois, pete yorn, regina spektor, jenny lewis and the watson twins, the be good tanyas, the weepies, amos lee, amy winehouse, the clientele, brett dennen.
Favorite TV Shows:
this american life & the office.
Favorite Books:
anything by john steinbeck but especially east of eden. 100 years of solitude, the good earth. dostoyevsky, all kurt vonnegut. kafka. catch 22, the master and margarita, the namesake, one flew over the cuckoo's nest, million little pieces, king leopold's ghost, everything is illuminated, the history of love, the world to come.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

white water rafted the nile.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Macedonia, Portugal, Russian Federation, South Korea, Spain, Uganda, Ukraine, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Bulgaria, Japan