CURRENT MISSION

To keep finding small missions (I don't believe in a MEANING of life), try to achieve them, and move on to the next one(s). Current ones: 1. Learn how to play the harmonica and ride a bycicle.

ABOUT ME

All about me? That's a little broad, isn't it? Like many others, I don't really know what to write here. Maybe someone (Tyler Durden...?) would say it's pathetic to not even be able to describe yourself in a few hundred words, that it shows a lack of conviction, confusion about your most priced values and an identity crisis. I think I'm OK with that description. Cognitive dissonance is the name of the game.
I guess for now I'll refer you to the philosophy, interests and books/movies/music tabs below. They can give a fair, if simplistic, idea of "me".
Besides that, I like to (half-jokingly) describe myself as a lazy anarchist (or a coward anarchist, if I'm feeling negative). I think CS fits in very well with that. If you can understand anything about me from that, cool.

PHILOSOPHY

Everything's too complex for a clear philosophy. Panta Rhei- everything's in constant change, and there are too many truths, opinions, contradictions, etc. for a clear answer. Which doesn't mean that there aren't a lot of good answers out there.

I wrote the paragraph above a few years ago, when I opened this profile. I don't necessarily disagree with my past self, but it sounds simplistic. Oh, well, asking a philosophy student what his personal philosophy is is a really bad idea, anyway.

I'll add something more recent- this is a quote/joke I find to be full of meaning and depth:
'There are these two young fish swimming along, and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, "Morning, boys, how's the water?" And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, "What the hell is water?"'
(From David Foster Wallace's speech at Kenyon College, which is well worth your time, and can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhhC_N6Bm_s

One year farther down the road, one more addition: recently (as of August 2012) I told someone that if I had to choose two gods (why make do with one if you can have two?) I would choose doubt and change. I think that fits quite well with the first paragraph in this mess of a "personal philosophy". I guess things don't change that much, then, do they? At least change itself doesn't...

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I surf, I host, I go to (and sometimes organise) meetings and events. I think that about covers the options, no?

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Spent a month attending a lot of the NY CS events, a month attending the Buenos Aires CS events, and yet another one with the LA/OC branch. Three very active, fun and interesting communities.

I was hosted by:
Marina in Ushuaia and Ruben in San Agustin, San Juan, Argentina; Celene in Asheville, NC, USA; Mario & Cindy in Merida, Cesar in Xalapa (retroactively a couchsurfing situation) and Fatyma in Puebla, Mexico; Kata in Knoxville, TN, USA; Stefan in Madrid, Lea in Granada and Marta in Barcelona, Spain; Derya, Helene and Ziya in Istanbul, Aybüke and Ali in Ankara and Ozan in Izmir, Turkey; Celene again and Santi in Buenos Aires, Cesar in Rosario, Argentina; Lydia in Aspra Spitia, Xenofon in Ioannina and Dimitris in Athens, Greece; Kristina in Berlin; Eva in Prague; Viera in Banska Bystrica, Slovakia; Miha & Eva in Ljubljana, Peter & Marjeta in Godovic and Smartno, Slovenia; Lea in the squat in Zagreb; Shira & Assaf in Vlore, Albania; Vesna in Uzice, Marko in Bresno Polje, Marija in Aleksinac and Dušan & Ceca in Niš, Serbia; Aybüke again ın London; Nipa in Tampere & Siiri in Turku, Finland; Sanjeev in Pune, India; Suzan and his family in Kathmandu, Nepal; Olya in Moscow, Russia; Bert in Stockholm, Sweden.

In the pretty-random section:
I kinda hosted Morgan and Katie in Fullerton, CA, followed by a short road trip to Northern Arizona. I also did a short road trip from LA to SF with Kris, Tamilla and Brandon.

I've hosted, in Jerusalem:
Ruso, from Cataluña; Agnieszka from Poland/Switzerland; Tomáš and Eva from Czech Republic; Maren and Silke from Germany; Stefan from Germany; Claudine and Katie from the US; Sarah from Ireland/Egypt; Kirsty from England; Marta from Spain; Katarina from Russia; Rita from Israel; Cesar from Argentina (although he was more of a friend than a CSer); Susa & Kristina from Finland; Mariana from Mexico and Bruno from Brazil; Olya from Russia; Marine from France; Mario from Mexico; Ida from Poland/Netherlands; Yu (Summer) from China; Miha from Slovenia; Flo from England; Monika and Gosia from Poland.

I've hosted, in Iceland:
Johanna, Allyse & Kenna in Reykjavik, and Solvita, Lina, Silvia & Ana in Fljótstunga.

Amazingly enough, only positive experiences so far!

Interests

First and foremost, I'd say knowledge. Of most kinds.
More in particular:
People.
Music, cinema, reading (see below, if it interests you), traveling (backpacking as the preferred kind of travel), learning and understanding as much as possible, philosophy, listening, talking, writing (sometimes...), cooking, drinking, permaculture and other similar ideas (this is still a theoretical interest, unfortunately)

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies (in no particular order): Fight Club, Seven, Idioterne, Apocalypse Now, A Clockwork Orange, Ghost in a Shell, The Big Lebowsky, The Shining, Reservoir Dogs, Mr. Nobody; most films by Tarantino, Cronenberg, Coen Bros, Kubrick... and many more.
Music: King Crimson, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Mars Volta, Mr. Bungle, Genesis (early 70's only), Camel, Nick Cave, Fiona Apple, Van Der Graaf Generator, Pink Floyd, Beri Saharof, Tom Waits, Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix, Deep Purple, Soft Machine, Bustan Abraham, Marsh Dondurma, The Apples, Magic Elf, John Mclaughlin, Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Piazzolla, Gotan Project, Beck, Neil Young, Yes, Dan Bern, William Elliot Whitmore, Pearl Jam, Radiohead, and more.
Books: Lolita, An Invitation to a Beheading, Underworld, White Noise, Fight Club, The Death of Ivan Ilyich, The Lord of the Rings, Catch-22, Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Eyeless In Gaza, Point Counterpoint, Blood Meridian, Brave New World, 1984, The Satanic Verses; Nabokov, Aldous Huxley, Don Dellilo, Saramago, Borges, Cormac McCarthy, Ernesto Sabato, Umberto Eco, David Foster Wallace, and of course, many more.

What I'm reading:
- Even Cowgirls get the blues by Tom Robbins.
- Gulliver's travels by Jonathan Swift.
- Todos los fuegos el fuego by Julio Cortazar.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

- Backpacked through Patagonia for 2.5 months. To be more specific: the first sight of Glaciar Grey in the Torres Del Paine circuit; the third day of the Cerro Castillo trek; 'touched' a hanging glaciar field on Mt. Tronador; and climbed two volcanoes (Puyehue and Villarica).
- Spent two weeks doing just about nothing but making bracelets, eating tlayudas and drinking beer in Mazunte, Mexico. And yet, it was among the best times of my life.
- San Luis Potosi: two nights camping out in the Real de Catorce desert, the birds coming out of the Sotano de Las Golondrinas at dawn, Edward James' surreal castle in the mountains and 2 days of hitchhiking all the way down to Xalapa.
- Just Mexico in general...
- Bryce Canyon in Utah and the surrounding area (this is more of a 'seen' than 'done').
- Hitchhiking in Turkey and experiencing some amazing hospitality on the part of Turkish people (I don't like to generalize, but it did seem like it was a general attitude rather than good luck).
- Iceland!

Teach, Learn, Share

If you wanna get some of my tips for Jerusalem and the Dead Sea, you can click here. If you want some recipes for Middle Eastern/Israeli food, here. And my recommendations for Israeli movies and music are here

I am a modern man- not many practical skills, and a ton of useless knowledge and trivia. I'll be happy to share pseudo-philosophical ideas.
I can teach how to cook some dishes (among them Israeli mainstays like hummus, falafel and shakshuka) and how to make several patterns of string bracelets.
I would love to learn to make things myself. I think we've become way too dependent on other people, even in the most basic things. I would love to grow (at least a symbolic amount of) my own food, for example. I'm also six batches into the process of learning to brew my own beer, but am still quite an amateur at it.
Anything you can teach me will be very appreciated.

Countries I’ve Visited

Albania, Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, India, Italy, Jordan, Kosovo, Mexico, Montenegro, Myanmar, Nepal, Netherlands, Poland, Russian Federation, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Argentina, Israel, Mexico

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